Monday, April 09, 2007 2:52 PM
Chris posted on his blog about the demise of the Axim PPC line. Interestingly enough, when you look at the types of devices entering the Windows Mobile marketplace there are two distinct lines forming: communication enabled devices and rugged devices.
Take a look at the list of Mobile devices on Microsoft's site. Only 4 of them (one being the cancelled Axim) are wife-wants-to-electronically-create-a-shopping-list grade, while the others are "rugged" or specialied to fit a certain environment.
Compare that with the Smartphone and PPC Phone listing, and you find 10 listed on the main page...but you can search by carrier, country, etc. to locate even more.
I remember going to Grand Forks, ND last Summer. I was so stoked to go to Best Buy in the states because they obviously would have a greater selection of electronics than what the Canadian counterparts received! I strutted into the store, and looked around for the PPC's. I couldn't find any. I finally asked one of the employees where they all were, and he led me to a back corner of the store where they had 3 Palm Tungsten devices...and that's it! I asked him why there were so few, and he said the statement that really serves as the death sentence for the general-use PPC: "Nobody buys them because for the same price they can get a laptop."
This of course is just a natural movement: people will be willing to pay high prices for devices that have the greatest use, but would find it hard to justify paying $500 or $600 for a device when they could buy a low-end (but still aptly powered) laptop for the same price.
D