May 30, 2002
A MARKET MATURES, STAFF REPORTS - The Boston Globe. Business

The market for personal digital assistants - handheld or pocket- size devices known as PDAs - is maturing, according to a new report from the research firm Gartner Dataquest. But new devices, a new Palm operating system, and increased computing power could boost the fortunes of the sector by making PDAs more competitive with laptop computers.  

After years of breakneck growth, the worldwide PDA market slowed last year and a slower rate of growth is projected for 2002 as well, the Dataquest report suggests. The research firm estimates that 15.5 million PDAs will be shipped this year, up 18 percent from shipments of 13 million units in 2001. Last year, in turn, saw a growth rate of 18.3 percent, way down from the 114 percent rate of growth recorded for 2000.

"There's been a leveling off in the past year or so," said Todd Kort, the San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest principal analyst who wrote the report. "But it's difficult to say what the ultimate saturation point might be. Within a few years, you may see PDAs replacing notebooks for many people as the device to take with them wherever they go." 

CELLPHONES HELPING HEARING-IMPAIRED More than 120 million people across the US now carry cellphones, but one group struggles to join the wireless revolution: the 28 million Americans with hearing impairment. Not only are cellphones by design much quieter than desk phones, but their speakers typically create nothing but buzz in hearing aids.
Late this summer, however, a Texas-based company called Audex® that has 25 years' experience producing devices for hearing- impaired people expects to begin selling an innovative cellphone amplifying device that snaps onto popular models of Nokia phones. 

In a visit to the Globe last week, Audex chief executive Richard Manley demonstrated an early version of its CHAAMP™ device, which you clip onto the back of a Nokia 5100, 6100, or 7100 series phone where the battery fits. The speaker can add 30 decibels to the volume. The $129 snap-on module incorporates a battery and digital voice memo recorder.

Not only has Nokia shared patented phone design details to help Audex® design it, but Manley said AT&T Wireless may be interested in selling it through its 2,500 US retail outlets. 

WIRELESS NETWORKING
UP AND RUNNING.  A local group trying to promote and spread information about wireless data networking systems holds its kickoff forum Wednesday night in Boston.
 
The Boston Mobile Forum's backers include networking giant Cisco Systems and Boston- and Providence-based technology consultants Watch Hill Partners.
 
Tim Wagner, the forum chairman and managing director, said the group is aiming not to be "a marketing tool" but rather "a well- organized group of people searching for ways to use technologies that exist today to better businesses," including WiFi networking systems and wireless and mobile devices.

The 5:30 to 8 event at One Federal Street (RSVP at bostonmobileforum.com) will include a half-hour presentation from LifeSpan, the partnership of Rhode Island Hospital and Miriam Hospital, on how it has used wireless technology in its operations. The forum has also set up chat board discussion groups and links on its Web site with information about WiFi and third-generation wireless systems.

WEB SEARCH ENGINES
POKEMON DROPS OFF LIST Last week, Waltham-based Terra Lycos marked a milestone. For the first time since it launched the Lycos 50 in August 1999, the weekly list of the 50 most searched-for topics on the Web didn't include Pokemon.
 
Pokemon ranked number one on the first Lycos 50 list, and held the top rank almost every week through July 25, 2000. Even when it dropped from the top spot, it remained in the top 10 through October and the top 20 for over a year. Aaron Schatz, author of the Lycos 50 report, said he began to see the handwriting on the wall last year, though. "If you've been to any toy stores, Pokemon is on the discount shelves," he said.
 
The fall of Pokemon leaves Dragonball as the sole Japanese cartoon on the Lycos 50, where it weighs in at number three. "Dragonball is the new Pokemon," Schatz said. Besides Dragonball, only a handful of topics from the original list remain: Britney Spears, tattoos, World Wrestling Federation, Pamela Anderson, Las Vegas, and Jennifer Lopez.