If the iPod Mini is such a success and the Zire offers no further advantages over 1999's PalmV, how easy/difficult would it be to create a mini-PDA --roughly the size of a business card-- similar to the features of Zire 21 and sell for less than $50 US? Would it be enough interest in the market for such a product? Read the editorial at New Mobile Computing and take their poll too.
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This product already exists, it's called the Rex, Franklin started making it. The product is the size of a PC Card for the PCMCIA slot. Since Xircom purchased it from Franklin, they increased the internal memory to 1 MB and added a touch screen. They also produced developer tools for it.
But, alas, Intel purchased Xircom and stopped producing the Rex. The last version is the Rex 6000. A good resource for the product is a fan site called <a href="http://www.rex6000.org">Rex6000.org
Interesting, but not quite a PalmOS though with thousands of apps & games available... 
The problem with this idea is that the way PDAs and the iPod Mini are used can be significantly different. An iPod Mini can be expected to see relatively little user interaction. You set up your playlist, hit play, and forget about it. The PDA is something you want to be able to interact with much more, so it needs a larger, more convenient interface. Unless of course you're just talking about portable storage, and with USB keys I think we already have that.
And you could easily combine such a PDA with a cell phone.
I don't think that the interface showed in the mockups is inconvinient. I mean, if you check out some of the latest Sony PDAs (like the TJ-27/37) you will see that the buttons they got there are much more inconvenient than the mockup (which also strives to be a "cheap gameboy" of a sort).
The only thing that's missing from these imaginary models is the Graffiti area, which I don't think it is needed in a product that targets kids/teenagers/non-pros as these people will generally have the extra time to input some text using the virtual keyboard (in fact this is how PocketPCs & Zauruses work all the time...)
The other thing is that the LCD will be very small and it will have no backlight, so only customers with relatively good vision will be able to use these products. But the same is true for the original greyscale Zaurus.
>And you could easily combine such a PDA with a cell phone.
That's true. The only real "competitor" of this imaginary product are the cellphones, not other PDAs. However, if you are going to get a 160x160 cellphone running PalmOS you will end up paying $400 to $600 (for some weird reason, because the specs these phone manufacturers use are not that high). So once again, as the market has it currently, the Palm phones can't compete at $49 or at $99.
However, if a vendor could create a phone with PalmOS having the similar/equivelant price targets as product described in the article, then yes, that would be something to watch for.
Why is it everyone assumes that a "mini" product should cost less? The miniaturization proceess is not simple, and usually implies more advanced technology. so if they came out with a zire 71 clone the size of a business card, it should, in theory, cost more than the zire 71 itself.
Then the question becomes "which is more important? device size or screen size?" - the answer of course is that it's a balance, and mini doesn't imply balance.
And I have to agree with Udo - why is this non-os related news posted on OSNews?
If you are interested in a cellphone with PDA and MP3 player capabilities then take a look at the Sony Ericsson S700 or P908.
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?page=start&ver=PortalPage_2_0
I have franklin ebm. I payed 50 dollars for it. bigger screen than the palm, and a usb port
yeah, the rex was awsome. There we go with another Franklin product that should have won some accolades, but didn't.
Take a look in your local office supply / home electronics store and you'll see Palm devices for under $100, with clearance items hitting near your goal.
they're older palms, palm 3xe, for example.
and the rexx had been around, where were you?
now, if you're talking a pda the actual size of a credit card, thickness and everything, even the rexx is a bit thicker(but not by much, you're talking very small measurements), you could do it with a small bank of smartchips, like those found on credit cards today, or chips in that form factor. and you'd have a very small screen. but i think you could pull it off. I think someone like franklin could. They just do cool stuff.
Eugenia, I find your news post a bit concerning. You imply that the iPod mini can be copied in a mini PDA form factor for only $50 thus suggesting that the iPod mini is overpriced by $200.
I would imagine that a mini PDA (the size of the iPod mini) can indeed be copied, but for no less then $200 assuming it uses a hard drive and not flash card storage.
If it uses flashcard storage, I would imagine that it would cost approximately $100 (coincidentally roughly the same price that they are now.)
