[rmc]

No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame.

This was the slashdot editor's byline when Apple released the iPod. Just because a technology exists at one point and failed, doesn't mean that sort of technology can never work. Apple released the Newton ages ago, and we didn't switch to touch screen mobile devices till the iPhone.

[officemonkey]

Speak for yourself. Many many people were using touch screens on Palm devices throughout the late 90s and early 2000s.

[rmc]

Yes, lots of people were. But it wasn't mainstream.

[officemonkey]

I'm pretty sure you weren't working in business in the United States in the late 90s. The Palm devices were the fancy gadgets to have.

The were vastly more mainstream than the Newton ever was. They lost traction when the Blackberry phone emerged in the early 2000s, but if they had been able to get in the phone game faster, Palm could have beaten Apple to the smartphone.