It's quite simple, really. Had the internet tablets provided cellular connectivity from the start (or a means of adding it) then chances are they would have gained steam faster. I certainly would have considered them, but did not as they would have ended up sharing the same fate as the WM2003 PDA I have: unused.

By gaining the property of -always being on you-, the device is guaranteed attention. The bonus of having on the go internet access even without WiFi (which even my terrible PDA had) truly made an Internet Tablet live up to its name.

Had the 770 or 800 come with an EDGE or 3G option, I'd probably have picked one up ages ago, as would many others have. Instead, we're here now with the N900.

Android got a huge amount of attention (even mine) for being a usable, open source platform for something that was quickly killing off the standalone PDA. And grabbing the world's attention can make all the difference. I haven't seen that from Nokia, yet.