At first they are just curiosities, toys for the tinkerers. Then they start proliferating. A variety of newsgroups and vendor sites offer information about PDAs and the enterprise. But it is the right place to start your journey. N.Y. Symbol Technologies makes a variety of data collection devices used in warehouses, factories, and logistics centers.
Usual cost is several thousand dollars.
In March 1998, Symbol introduced the Symbol Palm Terminal that includes a bar code scanner for what sources say is less than half the cost of hardwired devices. The Web site contains a number of application stories and a software developer's kit ready for download. If you want to use a Palm in a manufacturing environment, put Symbol and its Web site at the top of your shopping list. Calif. Oracle is further along than other ERP vendors in solving the challenge of linking PDAs like the PalmPilot to its ERP suite, in my humble opinion. In fact, a core part of its upcoming Customer Relationship Management package is enabling a field salesforce to sell using PalmPilots.