Expanding Wireless Coverage

Notebooks Conquer Desktops A recent press release from the NPD Group (an analysis and marketing firm) reports that in May 2003, notebook PCs outsold desktop PCs, dollar-for-dollar, for the first time ever in the United States. The same month, LCD displays outsold CRTs--also for the first time. According to NPD, these findings represent a huge change from just a year ago, when notebooks accounted for less than 25 percent of US PC sales and CRTs for only 22 percent of display sales. What do these numbers mean? Technology sales have been flat for the past few years, mostly because of the downturn in the US economy following the shock of the burst Internet bubble and the aftereffects of the September 11, 2001, attacks. I speculate that as individuals and companies begin to spend money to replace old systems (or make purchases that were deferred in the bad times), they're choosing to go mobile. Although notebook PCs remain more expensive than desktops (NPD says that notebooks accounted for 54 percent of sales dollars in May, but they accounted for only 40 percent of volume), they increasingly offer identical performance and functionality. When the time comes to retire an obsolete desktop, replacing it with a mobile computer makes increasing sense. Watch for that trend to continue--and extend to less traditional devices, such as Tablet PCs. To read the NPD report, go to the following URL: http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_030701.htm

Tablet PC in Flight I'm writing this commentary during a brief hiatus from furious preparations for a 2-week trip that will involve flying a small airplane across most of the continental United States. I'm currently attending the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA's) annual AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The show is always huge (temporarily making Wittman Regional Airport the world's busiest airport, with more than 10,000 airplanes arriving and departing in just a few days), but this year will be even busier because it's the centennial of the Wright brothers' first powered flight in 1903. What do my plans have to do with mobile and wireless Windows technology? Quite a bit! I'm taking Motion Computing's Motion M1200 Tablet PC, which I've turned into an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) for aviation use by installing Jeppesen's FliteStar, FliteMap, and JeppView FliteDeck. These software programs give me electronic versions of aviation charts and instrument-approach procedures for the entire continental United States, all stored digitally on the Tablet PC hard disk. As a result, a 3-pound Tablet PC functionally replaces a 6' stack of paper charts and binders. The software also lets me quickly and easily perform flight planning that in the past required me to spend hours with charts covering the dining room table and the floor. Jeppesen's software has been available for quite some time. But traditional notebook PCs are poorly suited to airplane-cockpit use. I'm finding that a Tablet PC is a perfectly acceptable computer for aviation use. Many pilots also use Pocket PCs or other PDAs, which are small enough to fit in a "Yoke mount" on top of the pilot's control wheel. I continue to carry a Palm VIIx, which I use in the air for weather information and email. The ability to replace most of my paper charts with electronic ones finally sold me--I'm switching over permanently from conventional paper charts to electronic ones. (I'll continue to carry some paper charts as backups.) Working journalists rarely spend their own money on technology items (after all, we're always looking for the next big thing), but for this application, I've decided to take the plunge. I've purchased a Motion M1200. I'll be on the road (actually, on the airways) until approximately August 10. Until then, feel free to write me at my mobile address, which is jruley@palm.net. Next month, I expect to share some fascinating news--I've heard a rumor that at least one vendor has been demonstrating a Tablet PC with a daylight-viewable display. I'm hoping to see the device in Oshkosh.

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