HP discontinues iPaq hx4700 series

Yesterday, reported that HP would no longer be offering its flagship PDA, the HP iPaq hx4700, and it looks like it was right. We just got confirmation from an HP rep that the hx4700 will eventually be phased out of retail stores, and they're no longer available at HP's Web store. So is this just a matter of retiring an older PDA, or does it mark the decline of handhelds? Chin-Teik See, HP's vice president for consumer products and the mobile business group in the Asia-Pacific region, told CNET Australia that "the pen-based [handheld market] is shrinking at a rate of 30 percent year after year," and though the company is still committed to the PDA segment, it's "looking more to the converged space" going forward. What do you think? Are PDAs dead, only to be replaced by the smart phone, or is there still a use for them? TalkBack to me below.