@bob @rixx I remember HP IPAQ PDAs (might still have one in a drawer somewhere) that you could access the net with a separate mobile phone and either Bluetooth or IRDA.

it was quite a clunky process and you had to set it up as a modem and dial *99# or something similar and remember the providers access code. With IRDA you also had to have the devices in line of sight for the IR LEDs, and either way it was quite clunky and the connection forever dropped and/or the device lost its config...

@bob @rixx And I feel it's worth noting that a significant portion of that capability was available commercially in smartphones in 1999 - while devices like the Nokia 9110 Communicator and the Qualcomm pdQ didn't do everything on that list, they did a fair amount of it.

Convergence really was inevitable, although some players didn't see smartphones pushing down into the consumer space - look at the Motorola ROKR as an example of that.

@bhtooefr

@bob @rixx

I was working for Ericsson when the first iPhone came out. Smartphones were already on the market, although they were mainly seen as high-end devices mainly for business use and so a niche market.

Ericsson gambled on feature-phones instead, and it really hurt them. I don't think any of the big players at that time were successful in predicting the market appetite for smartphones.