Such devices are still far off, but at Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Silicon Valley a taste-or more precisely, a feel-of things to come is on offer even now.

RIM joins a long line of businesses, including Dell, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard (HP), which have set their sights on winning a chunk of what promises to be a whopping market.

Thanks to the humanistic sensibilities of Messrs. Hewlett and Packard, HP also demonstrated a new type of management technique, one that placed a premium on the workers and their happiness.