GPS in PDAs

This is not at all surprising: a PDA incorporating GPS. For a couple of years at least, GPS was available as a "card" (i.e., as a device that plugged into the PDA using the PC Card/PCMCIA slot). Now more OEMs are incorporating the GPS into the device itself, along with GPS applications (e.g., navigation systems).

The hv6500 Mobile Messenger will be available with Vodafone SIMs shortly, and can be ordered from online retailers in two versions, the hv6510 without a camera, at £366, and the hv6515 with a camera at £389. Despite being a newcomer to telecoms handsets, and some teething trouble with the 6315 model, HP is adapting well to the demands of operators, said Regine Hohnsbein, HP's European director of handhelds and mobility. "We already have 15 operator contracts in Europe for converged devices," he said.

The camera-free version has been made at the request of corporations, but their stance that cameras are frippery has softened, said Smith. "Some corporates don't want cameras, but we've been asked for some applications that use cameras," he said, listing insurance assessors and car -ire companies. "It's not just consumers that want cameras."

Of course, my next prediction is neural microprocessors that allow PDA users to literally download additional capacities for their devices. If your PDA doesn't come with GPS, it can become GPS -capable by reconfiguring its microprocessor instruction set.