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DEVICES HAVE
LIMITS |
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So far, though, many handheld devices
and their applications are fairly limited by the hardware's
screen sizes, bandwidth and amount of memory. |
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| What's more, many programs are simply
uninspired, according to Enderle. |
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| "Generic word processing won't last
long," he said. "The types of experiences that are going to
make these successful are things like having a nanny-camera,
or helping someone fill out an expense report or find out what
time a movie is playing and order tickets." |
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| Enderle said few of the software
industry stalwarts have figured out how to create these kinds
of programs for cell phones, which have caught on much faster
than PDAs. |
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| One upstart that has taken the initiative,
however, is mobileID, a Los Gatos company that has licensed
some of its applications to wireless phone service provider
Nextel. The company's office suite does things like track a
user's (usually a small and medium-size business) order from
Kinko's and let them find the closest outlet. |
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| Another firm making inroads is Redwood
City's Phone.com. The firm has licensed its Web browser for
cell phones -- or microbrowser -- to Sanyo, Samsung, Nokia,
Motorola and Ericsson. But the company has set its sights higher.
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| Like many other so-called software
infrastructure companies, Phone.com is trying to provide the
standard, or platform, on which developers will base their products,
whether they are for viewing a video or making online reservations.
That goal puts it in lofty company. Technology titans like Microsoft,
Nokia and Palm are all jockeying for the same position. |
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| Of those, Microsoft seems to be the
one to watch. With its huge bank account and marketing muscle,
most analysts say, the company will own some portion of the
wireless device market, through its own technology or through
acquisitions. |
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| But its smaller competitors and some
analysts say the PC-centric view of the world that defined Microsoft
could be its downfall in the wireless market. Early versions
of Windows CE, Microsoft's first attempt at an operating system
for handheld devices, flopped, and its Pocket PC devices have
struggled against PDA industry leader Palm -- which controls
about 60 percent of the market to Microsoft's 19 percent, according
to IDC. |
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| Many will be watching the software
mammoth's impending family of smart phones, code-named "Stinger."
To be marketed next year in the United States by Samsung, the
phones will have an oversize color screen for wireless Web access. |
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| Source: http://internet.about.com/gi/dynamic
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