A term describing a new range of business and consumer devices that give access to the Internet. They include smart telephones, personal digital assistants, palmtop computers, handheld computers, Web telephones, etc. They represent an important new channel for communication with customers.
A relatively low-cost, easy-to-use, reliable, special-purpose device that obtains and presents, captures and reports, and/or stores and manages various types of information in order to bring the benefits of the Internet to consumers.
a user-centered, human-centered humane technology where the computer literally disappears behind the scenes into a task specific device that maintains all the power of modern technology minus the complexity
Current jargon for a wide range of computer devices expected in the near future that will allow users to access information on the Internet with easy-to-use interfaces.
the information technology that is appropriate to the task. It could be a laptop computer, desktop computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant, e-mailer, or any of a host of Internet-specific hardware designed to do a specific and usually limited task using the Internet as the medium.
A device that connects to digital network or broadcast service for the purpose of gathering or distributing information. After the telephone, the Internet-connected PC is the most common and useful information appliance.
An information appliance (IA) is a device that focuses on handling a particular type of information and related tasks. Typical devices could be a smartphone, PDA, and so on. The term is often confused with internet appliance, a type of consumer product which accesses services on the internet.