In the late 1990s, a combination of advanced chip, power and screen technologies resulted in an avalanche of newer and increasingly sophisticated information and communication gadgets, not only for use at home but on the road as well.

The growth of what would become the handheld computing market was driven by the transformation of the corporate environment into an extended, virtual enterprise, supported by a mobile, geographically dispersed workforce requiring fast, easy remote access to networked resources and electronic communications. The emergence of corporate data infrastructures that easily support remote data access further encouraged the growth of the handheld computing market.

The acceptance of mobile computing may have been made easier by the TV show "Star Trek". Producer Gene Roddenberry forbade pen and paper on the 23rd century U.S.S. Enterprise, giving rise to the Tricorder and the concept of mobile information devices. In the 1970s, for instance, Xerox's PARC research center explored the Dynabook notebook computer concept.

But the first mobile information device in the real world was the Osborne 1 portable computer in June 1981, followed in July 1982 by the first Compaq and the Kaypro II in October 1982. All three "luggable" computers were the size of small suitcases and each weighed about 25 pounds; the Kaypro was mockingly nick-named "Darth Vader's Lunchbox".

Since then, laptop computers have decreased in size, weight and popularity. In 2005, laptop PCs outsold their desktop counterparts. Several companies recently have launched so-called "tablet" PCs, which eschew a traditional keyboard for a touchscreen. But these portable laptops and notebook computers, merely serve as replacements for their full-sized counterparts.

In the mid-1990s, consumers began seeking a new type of device, one that didn't replace a computer, but supplemented it, something to replace paper-based appointment calendars and address books. Sharp obliged in 1988 with the introduction of the Sharp Wizard, which featured a small LCD screen and a tiny QWERTY keyboard.

In 1993, Intel introduced the first Pentium processor, which contained 3.2 million transistors. Faster and more functional chips that same year led to the morphing of the electronic organizer into the personal digital assistant (PDA), a term coined by Apple CEO John Sculley. The first true PDA was the Apple Newton, the first organizer to include a touch-screen and handwriting recognition software. Several other companies soon announced similar portable computing devices.

In April 1996, a small company called Palm Computing took the idea of the Newton, shrunk it, made it more functional, improved the handwriting recognition and halved Newton's price to produce the first modern PDA, the Palm Pilot.

Microsoft followed in September 1996 with its own PDA operating system, Windows CE, and then, in April 2000, the PocketPC operating system, which has been licensed to PDA makers including Casio, Sharp, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. The initial touch-screen PDAs used monochrome displays, but by 2000, nearly all Palm and PocketPC PDAs had color screens.

Current high-end PDAs pack in Wi-Fi wireless Internet and Bluetooth wireless synchronization technology, and many now include built-in digital cameras and digital music and video playback capabilities. Palm is still the dominant format along with Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS.