I recently ran across a couple of posts dealing with the effects of the cellphone: Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone and Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone.
The first five:
- The PDA
- The Camera
- The UMPC (ultra mobile PC)
- The Phone
- The MP3 Player
The next seven:
- The Pager
- The Wristwatch
- Pocket Calculator
- Alarm Clocks
- SatNav (stand alone GPD)
- Books
- Handheld Consoles
Some of these I definately agree with. I think we can all agree that with very minor exceptions the pager is dead. I personally quit wearing a wristwatch several years ago when I determined that it was not worth my time to get the battery replaced. Since then, I have encountered many others who reached the same conclusion.
Similarly, I know many people who use only a cellphone and no longer have a landline.
I supposed it depends on the type of phone that you have, however, I know that the calculation on my Treo can do more than any pocket calculator that I ever owned.
On the other hand, I think that, although the UMPC is dead, the concept is not. Netbooks are becoming more popular. In fact, Ross Kodner has declared that a netbook is now part of his perfect laptop equation.