PDAs Short History

PDA or personal digital assistant (PDA) is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. It act as an electronic organizer or day planner that is portable, easy to use and capable of sharing information with your pC. It is not a replacement of your PC but an extension.

In 1986, the first PDA was released by Psion the Organizer II and was followed in 1991 by Psion's Series which began to resemble the more familiar PDA style. They included small keyboards for input, a small display, and basic features such as an alarm clock, calendar, telephone pad and calculator. Support for specialized software such as games and spreadsheets was also included.

The term 'PDA' was first used on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton.  Some of the Newton's innovations have become standard PDA features, including a pressure-sensitive display with stylus, handwriting recognition capabilities, an infrared port and an expansion slot. However, the Newton MessagePad was too big, expensive and complicated, and its handwriting recognition program was poor. Apple discontinued the Newton in 1998.

Palm Computing in 1996 introduced the original  PalmPilot. It has it's own operating systems, fit in a shirt pocket and synchonized with consumers' PCs. The PalmPilot ran for weeks on AAA batteries, was easy to use, and could store thousands of contacts, appointments and notes. Part of its small size was due to the lack of a keyboard. Users used a stylus and the Graffiti language to input data.

In November 1996, Microsoft released Windows CE, its first operating system for mobile devices.Some manufacturers adopted it for what was dubbed the Handheld PC -- the first Windows-based competitor for the PalmPilot.

Today, almost all PDAs are smartphones. Over 150 million smartphones are sold each year, while "stand-alone" PDAs without phone functionality sell only about 3 million units per year.