The original article wasn't that interesting, but some of the discussion posts have been:
I've never heard of the Rex 6000 before. Very interesting, but more of a novelty because of the tiny size. Looked on eBay and they sell used in the hundred-dollar range. TigerDirect has brand-new Palm Pilots around $40. To me the small size would be a problem, without any benefit. The screen is too small to be functional and I'd probably lose the thing anyway.
I agree with the folks that have mentioned that the story had no relevence to Operating System News. I think it was an attempt to get OSNews readers to visit the sister site, NewMobileComputing. Not a bad idea, but the article should've added a paragraph about the dream-device's OS to justify the link. But I fell for it, and am going back to read more.
Best Wishes,
-Bob
Size: Palm V <---------------------
Battery: Similar to current models
Screen: 320x320 16K colors
Storage: 256MB or more <---------------------
OS: Palm OS 5
Wireless: RIM-like always-on email <---------------------
real-time instant msgs (Yahoo, AOL and MSN)
I'd pay around $500 for one of these.
Bulky PDAs get left at the desk and consequently unused. I still use a Palm V because it is small enough to carry everywhere.
check this out http://www.digitwireless.com/
fasttap (a new take on small keyboards) with a cellphone is a PDA killer.
I don't think the direction to go is mini-pda. The directions to go are mini laptop (AKA: larger and more functional pda)and innovative cellphone (say like treo or danger hiptop).
Integrated gaming multi-media devices (sony PSP, zodiak, perhaps gameboy DS) are also interesting.
PDA volumes are low not because of price but because of need. Not enough people feel they need or want them. The way to get around that is to make them more usable (a la psp or mini-laptop) or incorporate them in something you carry anyway (phones).
A PDA mini would be a prime example of a great idea taken out of context. I think someone's already mentioned it, but the minimal user interaction with an iPod's software and controls is the thing that allows the iPod mini to be as small as a business card and yet still be very usable. A PDA mini that small would ultimately be impractical at best.
>I agree with the folks that have mentioned that the story had no relevence to Operating System News.
OSNews is NOT about OSes only, READ our "contact us" page before you spit this again. How many times do we have to say that?? It is getting very tiring for us!
It occurred to me recently that my PDA (a humble Tungsten E) has more processor and memory than the notebook I was using just a few years ago. The nature of my work hasn't changed at all in that time, and most of my CPU, disk and memory is probably wasted.
I then started wondering what a PDA-based computer might look like. A more simple windowing environment. More simple applications. A simplified application programming model. An obligatory (weak) analogy: The Volkswagen computer.
The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when I saw this:
www.synosphere.com
God, I hope they can get ideas like this to work. I'd love to carry my PDA for the times when I need portability, and simply slide it into a chassis for connection to external peripherals and networks; and it might even put some fun back into applications development, away from Yet-Another-GUI-Message-Framework, .NET, J2EE or whatever.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the (now defunct) http://www.palmblvd.com/articles/2003/7/2003-7-22-Fossil-PDA-Watch.... Fossil PDA Watch. It ran Palm OS 4.1, had a whopping 2MB ram,and a tiny though detailed 160x160 screen. Target price was 300 dollars, though it's obvious something went wrong along the way.
Like others have pointed out- this sort of thing existed. It was the Rex. There were a few models out. It was the size of a PCMCIA card; ye, it *was* a PCMCIA card. It could fit in your wallet. It only had a 1 MB of RAM and a very slow CPU, one which made the 16 MHz DragonBall in the first Palms seem fast. But it worked and had a touch screen. You got good battery life as long as you didn't actually use it much- my friend tried to read ebooks on it and the batteries only lasted a few hours. But then again, they were only watch batteries, so what do you expect? But non-rechargable ones, which was a huge pain in the ass.
Also, the price- $50? I think someone is forgettinga simple economics rule... The smaller you get, the more expensive it is. Even the Rex, which had greatly reduced power, was still as expensive as a regular PDA back then, all cuz of the size. You could prolly make something like the Rex, with a bit faster but still ass slow and tiny RAM for $50... but nothing like is proposed. Fun to brainstorm, but time to go back to the drawing board!