4 ms·

That's not my takeaway - I think they just critically mistimed the idea and didn't have much business sense to realize it. Even if their experience was bs-free

by npunt 7y ago

That's not my takeaway - I think they just critically mistimed the idea and didn't have much business sense to realize it. Even if their experience was bs-free and they were extremely well capitalized, they wouldn't have succeeded because the tech wasn't anywhere near ready. 90s tech (batteries, cpus, screens, etc) could only reasonably produce single function hand-held devices like phones and CDs. Even late 90s tech like in Palm Pilots could only make pretty crummy experiences that had limited mass market appeal. Longer take on it: https://nickpunt.com/blog/category-defining-products/ https://nickpunt.com/blog/category-defining-products/

IggleSniggle 7y ago
The Palm Pilot was pretty brilliant. It was so cheap! And as a result I imagine it got a lot of people used to the idea of being able to do "mobile computing", and what kind of activities would work well in the form factor. I can still remember the sound of my m100s clicks.
beamatronic 7y ago
I had a Handspring Visor. They were pretty trendy in 1999-2000. My friend had the Ricochet cellular modem and we were jealous he could get email on it. But there were apps similar to Yelp with databases of restaurant reviews. It would sync in the cradle, attached to your PC, to get the latest data over the Internet. Imagine an iPod touch with no radios.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Trendy is a good word for it. I won mine at some trade show raffle and I know lots of tech folks who all wanted one during a certain period. However I also remember that, among other things, the cradle sync requirement made them not really all that terribly useful. Mine became drawer-ware after a while and I don't think that was all that unusual.
- npunt 7y ago
  Yeah these devices did check some boxes for various features and capabilities, and as a late 90s tech geek I wanted one badly because they were clearly 'the future', but the fit & finish in the UX just wasn't there for breakout success. That was largely a function of the state of hardware. I also had a pseudo-iPhone experience with my Treo in 2005-07, with an add-on bluetooth GPS and various apps for MP3s etc. It did the job in a way, but it was clunky, and the web experience was subpar to say the least. But it was a sign of things to come.

by npunt 7y ago

IggleSniggle 7y ago

The Palm Pilot was pretty brilliant. It was so cheap! And as a result I imagine it got a lot of people used to the idea of being able to do "mobile computing", and what kind of activities would work well in the form factor. I can still remember the sound of my m100s clicks.

beamatronic 7y ago

I had a Handspring Visor. They were pretty trendy in 1999-2000. My friend had the Ricochet cellular modem and we were jealous he could get email on it. But there were apps similar to Yelp with databases of restaurant reviews. It would sync in the cradle, attached to your PC, to get the latest data over the Internet. Imagine an iPod touch with no radios.

ghaff 7y ago
Trendy is a good word for it. I won mine at some trade show raffle and I know lots of tech folks who all wanted one during a certain period. However I also remember that, among other things, the cradle sync requirement made them not really all that terribly useful. Mine became drawer-ware after a while and I don't think that was all that unusual.
npunt 7y ago
Yeah these devices did check some boxes for various features and capabilities, and as a late 90s tech geek I wanted one badly because they were clearly 'the future', but the fit & finish in the UX just wasn't there for breakout success. That was largely a function of the state of hardware. I also had a pseudo-iPhone experience with my Treo in 2005-07, with an add-on bluetooth GPS and various apps for MP3s etc. It did the job in a way, but it was clunky, and the web experience was subpar to say the least. But it was a sign of things to come.