Last week, Psion announced that it was pulling out of the PDA business. The company that was once synonymous with nerdy executives typing fiercely on microscopic keyboards and squinting at tiny screens stated that when its current product range - Revo, 5mx, 7 - reaches the end of the road, there will be no more. Not even the planned Bluetooth-equipped PDA.

It's a shame, really, because Psion had arguably the best portable operating system - at least for machines with keyboards - on the market. I still have a couple of Series 3a machines in a box (both with broken hinges, of course) and my current PDA is a 3mx; old, but nothing else lets you thumb-type editorials like this one at 30 words per minute while on the Tube.

And there's the rub. Few of the most popular PDAs bother with proper keyboards any more, since it's only really writers who need them. Limited text entry via an on-screen keyboard or hand-writing recognition is sufficient for everyone else, and makes the devices much smaller, too.

So what happens now? Is it a straight fight between the Palm OS and Pocket PC (aka Windows CE)? Or will companies like Nokia win the battle with their convergence phones, as seen in the film Tomb Raider? Or will we all one day grow out of the need for ever more complicated electronics gadgetry in our pockets? No, don't be silly.

It seems likely that the next generation of mobile phones, many of which use the Pocket PC operating system, will hammer more nails into the PDA coffin. The most popular request from Psion users was "Put a phone in it". Psion didn't, but other companies have, and are reaping the benefits.

Tags: psion nokia windows ce bluetooth palm os personal digital assistant symbian pocket pc