The PalmPilot and the handheld revolution
Michael K. McCandless · IEEE Expert · 1997
With many failed and still-failing efforts, handheld computation has been taking a long time to arrive. However, the unquestionable success of 3Com's PalmPilot heralds the start of a revolution in computation. The author discusses the many guises of portable computers and considers the reasons for Pilot's success. He discusses three enabling technologies: wireless networking, Global Positioning Systems and cryptography.