Mobile Devices: One Generation From Useful?

Jakob Nielsen likes his T-Mobile Sidekick, although he thinks that it’s [o]ne Generation From Useful.

He argues that we need better filtering of email, so we don’t get “bogged down by a flood of non-urgent messages”. I’m not convinced that’s a flyer - filtering out spam is an obvious win, but it’s hard to decide what is and isn’t important. And my definition of important will change from situation to situation. Any email app must allow me to still get all my email, but maybe if it was sorted by priority then date that would improve matters.

“To succeed, mobile devices must feel like an extension of your main machine: they must provide what’s required, but no more, and add the ability to reach home and grab anything you need but didn’t bring.” I guess that explains why he wants to filter his email - he still views his desktop PC as his “main” machine. I agree that it would be great if we got mobile devices to that point, but I believe that we shouldn’t limit what the mobile devices can do. The aim should really be to get to a point where I can do what I want on any machine, it just might be a bit easier on one with a full keyboard and big monitor.