During a recent girls’ night with some ol’ university friends, two of us pulled out our personal digital assistants (PDAs) to schedule our next get-together.
When another pal piped in that perhaps she too should get a handheld computer, a quasi forum ensued as to why she needed one. After all, what reason would a home-based ceramic artist, wife and mother with limited technological knowledge have to get one?
Plenty of reason, if you ask me. Career or no career, there are a load of appointments, errands, birthdays, social plans and phone numbers to remember when raising children, preparing dinner, calling the plumber and handling everything else that falls through the cracks.
I wasn’t always the self-assured, upwardly mobile and take-charge techno woman you read before you (a blatant lie, but work with me…). In the beginning, using my handheld was like walking gracefully in three-inch high stilettos – even though, truth be told, my husband helped customize the settings.
Frankly, I found the whole notion of parting with my mechanical pencil and authentic-paper-packed agenda challenging. That chunky black-leather-bound organizer had become part of me over the years. I had a lot of time invested in it. Too much time – which is why I needed a little technology on my side.
Like many women, my days just whiz by. I’m so preoccupied with meeting my work deadlines, co-ordinating our family social schedule and hauling my kiddies off to preschool, doctor’s appointments, play-dates and parties that my time is usually not my own.
I know I’m not alone – so do PDA manufacturers. For while the handheld revolution may have been driven by business professionals, the move to mainstream has been gaining momentum since Handspring Inc. began offering its Visor PDAs in five different colours in 1998.
Dubbed lifestyle accessories versus business tools, Visors seemingly go hand in hand with women whom comprise 30 per cent of Handspring’s customers base – up 10 per cent from Summer 2000 alone.
Claire Dean, the company’s director of brand marketing attributes the growth to women’s ever busy lives plus the fact that they’re getting a lot more comfortable with technology. “Women have to manage multiple schedules whether they’re working or not,” she explains. “Trying to manage three or four people’s lives can get crazy after a while.”
Hot on Handspring’s heels, market leader Palm Inc. released the m100 last year for first-time users and reported a record 35 per cent female buyers – compared to the two per cent who typically purchase Palms.
Snap-on face plates – similar to those for cell phones – also made their debut in colors ranging from leopard print to azure to purple passion.
And let’s not forget about Palm’s Vx Claudia Schiffer Edition. Clad in aqua metallic blue (and looks 10 pounds heavier on camera), this PDA fashion statement stores 10,000 addresses, 400 e-mails, 3,000 memos and five years’ worth of appointments.
There’s really no shortage of PDAs so you’re bound to find one that fits your needs, personal style and budget. Speaking of budgets, if yours is of larger proportions (lucky you) or you don’t have one (luckier you), you may want to take a gander at Pocket PCs, such as the Compaq iPAQ, Casio Cassiopeia or HP Jornada.
Designed for mobile professionals, Pocket PCs incorporate multimedia features enabling you to store video clips, play MP3 music files, voice-record a memo to yourself in the car, playback your children singing, even browse the Web when wireless becomes available into 2002.
In fact, Digital Journal gave Best Product Awards to the Web-ready Jornada 565 and 720 (see page 50). Delivering lots of memory and full-colour displays, these handhelds are among the first to be based on Microsoft’s Pocket PC 2002 Premium Edition operating system. Natch, like most Pocket PCs, they’re a bit pricier than other PDAs. But undoubtedly, as with all technology, price points will come down eventually.
Meantime, start shopping around. There’s an abundance of affordable PDAs out there, not to mention cool software to help organize and/or entertain you – no matter whether you’re trying to shed a few pounds, grab control of your finances or give birth in an orderly fashion.
No time to hit the stores? Don’t worry. PDAs are increasingly being nestled in amongst your favourite Calvin Klein and Maytag ads in magazines like Martha Stewart Living. And, like the maven would say, “it’s a good thing.”
