Experienced techie, Mr Bill Neely, a founder of an e-commerce company based in Virginia, had that experience last spring after he bought a pdQ Smartphone. Even though he owns a Palm and a mobile phone, he got the gadget which combines a mobile phone and Palm-based organiser. It was a great concept, Mr Neely said, laughing, but he found the phone difficult to use. I actually had to read the manual and call customer service to figure out how to establish the Internet connection. By June, he stopped using the pdQ, frustrated by its size and by how hard it was to use.
People think it s a bar-code reader.
While many people still hanker after the newest gizmos, there is some evidence of a trend in the other direction. About 60 per cent of technology consumers surveyed recently by Harris Online said they had stopped buying the newest high-tech gadgets. Forty per cent of personal computer owners surveyed said that the technology was too complicated. Ms Brewer, the gadget collector from Virginia, said she had no plans to curtail her technology splurges. Even though she had been reluctant to carry her Handspring Visor fearing she might break it, she figured that she would eventually lug it around with her.