Preface

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

Every once in a while, new technologies emerge that profoundly change the way we conduct our daily lives. A recent example is the "invasion" of the cellular phone. Once thought to be just a "toy for the rich," cell phones are now an essential (and some would say bothersome) part of everyday life in fact, I know several people who have replaced their home phones exclusively with cell phones. Over the last few years, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been slowly changing the way people manage their personal information and the way they communicate.

When Microsoft originally launched the Windows CE operating system-in 1996 with the Handheld PC, people were not quite sure what to make of these "mini-computers," and questioned whether they would actually replace notebooks and paper organizers. Over the last few years, they have slowly made their way through the back doors of companies as people begin to realize the potential, convenience, and power of having ultraportable computing devices in their pocket, regardless of the strange looks from co-workers. Combined with its capability to communicate on a network with both other devices and the Internet, the mobile device is now recognized as a revolutionary technology.

With the recent advent of higher-speed wireless connections, the true power of the Pocket PC platform can finally be exploited by developers and the users of their applications. Wireless communication is often called the PDA "killer application," and the demand for applications that are networked has skyrocketed.

The mobile device revolution is upon us.