They were there before netbooks; ; there is a reason I haven't upgraded my device - mainly because the next time I do it's going to just be a portable HD instead.....
The devices came out when 2gb cards costed more than $100 each, so having 80-160gb in the field was a godsend....now that memory is cheap, their usefulness has gone way down....
Kind of like using SmartMedia cards (or a Microdrive CF). ; They still work, but technology has moved on. ; But there was a time when they were important.