Comments on Mobile Opportunity: Which mobile device companies get it?

Hi Mike, well written about mobile phone's compani...

2008-04-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Mike, well written about mobile phone's companies. As the mobile market is growing up in all countries rapidly i.e. in India, Srilanka, England and all over world, every mobile company is trying to sell their mobile phones in electronic market at the lowest price, that's why they are not considering on the quality, that's most important factor.There are just few companies in the mobile market which really performing good but they need still better consideration.

brad wrote:>>I can certainly imagine an iPod witho...

2007-02-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

brad wrote:

>>I can certainly imagine an iPod without a PC or Mac to sync it to.

I think it's a lot easier to imagine today than it was even five years ago. And even today, I'm not sure the download over a typical wireless connection is going to be something most people are willing to wait (and pay) for. You need to be sure you're on a flat-rate data plan, and within 3G or WiFi coverage when you want to get new songs.

But definitely it's a lot more practical now than it used to be.

If you enabled both a PC client and an online client, where would you keep the archive of the user's songs? Would you mirror it in both places?

The question you're asking -- tie to the PC or be independent -- is a really important issue that a lot of mobile companies struggle with. You can create a richer experience on the PC because it's faster, has more storage, a bigger screen, and a mouse and keyboard. But you limit your market to PC users, and you give yourself three code bases to maintain -- the device, the PC client, and the Mac client (if you choose to support Mac).

Working through a PC doesn't limit your market too badly in the US and Europe because so many people have PCs. But it's a big drawback in much of the developing world.

In the end, I think each company should make the decision based on the particular needs of their product -- "what will produce the best solution for our customers?"

Good topic. Thanks for posting.

I'm not sure about the iPod/iTunes thing. I can c...

2007-02-11T01:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure about the iPod/iTunes thing. I can certainly imagine an iPod without a PC or Mac to sync it to. Yes, there would be the back-end iTunes Music Store, or a generic third-party MP3-friendly site where you could sync your iPod, but there is absolutely no requirement there to have a desktop device involved in the mix.

In fact, I think if you eliminate the desktop as a required component and allow for a generic back-end sync component, you get a much more elegant model -- you'd be able to walk up to any computer anywhere, log into your .Mac/iTunes/whatever sync account, and manage your media from there. Sure, that could be on your local desktop, but it doesn't have to be.

I think this is the key flaw in most portable device schemes -- they insist on a local desktop computer in the mix. I want to be able to sync to a local desktop computer if that is convenient for me, but I also want the option of being able to by-pass any local desktop computer and sync my handheld devices directly to a back-end service somewhere, which I could manage through any standard cross-platform web browser -- which might be on the handheld itself.

I'm with you, John. I wish PalmSource had been ab...

2006-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

I'm with you, John. I wish PalmSource had been able to find a way to keep or bring back Graffiti 1.

I did hear that Xerox wanted an insane amount of m...

2006-02-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

I did hear that Xerox wanted an insane amount of money. I'm willing to believe Xerox is a truly stupid company. I wish, however, Palm had gone back to them a year later and pointed out that mutual suicide was a bad idea, then been able to offer G1 as an option.

Or Palm could have switched to G2 but allowed Xerox to sell a supported G1 package separately. Then Xerox would have gotten market feedback on pricing.

All said, Xerox has a real gift for turning gold into straw.

Thanks for the comments, John.>>Palm should have d...

2006-02-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments, John.

>>Palm should have done a deal with Xerox to keep G1

(Graffiti version 1, in case anyone's confused.) You're assuming Xerox was willing to do a deal with reasonable terms.

I was surprised to read a positive review of Palm'...

2006-02-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to read a positive review of Palm's PDA products. I feel like the company lost its way after the Vx and never quite recovered.

Ever try syncrhonizing multiple PDAs belonging to multiple users to one machine? It's ugly. Palm's conduits and Desktop software still behave as though they were installed on a Win98 machine with no user security. They're a total mess when installed a multi-user OS. I realize this isn't easy to fix, but it's been six years since Win2K came on the scene.

They never did anything to address the issues of synchronizing at work and home, and managing machine-specific sync control. (Keep personal data off work machine).

They tried but failed to address multi-calendar integration.

Hardware reliability tanked after the Vx/Palm III.

Shall I mention the different stylus with each hardware release?

The years of mangled sync because Outlook tookover the corporate desktop, but Palm's data model was inconsistent with Outlook's.

Let's not mention the moribund desktop. No calendar categories for years?

Then there's Graffiti. Palm should have done a deal with Xerox to keep G1, instead they switched to G2. Mistake. Know anyone using it?

Really, a terrible history. I've given up on Palm, I pray Apple will enter this business but I fear they've given it up for dead.

Good comment about Newton, Schorschi.I loved the u...

2006-01-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

Good comment about Newton, Schorschi.

I loved the use of gestures in the Newton UI (Want to delete something? Just cross it out. That was so cool.)

