What Happened to the PDA?

On April 28^th, Palm Inc. shut its doors and sold its ownership portfolio to Hewlett-Packard. The well-known technology company was one of many to fall down in the smartphone revolution, but it was certainly the most visible and important player to close up shop. While stock prices rose and enthusiasm peaked following the HP acquisition, tech fans across the world were saddened to see one of the most important and influential brands in Silicon Valley disappear.

It’s the sad tale of the PDA – or personal digital assistant, for the non-techies out there – and its quick decline over the last five years. PDAs were previously one of the most important items in any executive’s briefcase, but over the last generation of technology they’ve lost relevancy and value, becoming a tool for enthusiasts and retro technology fans in place of a high-tech piece of machinery.

Why did the PDA fall so fast?

Funnily enough, the very company that introduced the PDA to the world has contributed to its decline. In 1993 the then-financially-troubled Apple Computer released the Newton, a large touchscreen digital assistant built around a green-and-black coloured screen. The device was hugely unsuccessful, costing millions of dollars to develop and ultimately failing to cause a stir in the market. With poor sales across the device’s lifespan, Apple ended production in early 1998.

However, the Newton set the stage for other PDA models, most notably from Silicon Valley competitor Palm. The Palm Pilot was born in late 1997, and followed by a wide range of other successful devices. Coupled with a stylus and supported by a series of office applications and planner software packages, the Palm Pilot was one of the first must-have pieces of technology for businesspeople and office workers.

But with today’s mobile phones generating more power than yesteryear’s PCs, it appears the PDA’s reign as the dominant mobile computer is over. Whatever your choice of mobile phone – be it an iPhone, Android handset, or Windows Mobile piece of tech – it’s likely that the functions personal digital assistants were marketed around are rarely thought of side features. That ‘essential’ calendar has become a plug-in feature rarely used and unable to support a device’s popularity in the market.

Adding to the irony, Apple’s latest device – the iPad – could end up as the final nail in the market its predecessor formed. Boasting power above that of a standard mobile phone and offering a blend of mobile and PC-based computing, the device is the Newton’s younger and more successful brother.

While we’re sad to see Palm go – the same type of sadness that’s present whenever an innovator or market leader disappears – it’s hard not to see that the acquisition is a necessity for the technology world. Just like the Moog synthesizer stands as an example of 1970s technology and the compact disc a picture of the 1980s, the PDA could go down as the 1990s’ crowning technical achievement.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelhall/109700440/

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