Image by Valentinian via Flickr
I was cleaning out my car on the weekend, and I found an old PDC phone directory underneath the passenger seat, which prompted me to reflect and post about it.
You see, at one stage we used to request extra phone books from the providers just so that myself, and the rest of the team here at work, could carry a book in our vehicles in order to facilitate us finding customer addresses or phone numbers whilst on the road. This phone book also contained a handy street map in the middle.
I smiled when I noticed that this directory was dated 2006. I had completely forgotten about it, and it had laid unused under that seat for three years. What had turned somthing that was a useful tool into a dormant relic?
The short answer is my Smartphone. I just take it for granted now that I can access our CRM database from the road to get customer information (or White Pages for that fact). I can also get Google Maps to find directions, or, if I remember to charge up my bluetooth GPS dongle, I can even get voice directions in real time via my Co-Pilot software on the device.
The book seems really quaint now, and I cannot actually remember the day when I decided to actually stop using it. It seems that my Treo 750 (and 650 before that) slowly, and ubiquitously seeped into my everyday mode of doing things, and before long it just became second nature so that I took it for granted.
Anyhow, the book is in the bin now, and I am still looking for an excuse to get an iPhone so that I can do everything, with more style… 
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