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Mobile Phone - Convergence Point For iPod, Others?
Nagen writes "DrunkenBlog has an intriguing essay arguing that the mobile phone is the primary convergence point for digital devices and will soon cause iPod sales to evaporate. Perhaps more interesting is the idea that the iPod is an expendable pawn in a larger battle of who will control the gateway of all legal content to the user."
There's so many articles constantly appearing about how this will kill the ipod, this will be better than the ipod, this will put the ipod out of business... so many people targeting the little white bundle of joy, and so many people falling way, way, short. Kind of sad. Oh, yea - and first.
Yet another somebody predicting the doom of the iPod...next?
Seriously, does EVERYONE have to predict the death of the iPod?
I always believed convergence would kick in around cellphones with MP3 players built in but having played with a mini iPod all week I've discovered that I can drain the juice out of that puppy faster than just about any other device I have. I play it on the bus, walking to the office, in the office, at lunch and on the way home again.. the cellphone battery wouldn't cope with that kind of demand so I'd end up carrying the power cord with me all the time.
I am a leaf on the wind
For quite a while I have been looking for a portable mp3 player, preferably with flash memory. Anyway, there was this deal that I would get a 3G phone almost for free (in exchange for signing up for a 12 month subscription) and that phone had a mp3 player builtin aswell. So what would then be the point of getting another mp3 player? I prefer carrying around as little gadgets as possible... Sure, the memory is only 128 MB, but it's alright with me, I can always sync it with my computer to get new music.
In most of Europe and Asia, most mobile phone owners carry it with them 90%+ of the time, and the market penetration is very high (especially amongst younger people). Therefore it makes sense that it will be the primary convergence point. Also, in Europe (dunno about Asia) the receiver never pays, so people leave the phones on all the time. I understand the situation is a little different in the US (incompatible networks, non-contingent cover) and market penetration and usage is a bit lower. Heck, judging by the stories here it seems the iPod is more popular in the US than the mobile phone!
Jobs' move of integrating Motorola phones with iTunes was a brilliant move IMO - he sees where it's headed and wants to become a player. And through this deal will probably do so months and months before anyone else rolls out something truly consumer-friendly.
/ mc /20040727/tc_mc/applemotorolatobringitunestocellph ones
As soon as phones start getting 1GB drives in 'em, I'll be carrying my iPod with me a lot less often. (And I'll get a lot angrier when I drop my phone, too!)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=
There will be many gates to the consumer in the converged future. Mobile "phones" will be more like "remote controls" than TVs, the GUI for navigating all the ubiquitous networked devices surrounding us. Home theaters, public ticket kiosks, parking meters and lots, tolls, stores, friends' homes, car alarms, forwardable office desks, all kinds of embedded devices will have their own displays and unique controls. The key to them all will be a mobile "phone", but all of those devices will be gateways to the consumer. And multiple, cryptolocked, synced/replicated phones will be available to each user, if they want them. Much like much of modern civilization requires a car and a bank card for access, but many venues and competing suppliers.
--
make install -not war
Most people I know use a phone to just make phone calls. Sure they like their cool ring tones and all but, music and phone calls are still seperate activities for the average VP-on-the-move. Most Schmoes wouldn't use an IPOD anyway. Believe it or not most people still ask me, "Whats that?" whenever they see mine:
Them: Whats that?!
me: and Ipod
them: oh, one of those music thingies?
me: yea
I just don't see this type of person wanting to talk to Autie Jolie while listening to Disturbed at the same time. I think someone had it right when they explained that most people with cool phones got them at a discount or for free with their phone plan. I definately don't see IPod sales drying up anytime soon. I NEED my cell phone to be a cell phone. I don't want to stop my playlist so I can pick up a call!
"There is only a one in six billion chance that you actually exist"
Like everything else, mobile phone started as a mobile phone, then one manufacturer made one smaller, so others followed and made their even smaller. Then another manufacturer added a camera, sure enough others had to stay competitive and added higher pixel camera, then the calendar, notes, voice recorder, maybe a PDA, bluetooh, WiFi etc.
All these are caused by the pressure to stay competitive, and more often than not, the pressure is from consumers (indirectly). If you are deciding on two phones, one with a camera and another without, all at the same price same other specs, you have to choose the one with a camera simply because it has more features.
I for one am totally against attaching non-related feature to a device, so until now I am still using my 4-year-old phone.
As consumers we really need to boycoutt these products to make them go away.
Ohh.. If one manufacturer removes one feature from a mobile phone and still manages to maintain sales, guess what? The reverse cycle might just begin and every manufacture will start stripping features to cut cost and stay competitive.
Uselessful technology (Air-Charged
Look phone people sell service not devices, the devices come free with the service. Mobile telecos wont even let people use mp3 ringtones, they h8 NEthing U dont pay for by the minute.
