Hence the educational expo, says Covington. A revolution is transforming PDAs from small hand-held, computers used to write notes and track appointments into thin clients that allow users highly portable access to network, he adds. The idea of fourth-wave computing is not a new one. He sees this fourth wave just beginning to break, with increasing impact in the year ahead. IDC sees demand for hand-helds tripling in annual sales between 1997 and 2002 and exceeding PC sales in five to six years.
Obstacles remain, however.
This means, among other things, an intensification of the platform battle for hand-helds mainly between Microsoft and Palm manufacturer 3Com, with its Palm OS, adds Covington. An advantage of Palm, he adds, is that it was designed and has evolved solely for a hand-held device. Companies that use dedicated networks and operate in vertical markets have not been as constrained by the standards and platform issues. They have been deploying hand-held systems with wireless access heavily in the past five years. The health care industry isn't far behind.