I’m going to wade once again into one of Russell’s favorite topics, the separatista vs. convergionist debate. Whatever your feelings on the matter, I think we can all probably agree that there’s plenty of unnecessary convergence around. Like this handheld dictionary/MP3 player. Bet the folks at Franklin were left scratching their heads when these things didn’t fly off the shelves.
MobHappy
Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology.Email Russell at russell at mobhappy dot com
Email Carlo at carlo at mobhappy dot com
search
feeds
clickage
blog advertising is good for you
recent comments
- Bluetooth and the MMA (8)
- Hanna: Good article! i agreed too that bluetooth push marketer can do a lot to mitigate as like Oliver said before....
- Time Out for the Publishing Industry? (5)
- Dean Bubley: I certainly wouldn’t write off the whole publishing industry. You’ve only got to look at the...
- Visa Trial LBS (9)
- Ramon Pardo: Hello Russel, I should be glad to receive a copy of your whitepaper. Thanks. Ramon
- Download Here (4)
inside
Credits
MobHappy is powered by WordPress, using a template originally designed by Upstart Blogger.
« Keeping Your OS an OS, and the UI the UI
» It’s 2008. Why is Sync Still Such A Sore Spot?
Mobile Society
Unnecessary Convergence
Posted by Carlo Longino on 05.08.08 | 5 Comments
5 Comments
« Keeping Your OS an OS, and the UI the UI
» It’s 2008. Why is Sync Still Such A Sore Spot?
Heh, I was at Fry’s Electronics recently here in Houston and found that LG makes a combination microwave/toaster, and someone else has a combination microwave/coffee maker.
The toaster one got me. It’s literally a regular microwave, with a toaster embedded in the side. I should have taken pics.
I take a bus to work some days. Its almost entirely college students, so I spend a lot of the time just looking about to see their mobile habits (or taking surreptitious photos so I can tell everyone else at the office).
I have seen every flavor of phone, every kind of iPod, a CD-player (but no non-apple MP3 players), straight PDAs, laptops, tablets and lots of books and papers.
I have, on the other hand, NOT ONE TIME seen any of them listening to music on their phone (and 3/4 of them do have headphones on). Or browsing the web on their phone. Or pretty much any convergence to speak of, really. A few games, a few texts. Many have two devices, and make calls on the flippy moto, then pull out the blackberry for txting.
When I have asked users (in the younger target markets) about music capabilities on their device, they scoff about it. So… the devices are converged (or suffer feature-itis), but do the users care?
Nice observation, Steven. I wonder, though, do they *KNOW* about the music capabilities on their device?
Also, while I use my N95 as my exclusive portable music solution, it’s due to the serious lack of synchronization software? Apple has easily the most seamless way of loading music on their devices. I wonder, if a mobile phone manufacturer duplicated the simplicity, if users would be more keen to use their handsets as MP3 players?
Basically, I think the gap lies between the device and the computer, and not the device and the user.
Well, I only asked a few users, so I know its still pretty anecdotal, but yeah, they know the phone can do it.
Worse, the few I see with iPhones. Not a music listener so far. Any music is always coming out of another device. Now THAT wigs me out. I would have thought that low-friction iTMS and so on would have fixed this, but no. Hmmm.
Someone with a large research budget should look into it more.
Bizarrely, I can actually understand the thought processes involved in a combo dictionary/mp3 player. It’s the fact that you can now download all those ‘Linguaphone’-style learn-a-language lessons as MP3s. That doesn’t make it any more palatable, but at least someone at Franklin has cornered a niche market (which they’re very good at, to be fair).