Ipod is expensive hardware + noprofit sevice + copy all your own stiuff 2 it.
The one DRM even common fools will notice is when they pay to listen to every track on their phone, it'll be like having a coin-fed jukebox in your pocket.
The RIAA would love to be able to moniter your music listening via the network they will never let this happen unless it is pay per listen - as will the telecos - they drive device sales.
So - this will never happen the whole article is il; thought out (intruiging) hogwash.
from that IEEE article on convergence from last Friday. Sigh....
Are you from the USA? Because I've only ever seen this kind of mistrust of phone companies from people from the USA. Plus you state in another post in this thread that unless they provide you with service, your phone is a paperweight.
Over here in the UK, phone companies aren't regarded as bastions of decency, but they aren't mistrusted like they are over in the USA, and you can switch to other phone companies as long as you actually bought your phone and weren't provided with it free for signing up with a minimum-term contract (which is essentially a rental phone, and they give you free upgrades to the latest model etc).
I think it's a very pertinent question, as the USA seems to be trailing other countries like the UK when it comes to mobile phone coverage, usage, and general technological trends, so if mobile phones supplant iPod usage over here, you'll probably see it over there in a year or two.
There is a real opportunity for the phone to become the number one portable music device, but it won't be done with downloads it will be with streaming. Imagine being able to not only listen to all of the music in your "collection" anywhere you are, but new music as well. There's going to be a lot of opportunity for people providing personalized listening experiences on the cell, and I really do think it will be a better way to listen to music than the current "unplugged" model of the ipod.
In fact, since I've started thinking about music like this, I've pretty much taken all of the fun out of listening on my ipod. It seems boring to be stuck with the same music I have at home and not have access to new music suggestions. On my site we've had a lot of success with helping people find new music. Once you start going down that track it's hard to stick to just your home grown library.
Yes. You can find more about it here.
1) they all suck (as phones)
2) wi-fi uber alles.
3) the phone companies are not going to have a product pretty soon: I'll ask google to connect me to "my friend fred in muscogie" Then it will ask, would you like to send him email, leave a voice message, IM him, or talk to him right now?
4) THE device is the computer: everything else is a peripheral, including screen, keyboard, microphone, speakers, printer, projector, camera, video camera. What you carry around is a hard drive. Well, actually, a 30 gig memory card. You'll probably want to start with that small one.
I don't buy this argument. As an industrial designer I've had to study "convergence" over and over again. People have been trying to combine ridiculous devices for years. When the industrial age came around people attempted to converge household and appliances with each other, various tools with other tools, etc etc. This worked as a catchy marketing tool at first; however consumers began to realize that individual specialized devices and tools tend to be a lot more functional.
This convergence trend is starting to rear its ugly head again. Shitty phones, combined with shitty cameras, combined with shitty messaging devices. Bleh. No doubt, modern cell phones are little computers that can adapt with software. Yet, with convergence you force tools to restrict themselves to form-factor, interactive, and I/O constraints that they normally wouldn't have.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
all the while fucking up everyone elses concentration with their senseless chatter.
... text messaging at 15 cents a message.
So if you lose your place on the treadmill do you have to start over from the beginning?
I had a cell phone for years, my bosses used to love abusing it, calling to find out where this or that was rather than just getting off their fat asses and looking for it themselves.
You know it doesn't answer if you don't hit the green button, right? You're responsible for whether or not someone gets ahold of you on your mobile phone.
I'm obviously biased but I hate the cell phone lifestyle. It's fake, lazy and pointless.
It's a lifestyle now? Are we going to have shows like Cellular Ear for the Landline Guy? And here I thought it was just a device for talking to other people.
Like so many fads before, these little gadgets have turned the zombified idiots of our culture into the lemmings we all knew they could be.
Yeah, it's a fad. I'm sure people will wise up and say "Damn I hate being able to talk to whomever I want when I want" in a few months and we can put all this silliness behind us. Mobile phones are the next pet rock!
I don't need
Maybe if more people text messaged you wouldn't lose your focus on the treadmill...
You could listen to some pretty cool music if you were allowed to choose any track from your local radio stations catalog. They probably have more albums than you've even heard of. The change will be in the delivery method.
I hate cell phones and have absolutely no use for one. If I'm not at home, it's because I don't want you to call me. I just bought an iPod (20 GB) because I hate loading my packback with CDs and spare batteries, I like just having a little device on my belt with all my music on it. I also bought an AlphaSmart Dana for writing. I chose this over a laptop for several reasons: price, battery life, and lack of distractions. With a laptop I just know I'd spend more time playing video games than doing any actual writing. So I have to carry two little devices with me, and I like it. I don't want a phone or a digital camera.
My way back has been erased.