10: Handhelds

LOOKING BACK, WE'LL remember 2001 as the first year in which handheld devices finally escaped the label of "gadget" and became more than simple electronic organizers. As a result, handhelds are quickly becoming IT's next responsibility --or headache, depending on your perspective. Either way, the impact of handhelds on the way people interact with computing technology is just beginning to be felt, and that alone is reason enough to name handhelds as a Technology of the Year.

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Just a few years ago, PDAs and their ilk were strictly "personal" -- meaning that if a company paid for them, it was buried deep within a budget request for paper clips and other whatnots. Now, the very term "PDA" seems to be so '90s, and company-issued handhelds have become commonplace, although still valuable; to cite one example, Enron is insisting that terminated employees return their Palms and BlackBerries, but the newly redundant can keep their cell phones if they assume responsibility for the service.

Not that we expect this attitude to change. Handhelds aren't likely to become as disposable as cell phones anytime soon. Also, security is a real concern; although a cell phone might carry some confidential information in the form of phone numbers, handheld devices can carry much more data -- increasing the damage when a device is lost or stolen. IT departments won't have to reinvent the wheel: Handhelds will continue to be treated the same way companies treat computers -- but that shouldn't come as any surprise.

Of course, one key component of a useful handheld environment is just starting to mature with the adoption of wireless networking protocols such as 802.11b and Bluetooth. After all, a handheld that's constantly tethered to a desktop machine isn't very useful. We expect to see many IT organizations make the adoption of handheld devices a justification for adding or expanding their wireless infrastructure.

If anything, many companies are waiting for the devices themselves, as well as their supporting infrastructure, to mature before taking any massive plunge. Concern about support issues -- especially training -- may drive customers toward Microsoft's Pocket PC platform in the long term. For now, devices such as Research in Motion's BlackBerry 957 will continue to duke it out with the more established Palm OS devices from Handspring and Palm itself. But Palm's lead can't last forever, and that will be one of the big stories in 2002.