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Photo by Steve Johnson Windows CE machines, such as this Philips Velo, are small enough to carry easily and can store thousands of addresses, phone numbers and other information. They can't leave home without it Personal digital assistants replace Rolodex, planner By DAVID PRESZLER To hear the converts tell it, the traditional Rolodex is breathing its last and pen-and-paper planners may be next. Electronic organizers, or personal digital assistants as they are called, are taking hold in the business world, a trend that is spreading to the Rogue Valley. Gold River Distributing president Steve Lytle went digital three or four years ago. Now, his PalmPilot is a constant companion. Even on vacation. Reached poolside on Maui on Tuesday afternoon, Lytle had his PalmPilot right there with towels, sun-tan lotion and frozen drinks. "I'm completely reliant on it to manage all aspects of my life, from personal to business," Lytle said. Personal digital assistants are handheld computers that store thousands of phone numbers and addresses, years worth of appointments, e-mail addresses, to-do lists and notes. Most connect to personal computers, transferring information quickly and easily: Just slide the device into a cradle attached to the computer, press a key or two and it's done. 3Com's PalmPilot, which just rolled out two new models, the Palm IIIx and the Palm V, is the current king of the digital assistants. More than two million have been sold nationwide, and analysts say 3Com holds 72 percent of the handheld computer market. PalmPilot, which comes with its own operating system, finds its chief competition from machines that use the Microsoft Windows CE operating system. Casio's Cassiopeia and Philips' Velo are two of the more popular CE machines. Sharp and Franklin (teamed with Rolodex) also make basic, yet powerful, electronic organizers. Price tends to vary with memory capabilities, ranging from basic organizers with 64 kilobytes for $10-$20 to machines like the Velo, which has 16 megabytes and starts about $500. Most run on watch-style lithium batteries or regular AA batteries; battery life varies, but most last at least 12 hours and provide backup systems. For years, the Franklin Day Planner has been the standard in business organizers. But people like Lytle have ditched pen and paper for the ease -- and storage power -- of the digital assistants. "The transition from using the old Franklin Day Planner is pretty transparent once you get used to it," says Lytle. "It's too easy. It fits in my coat pocket. I take it everywhere." Dave McFadden, a market design technician with Avista Utilities, got his first PalmPilot a few years back as a birthday present from his wife. A longtime user of traditional planners, he wasn't sold instantly. "At first, I was going to have her take it back," he says. But, while home sick shortly after he got it, he started playing with it and was hooked. "Now, if I don't have it, I feel like I cut my left arm off," he said. "It's all in one place and it's easy to carry." Sid DeBoer, chairman and CEO of Lithia Motors Inc., went digital years ago, purchasing an electronic Rolodex that still sits on his desk. Though he still uses it some, he's on to the PalmPilot now. "The biggest thing for me was getting one that works with my computer," he says. DeBoer uses his PalmPilot to keep track of everything from the birthdays of important customers, anniversaries to golf tournaments. As the devices have spread, extremely practical business applications have developed. For example, Lytle is purchasing PalmPilots for his sales representatives. A program he found allows representatives in the field to call up complete sales histories for customers, and gives them an easy way to enter new orders. "They are really a cost-effective machine," he says. PDAs just catching on here Sales of personal digital assistants may be taking off nationwide, but Travis Scott says the trend isn't hitting the Rogue Valley fast enough, given the machines' capabilities. "A lot of people are buying a notebook (computer) when they really don't need one," says Scott, a sales representative at Connecting Point. Scott says Windows CE machines and PalmPilots can perform most tasks people use notebooks for: storing addresses and phone numbers, tracking expense accounts, e-mail and word processing. Derek Gerhard, a business machines sales representative at Office Depot, says 3Com's Palm III has been the most popular PDA. It has 2 megabytes of memory and can store five years of calender entries, up to 6,000 addresses, up to 1,500 to-do items, up to 1,500 memos and 200 e-mails. The organizers can be broken up into three general groups: Basic : Memory ranges from 32K to about 192K and prices range from $10 to $80. Most don't connect to PCs or receive e-mail but can store plenty of addresses, phone numbers and appointments for most folks and track expenses. Intermediate : Memory ranges from 256K to 512K and prices run from $100 to $200. Most connect to PCs using DayTimer or other organizational software and some on the higher end have e-mail capabilities. Advanced : Memory ranges from 1MB to 16MB and prices start about $200 and run up to about $1,000 for ones with color screens and lots of memory. Most connect well with PCs, either to Windows CE software or Palm software for PalmPilots. PalmPilots ($200-$500) don't generally come with e-mail capabilities, though it can be added for about $100. Windows CE machines' capabilities vary. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA