>>I just don't see any connection with productivity.

As they say in animal science, "the animal is always right." Meaning that if theory/belief "A" says that the animal will do "B" but it does "C", then the theory is wrong. No matter how certain people were about it. In this case it's not me talking about efficiency, these are reports from people who have actually tried rather than being certain that it won't help.

>>I have no idea of whatever facts generate the contention "corporates already are folding because mobile devices make people more productive."

I don't mean folding as in going broke, I mean they're giving in and allowing staff to use their own devices rather than insisting on a work-issued device. There have been issues (e.g. unencrypted sensitive info on easily stolen devices) but as you'd imagine, that's a fairly easy technical problem.

>>Mobile devices have a great future, but outside of specialized markets, not for productivity (except for those who produce, market and develop for mobile devices.)

How do you know? Ken Levy pointed me to a voice-to-text app for iPhone and I tried it out. Even the free version is impressive. Efficiency seems assured, especially for busy professionals who now can dictate and approve correspondence *immediately*, wherever they may be. Once it binds into an electronic record, I am confident that entire professional segments will declare a preference for mobile devices. I don't know what markets you serve but if it's one of those likely to benefit from this sort of technology, IMHO this is not a time to be sure that the old ways are best.

>>Mobile's big, and it's going to get bigger. But, as Kevin says, its a new market, a new opportunity and does not displace an existing paradigm that is maturing on its own path. I don' t think the lesson of 1920 was "we've got airplanes now - the car thing is over"

How about "we've got cars now- the horse-drawn buggy thing is over". ;-) Neither metaphor is particularly apt. Especially since mobile doesn't need to displace the PC any more than mobile email had to displace PC email to be a success. People want both, meaning you can't just focus on traditional keyboard/screen and shrug off mobile.