COMDEX TO HIGHLIGHT SIMPLICITY : HAND-HELD DEVICES, GIZMOS TO MARK DEPARTURE FROM COSTLY DESKTOP PCS.

Byline: Catalina Ortiz Associated Press 

You probably don't do all your cooking on your range - you've got a toaster, a microwave and maybe an electric grill or bread machine.

Why should computing be different?

Traditional personal computers finally are getting some serious company, thanks to an emerging class of smaller, cheaper and more specialized devices.

Network computers, hand-held PCs and gizmos such as smart phones - and the trend of moving beyond the desktop - are the hot topics at this year's Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, which begins today.

``I think we're at the beginning of the real acceleration of the next wave of

information technology,'' said Jim Groff, general manager of Apple Computer Inc.'s information appliance division.

Future computers will include devices as common as ATM machines and telephones, small enough to be toted around or blend into the environment, Groff said.

This doesn't mean the imminent demise of the do-it-all desktop PC, which continues to become more powerful and easier to use. And while a basic PC still costs about $2,000, it has more features than it did a year ago. Low-end machines are expected to become cheaper next year.

Most of the new breed of gee-whiz computing products - and their markets - are untested. But companies see opportunities in the PC's shortcomings.

Personal computers still are too costly and intimidating to many consumers; market researcher Dataquest Inc. estimates PCs are in just over a third of U.S. households.

And while essential for many businesses, PCs are notoriously expensive to maintain; a study by the Gartner Group, a high-technology research concern, found that companies typically spend up to thousands of dollars a year to maintain each PC.

Further pushing the drive toward simpler, less expensive computing has been the rise of the Internet, businesses' increasing need for mobility and the falling price of parts.

``The whole trend now is to move beyond the desktop . . . and to move beyond the classic PC,'' said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute of the Future, a nonprofit research and consulting firm in Palo Alto.

The beyond-the-PC theme was off to an early start in Las Vegas as Microsoft Corp. recently launched its new Windows CE operating system at the Cirque du Soleil.

The Microsoft software will run first on new hand-held computers from a half-dozen manufacturers that are expected to compete with existing simple machines like Sharp's Zaurus.

But Windows CE, unlike operating systems of most other hand-held computers, also is designed to run a wide range of machines for businesses and consumers - a bid by Microsoft to extend the dominance it enjoys with the PC to the new variety of computing devices.

In another sign of the trend toward simpler devices, rival Netscape Communications Corp. this past summer spun off a company to develop operating software as well as versions of its popular Navigator Web browser for the same kind of products.

Meanwhile, several other companies - including Sun Microsystems and IBM - are expected to show off network computers, stripped-down versions of PCs that are linked to the Internet or private computer networks.

They download software via the network, allowing programs to be updated for many users at once. Traditional PCs get software from their hard drives, requiring costly updates on each machine.

The idea of network computing had Comdex abuzz last year, but this year's show will be the first place where several different products will be shown at once, Saffo said.

``This is still an unexplored territory; it will take time to get it right,'' he said. ``But . . . it is absolutely inevitable; it's a matter of how long it will take.''

Some companies - notably Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Netscape - see network computers as an opportunity to challenge Microsoft because their versions can run on a variety of operating systems, not only on computers with Microsoft Windows.

But Microsoft and its hardware ally, chip maker Intel Corp. - whose software and chips run 80 percent of PCs - are promoting an alternative: PCs with a hard drive that are able to store some data and programs, but can still be managed and updated via the network.

Most network computers are, initially at least, intended for businesses. And business travelers are the main market for the hand-held computers. A new crop of CE-based and non-CE devices - like the new versions of Apple's Newton - will be highlighted at Comdex.

The hand-helds, often known as personal digital assistants or PDAs, are electronic organizers-phone books-memo pads that also can exchange electronic mail and faxes, carry out some basic applications, connect to the Internet and swap information with a desktop computer.

Most early models flopped. Some pen-based machines, like the original version of Apple's Newton, had poor handwriting recognition. Another, AT&T's EO, which included a cellular phone, was the size of a clipboard and criticized as too big.

But over the last couple of years PDAs have improved, offering a greater range of features and gaining respect. About 1.2 million PDAs were sold last year, according to Dataquest.

But consumers are the big target of the third type of nontraditional computers - appliance-style devices that perform a limited number of tasks and cost only several hundred dollars apiece.

Several companies offer or plan to offer televisions with built-in links to the Internet or boxes that use a TV as a monitor, send e-mail and cruise the Net. They're aimed at consumers who want to explore cyberspace but don't want a more complicated and costly PC.

Telephones that handle e-mail as well as voice calls, also are gaining notice. Developers of such products see them as a way to get useful information without computers.

While the move beyond the PC is a clear trend, it's too soon to tell how fast - or even if - some of the new devices will catch on, especially among consumers, who may not see a pressing need for them.

`It hasn't been proven consumers are willing to buy any of these devices yet, and to be honest, they have not been presented to them yet,'' said David Coursey, editor of Coursey.Com, a technology industry newsletter in Redwood City, Calif.``But there is a feeling in the industry that you have to do something to make computing simpler, easier to use and more affordable.''

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Photo: (1--Color) Farid Dibachi, head of Diba Inc., produces software for information appliances.

Associated Press