Web

Handhelds of Tomorrow

  • April 2002
  • By Claire Tristram

Think thumb keyboards and portable hard drives--not the overhyped notions of cell phone Web browsers and "pen-based computing."

   

Ken Pugh is the future.

Mr. Pugh is drinking coffee in a Starbucks in San Jose, CA. He has many gizmos hanging from his belt. A cell phone, complete with stars-and-stripes face plate. A headset for his phone. A pager. A separate wireless device with a tiny screen and thumb-sized keyboard for tapping out e-mail messages. A digital organizer. "You could call me a gearhead," he says, with pride. "My only complaint is that I have to carry so many things." His phone beeps. He answers it, with a bit of a flourish, as if to demonstrate his gearheadedness.

It's a generally accepted belief-in the computer industry, at least-that it's only a matter of time before everyone will want to be just as connected as Mr. Pugh, whom I meet while pondering our digital future over a grande mocha. In Japan gearheads are typically teenagers, known as the oyayubizoku-literally, "clan of the thumbs"-for their enthusiasm for tapping out messages to one another with their thumbs on their cell phones. Here in Silicon Valley it's usually the business travelers, like Mr. Pugh, who are the ascendant gearheads. Electronics giants and startup ventures alike are trying to get those of us not in either category just as hooked on handheld digital devices.

 

To read the entire article you must log in:

Most of our content — all daily news, blogs, and videos — is free. Magazine stories are paid. To read this story, you must have a subscription or you must use a reading credit. Registration to Technology Review is free and entitles registrants to three free reading credits.

Username or REGISTER
Password  
   
 
Advertisement

MAGAZINE

Can We Build Tomorrow's Breakthroughs?

Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.

Videos

Meet 2011 TR35 Winner Jesse Robbins

More

Advertisement

Technology Review Lists

TR50

Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:

Joule Unlimited

BrightSource Energy

A123 Systems

Lyric Semiconductor

More

Advertisement

Facebook

Advertisement