nick may wrote:
>On Oct 20, 2004, at 12:13 AM, Benjamin Joffe wrote:
>
>
>
>>A solution for iPod is to include rapidly some network connectivity, as
>>people are unlikely
>>to carry two devices with the same capabilities...
>>
>>
>Many people already carry 2 devices one of which has a subset of the
>capabilities of the other. They have a keitai and wear a watch.
>
>
I certainly do not say the watch example is not true, but I met with
Seiko people and they
were clearly mentioning mobile phones as impacting their business (and I
remember reading
an article in a foreign newspaper about this issue as well). For use,
not everybody will
abandon their watch, but it was sufficient matter for them to think
about adding a phone function
to their watches ! (remember the soon-to-be-forgotten "Dick Tracy" phone
by NTT DoCoMo ?)
Think also about the digital camera : since mobile phones have improved
their quality many
people do not bother carrying their digital camera (for sure again, not
everybody)
>By "people", I take it we are talking mostly about men - whose main
>receptacle for carrying things (in many cases) is their shirt pocket. A
>lot of women (not all, of course) carry bags in which everything bar
>the kitchen sink already lives. So the odd extra half kilo concerns
>them less. (It is always worth having a quick root through a
>wife/girlfriends handbag before getting too fixed on the idea of the
>importance of avoiding redundancy. It's another world in there...)
>
>
>
You are right about this gender-divide, and I often find myself in
trouble when moving around
with mobile phone + wallet + mp3 player + whatever.
Men's fashion has long relied on brown/black suitcases and backpacks,
but now you see an
increasing number of men carrying bags (some Louis Vuitton included) or
waist pouchs.
Also, I am not so sure about the redundancy in women's bags. Each item
has in most cases
a single and different purpose. This is another debate, though.
>There has been a lot of discussion on the Reg recently about the
>Microsoft strategy for a home media hub - it is basically 'throw away
>all your single function devices and buy one device from us that does
>it all, that costs a fortune and is DRM'd to the gills"... The Reg
>suggests some reasons why this won't work.
>
>
Releasing a big overpriced hub is surely a way to failure. Set-top box
type of machines
have failed repeatedly, though companies keep trying.
The mobile is something different as 1) it is always with you 2) people
are getting used
to their functions "gradually". Many people (no statistics, though) are
already satisfied with the following functions :
- phone
- watch
- phone book
- camera
- flashlight
- game console
- scheduler
Ask yourself how many items with those functions you regularly carry
around with you and you
will see that mobiles are gradually cannibalizing many things.
>And we are being offered pretty much the same proposition with keitai.
>I am all in favour of one box that does all jobs "well enough" but the
>truth is that most keitai DON'T do all jobs "well enough". It may be an
>MP3 player, but it has limited storage. It may store files, but it
>won't mount my "home" directory. It may download songs directly, but I
>very, very rarely want to do that - and you can bet it will have enough
>DRM on it to make it difficult to play on another device... I want a
>decent interface to manipulate what I have downloaded - most keitai are
>pretty horrid in the user interface department. Microsoft's recent
>crack that all ipod owners are thieves is the best advertising for the
>ipod one can imagine. "Hey - buy OUR product and you won't be able to
>steal music!" is hardly good catch copy....
>
>
Keitai will certainly not replace a laptop computer. However, carrying
around a few files
inside a memory card in your mobile is more convenient than burning a CD
or having an additional
USB key (if the keitai has the necessary connectivity or if you have a
memory card reader).
According to KDDI, DRM will not allow copying files, but you can connect
your mobile to your
car stereo, external speakers, etc. ... more or less like an iPod, isn't
it ?
Last, I agree with Microsoft shooting in their own foot. They cannot
really deliver any different message, though.
>And any function use of which that means I can't simultaneously accept
>phone calls is not implemented "well enough".... So no plugging it in
>to the stereo when I get home....
>
>
It is true improvement is needed on this part.
My conclusion is that phones will not replace everything overnight but
are gradually doing it for many
functions and for the "average user". The music enthusiast and the
computer fan will not be satisfied,
but it will probably be good for the man/woman-in-the-street.
Only time will tell, though.
-- Benjamin
Received on Wed Oct 20 07:31:12 2004