Last week two things happened that got me thinking; Apple refreshed their iPod line and I ordered a new cell phone.
Brett wanted a camera phone for his birthday
The Apple event was disappointing to most in the tech community because it wasn't the bleeding edge tech we drool over. We wanted to see a camera added to the iPod Touch but instead we got a standard definition video camera placed in an awkward position on the Nano. Other let downs were the rumors of the Apple tablet that remained unfounded and Jobs saying the Touch is a gaming platform. I think that Apple still doesn't really know how to market the Touch. An apple device normally targets a specific market segment, but the Touch is still floundering around to me. It can't hold as much music as an iPod Classic and, while some games really shine on the Touch, it might have a hard time competing with the PSP or DS. The Nano on the other hand is a great example of how Apple normally operates, even though its old tech. It is clearly aimed at the popularity of solid state camcorders like the Flip, which was acquired by RIM a couple months ago. I think the Nano will sell very well this Christmas because they are cheap, allow millions of 13 year olds to clog up YouTube, and still play music.
How does all this upset the futurist in me? These announcements tell me that real device convergence is not ready for mass market consumption. Device convergence means I pick up one thing in the morning. It may be modular and plug into other terminals throughout the day, but the essentials are self contained. The iPhone comes close and is headed in the right direction, but it has too many restrictions due to the Apple walled garden. The technology is here, but I'm afraid its not economical. Such a device is probably still too expensive to make and the networks aren't willing to foot the bandwidth bill. Maybe it's not just cost. Maybe they have to sell multiple devices with different functions. Why would a company give up a time tested business tactic of diversification. A large corporation needs multiple market segments to weather the business cycle and face volatility. If this is the case, I may never see such a thing in my lifetime.
That leads to my new phone purchase, a HTC Touch Pro 2 from Verizon. It arrives on Wednesday and I can't wait. It is a windows mobile powered phone, which means it' not as sexy as the iPhone but is more flexible and open to customization. Its not perfect but I can make it access my home server through a clunky and frustrating UI. With some tweaking and hacking and work I will hopefully get closer to my dream, but until then I can always glue a Zune HD to the back of it.