Sorely lacking are multi-purpose devices with sharper displays and killer apps. In recent columns , I've focused on how Pocket PCs, despite their virtues, are priced too high for market acceptance. I have some sympathy for Palm and the Microsoft Pocket PC licensees because, to make a profit, they must charge more than consumers seem willing to pay. That's why I don't expect success for either Sony's Palm-based handheld or Samsung's upcoming Yopy Linux handheld. I don't care how sophisticated these handhelds are, the marketplace will snub them at that price.
Technology currently exists to transmit streaming video to smart phones at current low bandwidths.
ActiveSky's recently released video viewer for multimedia-challenged Palm devices and Pocket PC is rather adept at video. This is whizzy technology that is appropriate for some niche applications. However, given the frustrations of small screens and low bandwidths, there's no reason to believe that consumers and businesses will invest in multimedia mobile devices. Apple still doesn't have a Net device plan I'm enjoying rubbing this one in on the Apple fundamentalists who flamed me rather nastily last January when I said that Apple didn't have a cogent plan to bring Net devices to market. Apple still doesn't have a Net device plan and it won't have one for the foreseeable future.