Apocket computer is a class ofhandheld computer characterized by very short displays (typically accommodating only one or a handful of lines of text) andcalculator-style alphanumerickeypads. Pocket computers occupy a small footprint, allowing the unit to be comfortably stashed in one's pocket when on the go, and usually weigh less than 1 pound (0.45 kg). Many feature a port for an expansion chassis, allowing the computers to be used with external peripherals.
Pocket computers had their peak of popularity in the early 1980s, but sales quickly plateaued and declined in Western markets as consumers became aware of their limitations. In Japan, where they were invented, pocket computers maintained their popularity and continued to be used as teaching aids into the 21st century.
The first pocket computer was theSharp PC-1211, introduced in March 1980 bySharp Corporation and sold exclusively outside of the US market. Later in 1980, the PC-1211 was resold and rebranded byTandy Corporation in the United States as theTRS-80 Pocket Computer (PC-1).[1][2] The invention of the pocket computer was prefigured by pocketableprogrammable calculators, such asHewlett-Packard'sHP-65 in 1974.[1] Within a couple of years of the PC-1211's release, many other manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard,Panasonic, andCasio, announced their own pocket computers.[3][4]
Many pocket computers feature ports for an expansion chassis, allowing the computers to be used with external peripherals. Such peripherals includedata cassettes,printers,plotters, andmodems.[5]: 61 [6]: 2247 Sharp'sPC-1401, released in 1983, merged thescientific calculator and pocket computer for the first time through the addition of scientific calculation function buttons to the side. This served as the foundation for competing clone models by Casio and HP.[7] Toward the end of the 1980s, a number of pocket computers were developed with larger screens capable of displaying both graphics and text.[8]: 90
Pocket computers had a surge of popularity on their market introduction in the early 1980s. In 1983, however, sales of pocket computers dropped considerably; Radio Shack reported that they had shipped 40,000 units of their pocket computers in 1983, compared to 70,000 in 1982. According toInfoWorld, this drop was due to both ambiguous marketing and consumers becoming become aware of the limitations of pocket computers. Owing to their limitedrandom-access memory (RAM), the extent of the built-in software of most early pocket computers was limited to a simpleinterpreter, usually for theBASIC andFortran programing languages. The few aftermarket commercial software titles that were available for these pocket computers were very limited in scope and capability, due to the lack of RAM and limited screen real estate. This reduced their mass-market appeal, and by the mid-1980s the user-base of pocket computers comprised largely scientific engineers, surveyors, and technicians.[5]: 59 Additionally, the diminutive keypads renderedtouch typing impossible for almost all pocket computer users.[6]: 2247
Sales of pocket computers in the West had all but stalled by the late 1980s with the transition away fromhome computers to theIBM PC paradigm.[7] In these Western markets they were succeeded by so-calledhandheld PCs, like thePoqet PC and theAtari Portfolio, which were bothsoftware-compatible with the IBM PC and featured more RAM.[9] For those who did not need advanced programming capability,electronic organizers such as theSharp Wizard proliferated in the 1990s among casual users and businesspeople.[10] In Japan, however, pocket computers managed to stay popular into the early 21st century, finding use as a teaching aid in education. The last pocket computers manufactured by Sharp, the PC-G850 series, were released in 2001 and featured 24-column, 6-line dot-matrixLCDs while being powered byCMOS-basedZ80-compatible processors.[7]
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