Convergence? Who Needs It?

from the give-me-best-o-breed dept

When it comes to the convergence of PDAs and mobile phones most people are saying they're perfectly fine with two devices for now. They say people are just willing to carry multiple devices. I'm not sure that's true. I'd say it has a lot more to do with the fact that most converged devices make you sacrifice important things that lessen the value of having a converged device. People buy the device for very specific things (as the article points out), and if the device can't do those things well, then it's not worth getting. As converged devices get better, then, it's likely that people will be more willing to adopt them. That is, it appears that functionality trumps carry-ability at this point - but if you can do both, people would be thrilled. That's part of the reason why the new Treo 600 has been so hot lately. It's the first device that comes close to still being a good converged device. I'm sure the next generation devices will go even further.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    alternatives, 17 Dec 2003 @ 3:58pm

    Treo 600 is almost there.

    PDA/Cellphone/802.11 is what I'm waiting to replace the Handspring/Visorphone in my life.

    (Wi-Fi with SIP.....mmmmmm)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Hjalmar Gislason, 18 Dec 2003 @ 12:45am

    Do you really want everything in one devide?

    I'm not convinced that the everything-in-one-device approach is the right one (or the one users will like the most). Quite the contrary I think we will see the phone as it is today split into more devices. There will be the communication unit, the speaker unit, the microphone unit, the camera unit, the keyboard unit, the music playing unit, etc.

    This way the preferences of each user can be met. You can choose to take the professional camera with you sometimes and leave the camera at home during others. Sometimes you want your light headset for speaker & microphone; sometimes you want to use the speakers of your car stereo, etc.

    This also allows people to make their phones even more fashion items than they are today. You use your ultra-slim silver coated headset one day and your wireless stereo headset listening to freshly downloaded songs from your iPod the next.

    Something like what IXI is doing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 18 Dec 2003 @ 10:44am

    Someone Please

    Someone Please, Please, Please marry a harddrive mp3 player with the Palm OS.

    Is anybody out there?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Rick Colosimo, 18 Dec 2003 @ 1:57pm

      Re: Someone Please

      I use 128 MB (no DRM crippling 256mb cards for me) memory sticks with my Sony Clie. I can sync MP3s directly to the card during the hotsync process to update the card. I've used it on the plane when the laptop's impractical, and it seems to do fine, noisewise. Good luck.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.