Manu,

These could've / should've converged years ago. Some of the early entrants (circa 1996,7) had some very good possibilities for making this happen. One that I remember well was the Nokia 9000i. The problem that prevented many of the early devices from taking off and leading the charge as a multi-function unit that can begin to replace a laptop (which was around 4-5K USD at the time, so it was sorely needed) for some of the basic functions was the operating systems installed on these devices and their lack of openness. At the time, you had Symbian OS running on the Nokia's. The phsical device was awesome, and ahead of its time, but the OS was just lack luster. If Nokia had made a bold step to embrace and work with Microsoft on the early versions of Windows CE (1.0 at the time) they may be a totally different company today and the whole industry landscape (RIM/Blackberry's) may have taken on another flavor all together. Today, it looks like where the world had turned, is not in "replacing" it will never happen as the iPhones and Blackberrys are a category unto their own and its no longer the desire or need. But take a look at the ASUS EEE PC, this is the new laptop replacement and a new "category" that can successfully merge telecom/cell and data services. These devices ship with Skype, Wireless, WebCam, Portable, Affordable, useable. And the biggest downside for all of the iPhone type devices is "incompatibility" in their software. This is why ASUS shipping with Linux will become the dominant player.

Good Luck,
Peter
February 2009