Baidu.com, cell phones, and PDA's

Yesterday, on CNN International, a stock analyst was discussing Baidu.com the Chinese search engine. He was discussing competitive pressure and mentioned that in China the cost of a PC is a major expense. He said that the real trend in technology, and bridging the digital divide, was going to be in cell phones. He mentioned that Baidu.com did not have a clear cell phone strategy.(? what evey that is...)

Some thoughts.....
If a PDA is viewed as an extension of a cell phone then the idea of using PDAs to teach technology, the Kenya posting, makes sense. The integration of digital cameras into cell phones seems to be happening quickly.

I have owned Palm and Pocket PC's. I find them crucial and use it everyday. I can read and even create spreadsheets on my PDA, but I would never do that for any meaningful work. When ever I think of cell phones I think of the hassle of data entry. I have fiddled with text messaging, but it really is awkward, maybe just old hands and a stubborn brain. A PDA makes sense for data viewing and data consolidating, but for me, even with a keyboard, it does not seem useful for data creation.

People want to learn computers for employability, not necessarily for personal development.

I wonder if training is for data creation and whether data consuming is done without training.

The need for critical thinking, analysis, creativity, and the liberal arts tradition is necessary for both data creation and data consuming. (Maybe that is just elitism, when I watch TV, listen to some of the arguments on the news networks, or look at the magazines at the grocery checkout I wished that people had some awareness of critical thinking.)

Back to the original question, how do people, adults, learn computers skills and apply them in their daily lives?