Conversations with Amy Wohl

Instant Messaging: a "killer app" for mobile text?

On June 20, 2002, Amy Wohl published a copy of her weekly newsletter that presented the opinion that technical, business and cultural resistance limited the opportunities for mobile text. Through a series of emails, Ms. Wohl and I debated the possibility that instant messaging might be the "killer app" for mobile, and that it could be a viable service sooner than most people think.

"Is There a Killer App for Mobile?", from Amy Wohl's June 20, 2002 newsletter
The email stream that followed that article

Designing Small Devices: Is there a market space between laptops and PDAs?

One week after the article on mobile text, Ms. Wohl published a column describing small PC-like devices displayed at TechExpo in New York. I've been a long-time user of small devices, and have used devices from Psion as laptop substitutes for the past few years. I found that Ms. Wohl had had similar experience with small devices, and similar hopes about the design of a PC subsitute. Here is our discussion.

"Smaller Objects: Shrinking the PC", from Amy Wohl's June 28, 2002 newsletter
The email exchange with Amy Wohl that followed that article
Detailed article about the design of small objects