Asianometry Podcast Summary:

Episode: PDAs – Ancestors of the Smartphones

Host: Jon Y (Asianometry)
Date: October 12, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jon Y charts the fascinating evolution of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), exploring their transition from humble paper-based organizers to powerful forerunners of today's smartphones. The episode traces technological advances, key players, spectacular successes and missteps, and the foundational innovations that ultimately set the stage for mobile computing and convergence devices.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. From Paper Organizers to Electronic Devices

• Origins: Early "organizers" were simply fashionable notebooks (e.g., Filofax) for storing contacts and dates.
• Calculator Makers' Role: Japanese calculator manufacturers, leveraging their semiconductor know-how, pioneered the electronic organizer.
• Early Milestones:
  • Sharp PC-1210 (1980): First pocket computer with a QWERTY keyboard, programmable in BASIC.
  • Casio PF-3000 (1983): First true "electronic organizer," address book could store names in katakana and had innovative software-based sorting (00:40).

“The key selling feature for that one was an address book that stored a person’s phone number and name in katakana, the phonetic alphabet, not kanji, the crazy Chinese one.” – Jon Y (00:43)

2. Enter Psion (Scion): The British PDA Pioneer

• Founding: David Potter, inspired by microprocessors at UCLA, started Scion in the UK (later Psion), recruiting academics to build software and, ultimately, hardware (02:30).
• Psion Organizer One (1984):
  • 8-bit device, £99 price, programmable, ran off a Hitachi 8-bit CMOS processor.
  • Used EPROMs for storage—first significant adoption of nonvolatile memory in handhelds, albeit requiring UV light for erasure (04:20).

“If he wanted to erase anything, he pulled the chip out of the device and held it under ultraviolet light for 15 minutes.” – Jon Y (04:54)

• Market Reception: Aimed at “yuppies,” but resonated more with retailers for stock checking. Sold 30,000 units in 18 months.

3. Iterative Progress & Expanding Capabilities

• Psion Organizer II (1986):

  • Improved EPROM (no more UV erasing), larger RAM, expansion packs with calculators, translators, spreadsheet readers (06:10).
  • Could read Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets, albeit awkwardly.

• Competition Emerges:

  • Casio Boss and Sharp Wizard rise as global competitors.
  • Common features: diary, calendar, contact book, calculator, IC card expansions, computer syncing.

"One interview subject... used the Wizard in my briefcase for quick note taking, calculations, contact lookup, scheduling, calendar and alarm functions." – Jon Y (07:33)

4. Limitations of Early Devices & Rise of Embedded Operating Systems

• User Experience Issues:
  • Devices were often pricier, bulkier, and less flexible than paper organizers (08:08).
  • Embedded OSs limited to ROM chips, fast but unable to support complex apps.
• Psion Attempts a Leap:
  • They begin work on Epoch, a 16-bit OS, to bridge the gap between organizer and full computer.

5. Palm Tops: Shrinking the PC

• Notable Devices:

  • Atari Portfolio (1989): DOS-compatible, produced by DIP (UK ex-Psion employees).
  • HP 95LX, Pocket PC: Offered Lotus 1-2-3, tiny keyboards/screens, selling the vision of “the power of the IBM PC in the Palm of your hand” (12:25).

• Psion MC400 (1989):

  • Powered by 8 AA batteries, up to 60 hours, £895 ($3200 today).
  • GUI interface with one of the first touchpads; ahead of its time, but flopped commercially due to high cost and incompatibility (13:35).

• Success and Failure:

  • MC400’s lack of DOS compatibility and expensive price led to poor sales and a crash in Psion’s stock (15:20).

6. The Breakout: Psion Series 3 (1991)

• Decision Point: Should an organizer become a computer or remain an organizer? Psion chose to go full computer—added QWERTY keyboard, enhanced Epoch OS, more apps (spreadsheet, word processing), modem support (16:06).
• Design Innovations:
  • Clamshell design to fit batteries in hinge.
• Success:
  • Released at £195 ($300), became a hit: >100,000 units sold immediately, 20,000/month ongoing (17:24).
  • Precipitated the creation of 32-bit Epoch for future devices.

7. The Pen Computing Craze

• Conceptual Roots:
  • Alan Kay’s Dynabook (late ‘60s): Portable, pen-navigated computing ideal.
• Early Products:
  • GridPad (1989): MS-DOS, handwriting recognition, $5000, successful among field workers (18:40).
  • Sony Palm Top PTC 500 (1990): Stylus input, “fuzzy logic” handwriting; domestic hit in Japan, not abroad.
• Venture Capital & Startups:
  • GO Corporation and the PenPoint OS (funded by John Doerr): Handwriting command gestures, inspired early interest and Microsoft’s “Pen Windows” (21:00).

“Pen based computing reminds me a lot of the kind of goosebumps I felt when I first saw Lotus 1-2-3.” – John Doerr on investing in GO (21:55)

8. Apple’s Newton: Ambition Meets Reality

• John Sculley’s Vision:
  • Apple’s CEO inspired by Dynabook, developed "Knowledge Navigator" concept, then the Newton as an “electronic organizer” for the masses— coined the term "PDA" (23:25).
• ARM’s Origins:
  • Newton’s CPU troubles led to co-founding ARM (Acorn RISC Machine) with Acorn and VLSI—launched the ARM chip architecture (25:10).

