[JohnR]

An article in today's Sydney Morning Herald triggers this question: to what extent do you see the "smartphone" as the hot (client-side) computing platform of the future?

After all - everybody has a phone, right? Why go to the desktop or even open up the laptop if you can just pull the phone out of your pocket and get or do what you need?

What impact do you, as a developer or consumer of computer software and services, see with a handheld device (the phone part is almost secondary to this discussion) that has as much computing power and connectivity as any laptop of a few years ago?

[PhilNYC]

The iPhone definitely opened a lot of peoples' eyes to the possibilities, although Apple's tight grip on iTunes as an application distribution channel limits some of the opportunities.  I see a lot of talk about companies wanting to develop apps on Google Android, but are waiting to see what new devices beyond the G1 become available.  I also hear a lot of great things regarding the Palm Pre as a computing platform, but they will need to get with a carrier other than Sprint to be successful.

The #1 limitation for all of these devices, however, is the limited battery life of each device.  Can't use them for mission-critical apps if they have to hit the charger every 8 hours...