Reading about declining pocketPC sales prompted me to post a public declaration of affection for my PocketPC (Axim X5 at left). I enjoy reading
Julie Lerman's posts about the cool things she and others are doing with their TabletPCs and how much they love those babies, but I've not yet had the occasion to "get it", despite the habit of Julie sticking her TabletPC in peoples' faces at Vermont DotNet meetings and elsewhere. :-)
No, I'm a PocketPC Man. To me, the value of any device is the amount of time you find yourself using it over the course of months and years, and I've been using my PocketPC more and more over the two years I've had one. The killer PocketPC app for me is Microsoft Reader. In most cases, I'd rather read a book on PocketPC than in traditional paper format. (Sidebar: The selection of Electronic books for purchase is still PITIFUL! I'd pay cash money--and have spent quite a bit to date--on MS Reader e-books, in case any publishers are listening.)
I see the PocketPC becoming a more important platform over time. Maybe people are buying more iPods than PocketPCs at the moment--and yes, I have to admit that I spend more time using my iPod than my Axim--but with greater storage compacity, more WiFi, and a few .NET killer apps, the value of the PocketPC is going to outpace one-function devices like the iPod.
I love the idea of a really, really smart phone and of carrying around a single device. I don't know if that's going to happen for one simple reason: you want as much screenspace as possible for viewing but you don't want something that doesn't fit in your pocket. I used a combination phone/PocketPC for a brief time, and it was awful at doing both. Maybe a phone and a PocketPC with Nextel-like Walkie talkie capabilities when you need it, with call rollover to the PocketPC?
I want my PocketPC.