Personal information management (PIM) is an important and hard research problem. Previous systems suffer inflexibility because of strict hierarchies and immobility. I present an alternative approach, based on associations and moving beyond today's desktop metaphor, to provide ways of managing information while mobile. To illustrate the concepts, I introduce the Associative PDA, a prototype we have designed and evaluated. Finally, I discuss some design principles, which will guide my future work. Keywords Personal information management, mobile, associations, associative network. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.m. Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous, H.3.3. Information Systems: Information Search and Retrieval.