You have either enjoyed the past 4 day’s musings of the smartphone world on PDA-247 or you are bored silly. Well, I hope it is the former and to round it off let’s take a look at the decade before the last one and see who were the true pioneers of an industry so immense that it is starting to touch the lives of everyone.

Arguments continue concerning what the first ever PDA to be released was and many believe that Apple invented the format with the Newton, but that is far from the truth. The HP 95LX was the first PDA when it was released in April 1991 and featured a clamshell design with a 4.8” display and a QWERTZ keyboard. It was without doubt one for the geeks and to this day still has a following of sorts and a good condition model will set you back more than £50.

Two months later the Psion Series 3 appeared and this was the first one I bought. It was magnificent and at the time was a revelation and showed what could be done when good hardware design was paired with an efficient operating system. In March of 1992 the Series 3a appeared and this changed everything. The 480×160 pixel screen made it much more usable that the original 3 and so the PDA industry was born.

HP continued to improve on the 95LX with the 100LX, but the next big release was the Apple Newton MessagePad 110 in March 1993. All of these early devices were way ahead of what the general public was expecting to do with portable electronic devices and so they never reached out from the niche in which they existed, but the early Psions and Newtons showed what could be done in a world where computer ownership was still a comparative rarity.

HP and Apple continued releasing PDAs over the next 2 years and the OmniGo 100 was the only new model to reach the market, but then in June 1995 the U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot 1000 appeared. In the US PDA ownership started to grow outside of a very small niche circle and subsequent releases (Pilot 5000, Palm III, Palm V etc.) meant that Palm OS would be king of the PDA hill by the end of the decade. The clever data input system felt just right for the average user and was the first to understand that human beings want a natural sensation when dealing with a mobile device.

Ironically, Psion was going from strength to strength in Europe, but failed to market properly in the US and never dominated in the way it should have. The pinnacle was the Psion 5MX released in July 1999 which is probably the most usable PDA from the 90’s today. Sadly it all went wrong soon after and Psion disappeared from the mainstream market.

Microsoft entered the PDA market in the 90’s and presented us with Windows CE. The HP 320LX is a good example of just how poor these early devices were and they were poor with a capital ‘P’. For people like me who were hardened Psion users, our first experience with these devices would have been funny if it wasn’t so expensive. A succession of Windows CE devices followed and none of them were worth the effort…

Nokia knocked out the ‘huge’ 9000 Communicator in 1996 (the first smartphone?) and this was mildly successful in the UK. I remember seeing a few in pubs and offices and chuckling when people held them up to their ears.

The decade continued with multiple Windows CE released, Palm OS growing every year and even Apple persevered with the Newton range. Ultimately though the 90’s were a time when the smart mobile industry was born, but with so many consumers and manufacturers just testing the water we ended the decade in a state of flux. It is ironic indeed that we did the same at the end of 2009 and still there is no dominant OS or hardware maker in this industry. Long may that continue.

Most significant device of the 90’s: U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot 1000

Related articles: A decade of PDAs and smartphones: 2000-2002 / A decade of PDAs and smartphones: 2003-2005 / A decade of PDAs and smartphones: 2006-2008 / A decade of PDAs and smartphones: 2009 and beyond