COMDEX is the semi-annual computer industry mega-show. More people attended COMDEX this year than live in Des Moines, the capitol city of
Iowa, home state of Pocket PC magazine. And all of them were crammed into the two convention centers hosting the show. I know how a sardine feels!
This year, right inside the main entrance to the show floor was Microsoft's Pocket PC Pavilion. It was packed with attendees throughout the show. I did a quick straw poll, which indicated that over half the attendees were novices with the Pocket PC. They may have heard about it from someone, or seen an advertisement, but they didn't know what it could do. A large part of the Pocket PC Pavilion was a 50-person hands-on Pocket PC lab. Microsoft ran packed demo sessions every 30 minutes throughout the show. Well over 3,000 people got an in-depth introduction to the Pocket PC. And thousands more packed individual booths 5-rows deep to watch Pocket PC demonstrations. It was very fulfilling for us to see the interest and excitement for the Pocket PC at this year's COMDEX. Hal Goldstein and I write about it in more depth throughout this issue.
The Pocket PC may have gotten most of the attention at COMDEX, but a number of manufacturers were showing off their newer Handheld PCs. HP's Jornada 720 was a hot item at its booth and Intermec's 6651 Handheld PC Pro with a built-in digital camera was grabbing attention in the Microsoft Partner's Pavilion. I review the latter in
another article in this issue.
I ran into Microsoft's Doug Dedo in the Pocket PC Partner's Pavilion. We chatted a little about his interview in this issue. But mostly we
talked about Transcriber, the user-installable handwriting recognition program that comes with the Pocket PC. Doug absolutely loves Transcriber and has discovered a number of wonderful tips that make it more powerful and easier to use. He showed me them while I took furious notes. Expect a Transcriber article in a future issue.
Many of the developers in the Microsoft Pocket PC Partner's Pavilion were displaying enterprise or vertical niche products. I saw software
to help the MIS departments manage and support Pocket and Handheld PC users; I saw software to help wireless business users communicate with their corporate networks; and I saw a number of system integrators companies whose mission is to help other companies design and deploy wireless systems using Windows CE Pocket and Handheld PCs. Microsoft and equipment manufacturers believe that this area will drive the success of Windows CE. Check out the special Enterprise/Vertical Niche section in this issue for more on this hot topic.
Wireless communications was also a hot topic at COMDEX. In this issue, Steve Schlanger writes about
using his Casio E-105 with a Nokia cell phone to send and receive email. At COMDEX HP and Compaq were showing off wireless Web/e-mail solutions for their Pocket PCs. And both Conduits and SoDeog were demonstrating their Windows CE-to-Palm OS infrared communications software. See Chris de Herrera's article in this issue for more on communicating with
Palms. We review three of bSquare's communication programs in this issue, but I missed them at COMDEX this year.
Wireless is a hot topic because Pocket PC and other mobile users really do want "anytime, anywhere information." Check out TouchPak. It uses an iPAQ Pocket PC and Proxim's new CompactFlash wireless LAN adapter to
provide restaurant patrons with menus, news, and information on local
entertainment while they wait for their seats. You might also be interested in Ed Zabrek's review of TeleType's new CompactFlash GPS receiver.
Hal and I walked away from COMDEX with the feeling that the
Pocket PC had finally made it, and made it big. I think we'll see a lot of news and new products coming out this year, supporting Pocket PCs and their users.
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