Just got finished reading this thread. Great idea.
I'm wondering why everyone seems to think that the cell phone will evolve into the full function information appliance sooner than the portable PC will.
Sure the cellular phone has it all over a PC for voice, but the future is data, and everyone on this thread already knows that. Before they'll become a full fledged information appliance, cell phones will need lots more memory, permanent storage, a good input device, and a form factor which works for data, not just voice.
PCs have all of this in spades, they just need access to the data, and get a little lighter in weight.
Let's face it, what made the internet great is not only its ubiquity, which cell phones will certainly benefit from, but also the complete wealth and diversity of data available there. If cell phones and handheld appliances evolved from them can only deliver specially manipulated versions of a minority of websites because of their screen limitations, I say they'll fail. Sure lots of these devices will be sold, but they won't become the PC of the wireless data future.
PCs are getting cheaper every day. Hell, they're even giving them away free with net access contracts. Well, wireless net access will be more expensive than wireline access, so it'll be even easier to bury the cost of a cheap PC in a wireless data access contract.
Initiatives like NEC's new PC on a chip can help slim the PC down even further, leaving room for things that need to be big to satisfy, like screens and keyboards.
We might start out with ports designed to connect the laptop to the cell phone, but as the chips get smaller and cheaper they can go right into the PC. There's already sound there, and with a tiny digital camera built into the display (already pointing at you) you have a videophone.
Corporate email contains a large amount of attachments, and that trend will get stronger. Without the ability to run the applications for the attachments, email has greatly less value.
Comments anyone? |
