Return of the PDAs

摘要

When apple introduced the Newton in 1992, a new product category was born: the personal digital assistant, or PDA. The promise—and the hype—seemed boundless: a computer that could organize your life, read your handwriting, and fit in your pocket. Trouble was, the early PDAs were a crude, cranky lot that didn't deliver all they promised. The Newton's unpredictable handwriting recognition quickly became more popular as a party game than as a useful tool. The early PDAs were also too big for most pockets and didn't communicate easily with the outside world. Not surprisingly, PDAs bombed.