A new study from Dataquest predicts that the handheld computer market is poised to become a very big business, growing from 3.9 million units shipped last year to 21 million units by 2003. The market's growth is credited to increased application development, wireless and wired Web access, and falling prices. But before the market achieves this growth, future devices will have to be equipped with e-mail or some form of limited messaging, says Dataquest analyst Scott Miller, who adds that the price of handhelds will likely drop to about $150 in the next five years. Dataquest says that Microsoft and Palm Computing will continue to dominate the handheld market with their Windows CE and Palm OS products. Miller says the new Palm VII is a prototype of what future handhelds will be, but says it is unclear whether the device will be successful today. (C|Net 5/24/99 - Edupage 21 May 99)