An informal survey conducted by the LawMarketing Portal web site showed that 44% of law firm marketers use a Palm, Handspring or other handheld PDA device. This shows that legal marketers are a tech-friendly group, especially compared with lawyers, of whom only 28% use PDAs (according to a 1999 ABA Legal Technology survey).

Among the respondents:

1. 44% use a Palm, Handspring or other handheld PDA device. 56% don't. The percentage that uses a handheld is actually higher than among lawyers in general, so the results say legal marketers are a tech-friendly crowd.

2. Palm brand handhelds are the most popular. Of the respondents, 32% have a Palm V, 13% have an entry-level Palm III, and 6% (including me) have a wireless Palm VII. Among other brands, 19% have a Handspring model, which are cheaper than Palm devices and work on the same operating system. Another 19% use an "other" device. Only 3% have the wireless BlackBerry email device. And one person reported that they have a Dick Tracy Wrist TV. I'd like that person to contact me, because I want one too.

3. Some 74% don't download content from the Web to their handheld device when they hot sync. I am one of the 26% who downloads all sorts of stuff using the AvantGo.Com service to browse Web content on my Palm.

4. If the LawMarketing Newsletter (which I send out every Monday) were available to download from the Web, 29% would use this service. One out of three isn't bad. This is a lucky minority, because I've signed an agreement with AvantGo to make the newsletter available this way. Anyone may subscribe to this free newsletter by filling out the form at www.lawmarketing.com.

5. When it comes to buying these new high-tech gadgets:

80% wait and think about it.

10% buy 'em right away.

7% said they were "sick of 'em, man, give me a feather pen." These disgruntled folk may become charter members of the Ben Franklin Humorous Aphorism Society.

3% said "I'm dazed and confused for so long, it's not true," indicating that they remembered this line from the song "Dazed and Confused" on the first Led Zeppelin album. It is not clear what this response means except that it was fun to ask it.

It was difficult as heck to give out the mile-long URL to find the survey questionnaire. I e-mailed the link out a few times, but it was so long that it would break across the page, making the text link unworkable. People who responded to the survey either used the link on the LawMarketing.Com home page, or else were very persistent in finding this elusive survey form.

Still it was free and was worth trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Live long and prosper, my many friends.

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