“Apple invested $3 million to form a joint venture... Out of this came a new chip called the Acorn RISC Machine. It’s the basis of today’s ARM.” – Jon Y (25:30)

• Newton Launch and Fallout:
  • Released 1993, $900 ($1,950 today).
  • Criticized for unreliable handwriting recognition; mocked in popular media.
  • Sold 40,000 in the first week, then just 100,000 over two years (27:36).

9. A Pivot: From Pen Computing to Mobile Computing (Palm’s Breakthrough)

• Jeff Hawkins’ Insight:
  • Saw lesson in pen computing: focus on mobile computing, not just pen input.
• Early Palm Failure:
  • Palm’s first effort (the Zoomer) was big, slow, expensive, and a flop (29:05).
• PalmPilot’s Winning Formula:
  • Small, pocket-sized, under $300, instant response, limited/but useful features (address book, to-do, memo, planner), seamless PC syncing (33:36).
• Launch and Impact:
  • Released 1996; immediate hit—70% market share, 1 million units in first 18 months.
• Ecosystem Growth:
  • Opened SDK, drove third-party apps (Docs2Go, Handbase, Quicken).

“The brilliance of the PalmPilot was … it took a real problem and solved it in a very simple way. We, on the other hand, with Newton, took a very complex problem…” – John Sculley (Palm vs. Newton) (36:10)

10. Microsoft’s Counterattack: Windows CE

• Initial Flop:
  • Windows CE 1.0 launched 1996, poor market reception due to clunky UI on small screens (38:40).
• Iterative Improvements:
  • CE 2.0/3.0 added color screens, networking, Office integration, but failed to dislodge Palm (CE’s share fell to 11.2% in 2000, Palm at 60-80%).
• Similar Pattern in Japan:
  • Windows CE never overcame Sharp’s Czarus and Palm PDAs.

11. Psion’s Last Hurrah & the Dawn of Symbian

• Series 5:
  • Launched 1997, well-reviewed but didn’t sell; high development costs led to profit warning (43:27).
• Mobile Phone Convergence:
  • As cell phones incorporated PDA features, Nokia/Ericsson sought partnership; Psion spun out software division (creating Symbian).
• Symbian’s Dominance:
  • Became the leading mobile OS in Europe, adopted by Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola (44:52).
• Rise of the Smartphone:
  • Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996) as an early smartphone: calls, email, notes, fax.

“The PDA’s future was then not as a standalone device, but as a feature inside of a larger ecosystem... The race to win the smartphone industry was on.” – Jon Y (46:21)

Memorable Quotes

• On Pen vs. Mobile Computing:

  "There is no pen computing industry. You guys are all wrong. There is mobile computing, and the pen is part of that…but as long as you keep thinking that pen computing is what it's all about, you're just going to miss it." – Jeff Hawkins (31:16)

• Innovation vs. Simplicity:

  "The approach we were all taking before was to say, 'We're going to take the PC and shrink it into this little box.'... What we realized after having some failures was there was a different approach... this device will be a PC accessory, not the next PC." – Donna Dubinsky, Palm CEO (32:19)

• On Convergence:

  “By 1999, it had become clear... mobile convergence was starting to happen not only in the birth of Symbian’s PDA and mobile phone operating system but also the rapid rise of the BlackBerry device—a device that both took calls and sent emails.” – Jon Y (45:37)

Timeline & Key Timestamps

| MM:SS | Event/Topic | |--------|--------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Organizer origins: from paper to electronic | | 02:30 | Psion’s founding story | | 04:20 | Launch of Psion Organizer One | | 06:10 | Organizer II & expansion packs | | 08:08 | Why early PDAs underwhelmed most people | | 12:25 | Palm tops and PC shrinkage (HP/Atari Portfolio) | | 13:35 | Psion MC400: innovative but too expensive | | 16:06 | Psion Series 3 decision (“computer or organizer”?)| | 17:24 | Series 3 market breakthrough | | 18:40 | Pen computing pioneers: GridPad, Sony PTC 500 | | 21:00 | GO Corporation & PenPoint OS | | 23:25 | Apple Newton development and coining “PDA” | | 25:30 | ARM’s foundation from Newton CPU woes | | 27:36 | Newton’s launch, media mockery, and struggles | | 29:05 | Palm Zoomer flop | | 33:36 | PalmPilot’s successful launch, design choices | | 36:10 | Sculley reflects on Palm vs. Newton | | 38:40 | Microsoft Windows CE initial failures | | 43:27 | Psion Series 5 and cost troubles | | 44:52 | Symbian’s rise with Nokia/Ericsson cooperation | | 45:37 | The emergence of “convergence devices” | | 46:21 | The race to create the smartphone begins |

Conclusion & Takeaways

• PDAs began as attempts to digitize the pocket organizer but evolved into launchpads for innovations in memory, operating systems, and mobile interfaces.
• Many paths (pen computing, organizers, pocket PCs) converged as the industry realized the future lay not in isolated smart devices but in convergence—one device for calls, notes, music, and more.
• The groundwork for both today's smartphone platforms and ARM architecture (now ubiquitous in mobile) was cemented in this era's struggles and bold pivots.
• Companies that learned to focus on solving real user problems simply and effectively (like Palm) triumphed—for a time—over those trying to do everything (like Apple’s Newton or Microsoft’s early Windows CE).
• By the late '90s, the race between cell phone manufacturers and PDA makers for dominance in the still-nascent smartphone market was on, with the ultimate winner—and the shape of modern life—still unknown.

For more on the evolution of smartphones and mobile OS wars, stay tuned for future Asianometry episodes.