Working Class
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 18, 2003
Get up in the air and still get down to business.
There was a time when a business trip was a chance to get away from your desk. As an off-line and out-of-touch travelling executive, you'd have time to reflect on some of the deeper strategic issues facing your business, catch up on important reading or just take a breather.
Today your desk, or at least a virtual desk, travels with you. Laptop computers and mobile phones have been around for a while but a new generation of smaller, smarter handheld devices means you can now squeeze the important functionality of a desktop computer into your jacket pocket.
The extra portability of pocket computers means you can read information and make notes while you stand in a check-in queue or ride to the airport in the back of a taxi. Better still, their compactness means you'll have space in your carry-on luggage for clean shirts or paperbacks. This is important now that stricter airport security means airlines are more rigorously enforcing carry-on luggage rules.
You certainly won't have much trouble carrying Hewlett-Packard's flagship iPAQ PocketPC 5450 on board a plane. The $1500 device measures 140 by 85mm and weighs in at just 200 grams.
Everyone is very conscious of security these days, so although the computer's innovative biometric fingerprint scanner won't deter serious data thieves, it will protect your data from more casual criminals.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of the iPAQ 5450 is that you no longer need to worry about a jumble of wires and cables. The device comes with built-in Bluetooth and WiFi wireless networking. Bluetooth is at its most useful when used in conjunction with a suitably equipped mobile phone - you'll be able to surf the net and download email. WiFi networking allows the iPAQ to connect to wireless networks.
Like all PocketPC computers it comes with cut-down versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook and this means you'll be using familiar tools.
There are two, possibly three, big drawbacks with handheld computers like the iPAQ. First, they don't have keyboards; you write on screen with a stylus. This means that while they are fine for accessing information, they're not so great when it comes to entering information.
Second, although modern handheld screens have improved, they are still tiny and therefore not much good for multimedia or graphic work. Third, handhelds don't offer all the functionality of full-blown computers. This makes them simpler but some users quickly bump up against these limitations.
On the other hand, Apple's latest notebook computers make no compromises. At $7000 a pop, the top of the line 17-inch screen PowerBook G4 isn't exactly cheap, but it has the largest display on any portable computer. It will be popular with people working in graphics; with good quality speakers, is ideal for executives delivering presentations to small groups of people.
At the other end of the size scale, Apple's $4000 12-inch PowerBook G4 packs a full multimedia punch into a two-kilogram package. In volume terms it is the smallest Apple notebook to date and has up to five hours of battery life.
Like the iPAQ, both Apple PowerBooks come with Bluetooth and WiFI as standard.
Laptop and handheld computers mean you're never far away from information, but increasingly business travellers find they can't escape the internet. These days you're not even safe when you're cruising towards your destination at 35,000 feet.
In January, Germany's Lufthansa airline began testing in-flight broadband internet access. British Airways is expected to trial similar technology sometime this month.
Both European carriers are using a satellite data communications technology developed by Connexion, a subsidiary of the Boeing aircraft company. Connexion delivers full broadband internet access, so you can do just about anything you might do with a normal, earthbound internet connection. In other words, you can recreate your office desktop on an airline tray table.
Once connected, you can log on to your company's network and catch up with email, quiz the corporate database or update CRM customer records as you fly. In theory, you can even take part in an online video conference with your colleagues while sitting in an aircraft seat. However, Connexion's bandwidth is shared with other passengers, so if there's a heavy demand elsewhere this won't necessarily be a worthwhile experience.
Rival airlines are in the process of testing alternative in-flight internet services. Virgin Atlantic and Cathy Pacific plan a fairly simple email and instant messaging service.
Elsewhere, some US-based airlines expect to piggyback internet connections off their onboard phone networks - another technology designed to make sure executives never get too far off the leash.
Connexion probably won't be cheap. Boeing estimates access costs somewhere between $40 and $57 for each leg of a flight. However, there won't be any charges during the trial period. Eventually airlines will either charge passengers for the service as an optional extra or it possibly may be used as an inducement to win regular custom from corporate accounts.
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald
