[iPilot]

If You wan't an idea for the real breakthrough device, I would spend my 400$ on - here is one. A wearable computer which has:
discreete HUD with 640x480 pixels (microvision or microoptical are the best companies in this area afaik).
Image on the HUD is manipulated via eye-movement recognition (as it functions on some Canon cameras). Eye-movement recognition is activated or deactivated while pressing the button on the device (device hangs on the belt or will sit in pocket).
The device itself has standard monochrome display 320x240 pixels for text input (Newton's HWR is still the best technology in this area) and represents part of the HUD-s picture (shown as frame on the HUD-s screen) while the display is switched on. For everything else it is the usual PDA. I want to connect it via IR or Bluetooth to my mobile.

So. I want to have the device, which is: constantly on the net, providing me any message, sent to me. It should be for excample also GPS interface with moving map as I drive. It can eaven work together with mobile phone (handling phone lists via SyncML).

[Mac Guru]

And you want this for under $6000? Keep dreamin.

Mac Guru

[iPilot]

Originally posted by Mac Guru:
<STRONG>And you want this for under $6000? Keep dreamin.

Mac Guru</STRONG>

I do not know, how much this device (http://www.xybernaut.com/newxybernaut/Solutions/product/poma_product.htm) costs.

But i'm sure it's not $6000

The only thing, that makes it expencive is the head-mounted-display. For excample MicroOptical's cheapest item costs $995 http://www.microopticalcorp.com/Products/index.html

The reason for such a high price point is the very limited production of HMD-s. I believe that while scaling the production up, there is chance to reduce the cost per item to the fraction of what it currently is. Actually the tech behind those HMD-s is not a big deal. The only thing that makes them expencive is the development cost per item and low-scale production.

So. The first company, who tries to sell them in real quantities to the real market gains unbeatable leadership. It was the same way with transistor in the early days. Nobody needed it in quantities of 10 or 20, when the price would be huge. While the price was reduced because the guys believed they can sell thousands of transistors, the thing started to move.

For anything else the device that I described is usual PDA with cheap grayscale or eaven b&w display for scribbling the text into it. Nothing expencive.