Perspective: Technology on the go

Silver or electric blue? Internet access or voice activated dialing? Students at the recently opened Sprint PCS Store on 34th and Walnut streets are faced with a slew of dilemmas. At the counter, a male student thinks over how many minutes of air time he could possibly use in a given month, while another contemplates the array of cell phones on the far wall. In its very first weeks of business, hundreds have passed through the doors of this newest retail addition to campus. They are searching for the perfect phone, attuned to their every want and desire -- one that will be both utilitarian and chic. What sharp electronic gadget should I whip out on in Econ 1, they ask themselves. A technological revolution is sweeping the nation, and its latest converts are Penn students. Suddenly everybody who's anybody can be seen chatting on a red Nokia phone outside Steinberg-Dietrich while organizing their Friday night on a sleek little Palm Pilot. With cell phones costing as little as $29 and Palm Pilot prices at around $150, it's getting easier to equip the Penn messenger bag with all the right hardware.

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The sheer numbers speak for themselves. In their first week of operation alone, the new Sprint PCS store sold over 300 cell phones and usage contracts. The store is offering a special limited promotion to customers at its newest Penn location, $29.95 per month for a choice of 500 anywhere minutes or 1000 local minutes. And they're going fast. Several of the most popular models -- the shiny silver ones -- have already sold out. Michael McVeigh, a sales associate at the Sprint store, noted that the national calling plans cellular technology offers are particularly attractive to students from all over the country who attend Penn, and who do not want to be hassled with the costs of old-fashioned land-line dialing. "I live off campus with six people and all six of us have cell phones and no land line," said Carl Weung, a Wharton and Engineering junior who owns a cell phone with an international calling plan. While Sprint offers customers a free basic phone with the purchase of a year-long contract, cell phones can retail from $29.95 to an excess of $800 depending on features. And that's before the monthly plans, which range from $30 a month to several hundred. But busy students say the mobile option is worth the cost. For some, cell phones provide an important link with the parental unit at home. Like many other students, Andrew Mackintosh, a College sophomore, activated his phone with an area code local to his hometown so that his parents can stay in touch without incurring long distance charges. "I hadn't talked to people [on the phone] as much as I do now," Mackintosh said. "I am talking to people more because I know upfront how many minutes I have for the month." Besides functioning as a way to stay in touch, cell phones also serve as a fashion accessory for the well-dressed student. "People want cell phones in any color but black," McVeigh noted. "Phones reflect personality." With hundreds of models on the market, manufacturers are offering up smaller, sleeker, more fashionable cell phones that would look at home in George Jetson's jet pack. From flashy pink leopard print to the understated elegance of burled wood -- the look is everything. €

And just as bulky stationary phones attached to the wall are a thing of the past, long gone too are the days of clumsy, paper-bound organizers and fumbling through backpacks for pencils and pens. A growing number of students from all levels of the University have traded in the paper planners of a bygone era for the sleek, handheld sophistication of a Palm Pilot. "It's the ease of it," said Paul Noble, a College senior. "My Daytimer was getting kind of big and annoying." Palm Pilot, the name brand for a whole category of handheld electronic personal planners, promises to provide users with a means to organize both personal and business life with the gentle tap of a stylus. At Computer Connection, Palm products range in price from $149 for the newly released M100 to $439 for the Palm VIIX. Peer pressure was a motivating factor in Mackintosh's purchase. "A bunch of my friends were using it for scheduling," he said. Now, Mackintosh uses his electronic organizer for everything from jotting down homework assignments in class to balancing his checkbook. The Palm and its counterparts possess a wide range of capabilities, from memo pads and address books to video games and Internet access. Weung said his Palm Pilot keeps him on top of networking with his various contacts -- both at school and from his summer internships. Brian Fitzgibbons, education and business development manager for Palm, Inc., said that while sales of the Palm to students have traditionally been at more of the graduate/professional level, undergraduate sales are getting up to speed. "We see administrators and students alike interested in storing information," said Jeff Rusling, general manager for Penn's Computer Connection. "The idea of moving towards a paperless forum as well as having a mobile solution are definite trends in technology that Palm lends itself to." And Palm purchases, according to the company's tracking, are on the rise at Penn. Fitzgibbons noted that of 100 Universities nationwide that his company tracks, Penn has traditionally been in the top three to five in terms of sales on a monthly basis, selling approximately 60 to 70 per month for the last year. And just like cellular phones, Palms can make a big statement about their user's fashion savvy and cool factor. With internal options such as "Documents to Go" software that allow users to access Word, Lotus and Excel files, as well as external personalization options like leather carrying cases and colored faceplates, there are an infinite number of features to meet any need and match any mood. "We like style," Fitgibbons said. "And students are very style conscious."

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Noble, who worked at Penn's Radio Shack this summer selling cell phones, believes that the surge in cell phone and Palm Pilot usage can be attributed to two factors -- a combination of technological advancement and affordability. "Look at computers just five years ago," he said. "They were still expensive, but once the market got to the point where they were affordable, there was no reason not to have one." But like any trend that hits the scene in a flash, cell phones have come under fire for the etiquette concerns they potentially pose. It's hard to take notes while playing Tetris on a Palm Pilot. And phones ringing in classrooms, the library stacks and in restaurants annoy and frustrate many users and non-users alike. "People complain about cell phone etiquette," McVeigh noted. "But they are the same people that have them clipped to their hip." "I see a lot more phones this year, but hear a lot less ringing," Mackintosh observed. "So people are doing a good job [of obeying cell phone etiquette]." Professors across schools and departments dissuade students from allowing phones to ring in class. In fact one Wharton professor-- Arnd Huchzermeier --gave his class an incentive. "He said if your phone rang you owed the class a bottle of champagne," Weung said. "And, after one week of class, someone already owes us a bottle."

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