Mike Foster's Palm Vx could cost him money today-lots of it. The professional speaker, whose specialty is telling businesses how to exploit new technology, has a chance to make $240,000. But he must respond promptly to an international organization that has requested a speaker for 24 of its chapters. At $10,000 a pop, it's an opportunity Foster can't pass up. But critical information he needs to close the deal is locked in an e-mail attachment that is slow to open. The e-mail itself is next to impossible to view on his PDA's low-resolution screen. Someone else might reach the meeting planner first and get the job-and the payday.

"It's a big game, and the quicker you get your information, the better you can respond," says Foster, who might not be able to connect his laptop to the Internet until he arrives in Chicago at 10:30 at night. To make matters worse, the airline lost some of his baggage, including a keyboard accessory that would let him type an intelligible reply, and responding with the Palm's handwriting recognition software isn't generally as fast as typing.