The lines are merging between today's ultra-light computers and some SmartPhones. Sony Ericsson introduces their beautiful new Xperia SmartPhone at a price of $800 USD with no subsidies available from any carrier.
The Symbian operating system has not proven as popular as developers had hoped with the main players BlackBerry and Windows Mobile holding their own. Newcomer, Apple has also eaten up a big chunk of the pie that once belonged almost exclusively to BB and WM.
Meanwhile Sony Ericsson and giant Nokia, stumble along trying to crack the North American market for SmartPhone PDA's. There's no logic to their lack of sales as their devices are top-notch in every category. The Symbian OS is mature and stable but they just can't seem to get the carriers on side, to support sales with subsription incentives (subsidies).
There are some great choices out there among ultra-light computers that with the addition of an "Internet stick", give users their entire desktop, anywhere they go. The real factor that seems to determine who prefers what device for which activity is user input. Until voice recognition enters the mobile space, keyboards either virtual or physical are going to remain the input mode of choice. Leaving consumers...with an ever increasing variety in choices.
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