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Microsoft OS Smart Phone for Developing Nations
YesSir writes "The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft CTO Craig J. Mundie and Bill Gates are talking about the idea of a specially designed cellphone that could be converted into a full-fledged computer through a connection to a TV and keyboard. They hope to use this product to bring computing to the masses in developing nations and be a Windows powerd alternative to Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop."
Hey, be careful of overpromising, Bill.
But this cellphone is supposed to work as a PC and this PC is not a yesterday PC. If it is, then probably its better to sell an used machine for 100$ (should be aplenty, my office alone donates 30 machine every year) to the poor instead of wasting that on a useless machine.
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. -Nathaniel Lee
Yet, state of the art phones are really comparable with the home computers of 80s. But if those computers were sufficient for masses, then they would win the game with a better price of $5 or so :)
Looking forward, this does make business sense.
1. General purpose computing is not processor intensive (especially when you combine it with ASP style internet apps). We could fit it into a phone, easily.
2. This could drive more powerful and efficient processors for smaller devices. $100 is not improbable in a short time.
3. Cell phone penetration is good in developing world too (India/China). Its good to have a device with other uses too.
4. MS might have Windows Live! in mind. Ultimately this might be available world-wide, along with free subscription of Windows Live.
Overall, here is an interesting strategy:
1. Home Entertainment+ = XBox 360
2. Value+ = , Pocket PC, Windows CE
3. Servers = Windows on x64, IA64
4. Desktops and Laptops - Windows Vista
The interesting this is, there is very little overlap between the target markets here. And they have got all the bases covered.
Life is just a conviction.
If Microsoft cannot get their tentacles embedded in order to extract a tax on every electronic device legally sold in Africa, that's a serious setback. When Vista bombs later this year and alternative platforms and free software continue to take off everywhere, and Google keeps bleeding them with more papercuts, MSFT stock is going to tank.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
Dont those in the third world need reliable power and healthcare before they worry about setting up a TV and cell phone to check their email?
You obviously aren't a student of the Rules of Aquisition...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried"
have the pissed off customer to prove it.
I used a treo 600 for over a year. It was remarkably good as a converged device. However if I learned anything, I learned that having a good phone is so important it trumps everything else. It'd be fine if I spent all my time in the city, but I was freqently out of range.
I switched to an LG tri-mode phone with bluetooth, on the theory that I'd get at least an analog signal in places I used to have no coverage at all, and, guess what: I get perfectly good digital connectivity in places I had no bars before. The phone's memory is so small the web browser is useless, but using it as a bluetooth modem from a PDA works fine. The main problem is that only one device can use the BT modem at a time, and if I use it from windows the windows BT stack is so buggy it refuses to let go; I have to shut the BT radio off.
I'm not against convergence per se. It's just that converged devices as they now stand do not perform well enough in their comm roles, which is the linchpin for the whole concept. The best of the devices are mediocre PDAs, which is good enough for most of us.
For a converged device to work,it has to have two things: (1) NO phone trade-offs at all and (2) strong device connectivity to make up for UI tradeoffs. What makes a good phone and a what makesa good PDA or video viewer are all different things. While you may want to watch TV on your phone, you're also going to want to pipe the video to a TV (can anybody in the industry not be watching what iPods are doing these days?).
Once you have interdevice connectivity up to snuff, what you have is neither strictly a communication device nor strictly a converged device. It's a device that can work equally well in either role, as a network interface or a user interface.
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