Tall Technology

As mobile technology gets smaller, it also gets more difficult for tall people with bigger hands to feel comfortable using it. While there are few options now, all that could change in the last half of this decade.

Laptops For Tall People
I just read this Wired article on the $100 Laptop. It's a goal that's closer then you might think. The MIT Media Lab is working with partners including AMD, Google, and News Corp. to have such a computer ready for shipment by the end of 2006.

If prices fall as this article predicts, then we could hope to see a 'tall-sized' laptop within the next two years. Once it becomes cheaper and easier to produce a wider range of computers, we could see designers slapping their brand names on laptops as well. Hip-Hop Clothiers, Baby Phat, is currently doing it with mobile phones so it's not a major leap to think that other tech gadgets could be next.

Slap a big name on it.
Designer brands like Laura Asheley, Eddie Bauer, Nickelodeon, Disney, Burbury, Martha Stewart and more already slap their name on home furnishings and other brand extending products like paint. It's not much of a stretch to imagine them getting into the computer market.

Can other specialty computer items be that far behind?
Tall people with hands big enough to cause problems when typing seem to be a small sub-set of tall people, but there is already a market for full-sized, split key keyboards that make typing easier for large-handed people. Someone could capitalize on this market, and once the components become cheap enough to make it feasible, we could see a specialty laptop for tall people as early as 2007.

As mobile phone technology evolves and 3G replaces America's current networks, tall mobile phone users may also see relief from the ever shrinking phone issue.