PDAs to be free by 2003, says Gartner

By the end of 2003, 70 per cent of personal digital assistants (PDAs) will be free or subsidised while vendors continue to cram as many web surfing features as they can into their small devices.

According to researcher Gartner, a $500 PDA will offer a colour screen, integrated short range and long range wireless communications, location services and speech recognition.

Access to the internet will be a key functionality of mobile devices in the next few years, and Gartner predicts that by 2004, 70 per cent of wireless phones will have web capabilities.

But while these appliances will have some form of web access, most purchasers will demand strong voice capabilities first and data second, the company said.