Palm or Pocket PC? What are the drawbacks to each, and benefits to both?
Palm is dominant in the market, simple to learn. Information & Communication Technology (ICT) basics can be employed with Palm on a zero level user basis, tying it in with global development efforts such as the Digital Opportunity Initiative launched by the United Nations. If I had to use one OS to teach the world how to communicate, this would be it. Graffiti is very easy to use and the strokes work quite well with double-byte character sets such as Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, and Cyrillic. The low power usage of the monochrome display makes it ideal for field applications. In my opinion, the low cost of hardware combined with the ease of learning makes it great for applications in developing countries.
With the versatility and processing power that only laptops had two years ago, these are a whole new breed of animal.
PPC 2002 is coming up strong, based on Windows, so learning Windows is critical. Not as intuitive, but multiple applications run really well on this OS - it also has a Palm emulator that allows Palm software to be used on it. It may only have a third of the market share vs. Palm, however two years ago it had virtually no share at all.
There are also software programs that allow the Bluetooth-enabled iPaq to connect to GPRS/GSM handsets and many more devices out on the market. This is a very strong step towards a two-device PDA/Phone solution vs. an integrated voice/data PDA Phone.