When will Apple re-enter the handheld market?

Message boards and news groups across the Web have batted that question around for years; despite consistent denials to the contrary by the home computer pioneer and current digital music king.

Even so, it seems people can't wait to see what the company that created the Newton (and its sister device the Newton eMate), one of the first PDAs series, can come up with 7 years after that handheld's demise. In fact, Apple's former CEO John Sculley reportedly conceived the term PDA.

Steven Jobs publicly stated back in June of 2003 that Apple would focus on enabling third-party handheld synchronization to the Macintosh operating system through iSync rather than create a new PDA of its own.

He has stayed true to his word.

(The addition of basic personal information management to its wildly successful iPOD MP3 players is the closest Apple has come to a PDA in recent years.)

Two years is a long time in the world of technology, however.

Perhaps the company is changing its mind. If O'Grady's PowerPage is correct, that's exactly what's been happening over at Apple headquarters.

Apple employees are supposedly passing around a pocket-sized min laptop. Think Motorola MPx, perhaps, or—as O'Grady's PowerPage portrays the device—an enlarged Motorola RAZR V3 handset with keyboard.

The handheld would feature a touch screen and handwriting recognition, courtesy of Apple's Inkwell technology, like most PDAs. It wouldn't, however, be based on an updated version of the Newton, a new, or an established mobile platform (e.g. Palm, Symbian, Windows Mobile or even Linux).

Should the device see the light of day, it'll run a stripped-down edition of Mac OS X. That could mean the ability to run standard Macintosh desktop and notebook software.

As you’ll see bellow, a mini-mac based on Mac OS X would need to be much cheaper than current Windows-based (not Windows Mobile) handheld products.

A First for Apple, Not Microsoft
The most notable PDA-sized Windows platform devices are OQO's Model 01 ultra personal computer (see image bellow) and Sony's VAIO U.

The Model O1 is built on Windows XP ($1900) or Windows XP Pro ($2100). You can throw in Microsoft Office Small Business Edition for an additional $300.

It weighs a mere 14 ounces—twice your average handheld but far less than a laptop—and measures only 4.9 x 3.4 x 0.9 inches. You can literally fit the device in your shirt pocket. The unit runs on a 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe processor with 20GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM.

Model O1's 800 x 480 pixel resolution 5-inch touch screen is supported by 3D accelerated graphics with 8MB video RAM. For input, you get a retractable thumb-keyboard with mouse buttons, a TrackStik (mini joystick), a thumbwheel, and a stylus.

In terms of connectivity, the OQC offers 802.11b Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless as well as FireWire and USB. There is also a 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack for listening to audio.

Sony handheld-sized Windows XP computer, the VAIO U, also weighs considerably more than your average handheld. And at 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.04-inches, it is quite a bit larger than a PDA, but considerably smaller than most mobile computers (Tablet or laptop).

The top of the VAIO U is a touch-panel screen that measures 5 inches and supports a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels at a 16-bit color depth for 65,536 colors. Inside the device are a 1.10 GHz Intel Pentium M processor, 512 MB or RAM, a 20GB hard disk, and an Intel 855GM graphics controller with 64 MB of video RAM.

For connectivity, you get 802.11g Wi-Fi wireless networking and an Ethernet adapter. Other features consist of Memory Stick and Compact Flash slots, thumb controls, and the ability to switch between portrait and landscape viewing on the fly.

It sells for around $2000.