Saw this headline for an article written in 2001—many years before the mainstream smartphone era began—on the Nielsen Norman Group site.

That sure aged well.

It’s hard to believe we lived in a world where the usefulness of mobile devices was ever in question.

There are other solid takes in that article, like physical keyboards and trackwheels/trackpads not being the endgame for small mobile device input:

I am not convinced that micro-keyboards are the best long-term solution. Better handwriting recognition is coming, and Pocket PC 2002 already has reasonably good recognition that doesn’t require users to learn a new alphabet. Also, with Danger, Blackberry, and most data phones, you have to use a track wheel to move around the screen. This feels very unnatural and constraining compared to using a direct manipulation device like a pen or a mouse, or simply poking your finger at the screen.

And a desire for what would become the notification centers/lock screens we have today:

[Danger’s Hiptop should] show prioritized lists of upcoming appointments, important later appointments, and the most significant email, with brief summaries of urgent items. When you pull out your PDA, you should not have to drill down into several separate application views to get an overview of your status.

When’s the last time you saw anyone reference a PDA? Also, RIP Danger. I had a Sidekick 2 and I loved it.