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This year, more cell phones were sold than computers, televisions, pdas and pagers combined — almost 44 million in the U.S. and about 400 million worldwide. One American in three owns a cell phone, and half the population is expected to have one by 2002. It has even been predicted that by 2004 more people will connect to the Web via cell phone than by computer. For that to become a reality, though, the wireless Web will have to perform much better than it does today.
 
The reason the cell phone is only a runner-up for Machine of the Year is that wireless Web browsing — the much-ballyhooed advance that was supposed to make the device even hotter — is still too slow and its content too limited. As analyst Ed Snyder of Chase H&Q investment firm puts it, "Hype led performance."
 
But in Japan and Finland, where the wireless Web is a practical reality, cell phones are used even more widely — and for more services — than they are here. When our technology catches up with these world leaders, cell phones will become America's most widely used piece of personal technology. In other words, don't call us, we'll call you.
 
The year of digital cameras was also a very good year for Personal Digital Assistants. Buyers snapped up 1.3 million of them in the first six months — the same number sold in all of 1999. Fueling the trend were major advances in hardware and operating systems.
 
New hardware made the devices more affordable and more attractive. Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated model was the Handspring Visor, which landed on store shelves at the beginning of the year. The new handheld comes with a slot called a Springboard, which allows users to insert modules that turn the Visor into a Global Positioning device, a low-end camera and more.
 
Industry leader Palm introduced its first color device and its m100 line, which at $149 made pdas accessible to a whole new set of customers. Sony recently entered the market with its sleek-looking CliŽ, and Research in Motion unveiled the RIM 957, which wirelessly sends and receives e-mail. Yet another new class of handhelds featured Pocket PC, Microsoft's new operating system, which handles music and video better than the Palm OS but is generally found in more expensive devices.

In addition to the new models, the market came alive with inventive software choices. Free applications like AvantGo, which allows you to automatically download any Web pages and read them on your handheld, and Vindigo, a city guide, helped make it abundantly clear: computers are becoming more portable by the moment. Next year, when handhelds and cell phones merge, want to guess what the Machine of the Year will be? Oh, but that would be cheating.
 

— By Bill Syken

2000 Buyer's Guide > > 

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