The stealth PDA

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs has a justly earned reputation for being perhaps the world's greatest salesman. I've seen him do new product announcements and demos, both live and via video, and I have to say that his stage presence is spellbinding -- and his sales pitches always sound utterly convincing (at least while they're in progress).

But Jobs seems to understand that the soft-sell approach is sometimes the way to go. Take Apple's stealth entry into the PDA market, better known as the iPod. A million people have bought iPods to play music on the go, but Apple has kept adding features, and encouraging third-party add-ons, that turn them into very versatile pocket computers.

iPods can now store appointment calendars and notes, double as alarm clocks, back up digital photos, record voice memos, even play Solitaire. Plus, they're cool to have. That should cover many people's needs for PDAs.

(Full disclosure: I don't have an iPod. I own a Palm Vx, which I sometimes use in lieu of a laptop while traveling.)