Diversity on the Rise
One of our industry’s favorite buzz-words of late is convergence. Convergence of the network, convergence of services, and the convergence of devices. Don’t get me wrong, there is convenience for both the operator and the user in this movement. Things like Fixed Mobile Convergence (there’s that word again) make PSTN identity easier and the iPhone is proof of what a multi-function device can mean to a market always craving more. But at some point the trade-offs of functionality and packaging in these Super Appliances begins to wear away at the human capability to manage the complexity or the ability to achieve the full functionality of a feature.
A good example is the Swiss Army Knife. I have set up an entire camp site, cooked dinner for the group and proceeded to eat my food all with a single tool. However, at home I would not think of cooking or eating with such a device. So it is not a battle between one and many, but a contextual coexistence. I will use a device that stores tunes to pass that boring moment which also has a camera to catch that fleeting moment all while packaged in a phone that is with me most of the day. Contrast that with using a SLR for our annual family portrait. The N810 will go with me on my next one-day business trip. The depth finder (fish finder) goes in my boat… Seriously, it has mapping capabilities (nautical charts), receives radio signals for weather reports and stores geo-tagged media (my fishing holes). All are similar to the functions in my phone, but I do not demand them of my phone. Because something is not a phone does not mean it can not benefit from being communications enabled. Take the SLR and the benefit of having something like eye-fi or having an RSS feed from the guy in the next cove who seems to be catching more than me!
Creating a meaningful user experience with divergent devices will be in some instances more difficult than a converged device despite the allure of being more feature rich. Synchronizing media, contacts and other data will require new thinking in services or in the fundamental design of the devices like the Couple-IT. I look forward to having some diversity in my devices.