I think the Newton team erred in two areas. The first was the one everyone points to -- they put too much emphasis on handwriting recognition, creating expectations the device couldn't fulfill. I remember one of the former senior managers in the Newton team telling me, "I tried to tell John (Sculley) that the product needed another six months of work, but he went ahead and announced it anyway."

Of course, there's always another side to a story like that. Often the CEO will tell you something like, "the team had already missed three deadlines, and I realized that if I didn't announce the product they were never going to finish it at all."

Who knows what the reality was.

The second problem was that Apple tried to make Newton a standalone computer rather than an accessory to the PC. Apple learned that lesson -- you can't picture an iPod without iTunes.

The sync work that Palm did in the early days was a key factor in the success of the product, in my opinion.

I think before you hail Palm for a simplistic yet ...

2006-01-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

I think before you hail Palm for a simplistic yet functional and to-the-point user interface in their OS, you should mention Apple's Newton platform.

I don't think anything today comes close in user interface elegance and functionality on a portable device as can be found in Newton OS.

The most striking feature of Newton OS to me was its object oriented approach with context-sensitive menus throughout applications. For a note, for instance, you can choose whether to mail, print, fax or beam it.

Of course, Apple abandoned Newton in 1998, but that's another story.

Schorschi

Thanks for the comments, Scott. I've always admir...

2006-01-24T23:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments, Scott. I've always admired your work at Tapland.

I agree with most of what you said...

>>I seem to recall you proudly proclaiming in the PDABuzz forums long ago how the "zen" mentality was being killed off at Palm.

Are you sure? If you can find the quote, please point me to it. I hope I never said anything that stupid. Since Rob Hitani (main author of the Zen of Palm) had left the company to go to Handspring, I kind of inherited the Zen of Palm presentation. It was and remains the best product strategy presentation I've ever seen in my life. For a couple of years I was the guy who presented it at new employee orientation. The presentation got gently updated over time, but I was doing my best to keep it going.

>>I'd use the Treo as a good example of a convergence device that doesn't necessarily do any one thing great, but does a good job of several things and demonstrates that convergence, for convergence's sake, is a feature in and of itself.

That's a really good point, and I struggle with it a lot. The way I'd phrase the question is, is the Treo a converged phone and e-mail device (in which case it does two separate things in mediocre fashion), or is it the best product in a new category, communicators (defined as a device to let someone communicate in several different ways)?

I kind of lean toward putting it in a separate product category rather than thinking of it as a converged anything. Maybe I'm just playing with words, but the core customers for the Treo (and RIM) are a very distinctive group of people. They're communication-holics; they want to keep in touch with others by any means possible. I think the Treo isn't a compromise to them; it's one of the best versions yet of what they ultimately want.

>>As for Nintendo, I think that they demonstrate that focusing on overall usability, fun, and affordability is more important than the "feature list."

I agree very strongly about the feature list, as you'll see in my next post.

Thanks for the comments!

Michael, a few comments...1) I seem to recall you ...

2006-01-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

Michael, a few comments...

1) I seem to recall you proudly proclaiming in the PDABuzz forums long ago how the "zen" mentality was being killed off at Palm. In this article you seem to be championing that mentality. Glad to see you've come around.

2) I don't have a high level of comfort in the current Palm management's appreciation for usability. IMO, the Treo 650 was a step backwards in terms of usability from the 600. I would, in fact, point to your keyboard layout example as a good example of that. In your blog entry, you wondered aloud whether putting the keys closer together could pose a problem. Indeed, it does. The newer 650/700 thumbboards allow for more space to write on, but they wider spacing between keys of the 600 design reduced typos. I also think that their decision to make many of the keys white was a bad usability decision as many of us early 650 owners pointed out to them (loudly). The keys were *far* too bright. So much so that I wondered whether any of the palmOne team actually used the thing in real life. Fortunately, they were able to remedy this via a ROM update they later released.

3) I'm not sure that I buy into the mentality that a product must focus on one particular piece of functionality and do that well. In fact, I'd use the Treo as a good example of a convergence device that doesn't necessarily do any one thing great, but does a good job of several things and demonstrates that convergence, for convergence's sake, is a feature in and of itself. Having said that, I'm not one who believes that convergent devices can't be great at one or more of the features they provide and I'd like to see the quality of the individual features improve significantly (photo quality being a good example).

As for Nintendo, I think that they demonstrate that focusing on overall usability, fun, and affordability is more important than the "feature list." Palm (palmOne) used to be of that mindset as well. I remember those days fondly when Palm didn't feel the need to compete with the Pocket PC's feature list touting megahertz or RAM size, but instead focused on what it could actually do for the user. They took a lot of flak for that by the geek community, but I think they were right. Sadly, they shifted away from this and into the "feature list" mindset as the years progressed.

Good comment, David! I think you're completely ri...

2006-01-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

Good comment, David! I think you're completely right. One of the cool things about working for PalmSource was that I sometimes got to meet interesting new companies. Fossil was one, and Garmin's another. They're located out in the middle of the US, far from Silicon Valley. Nobody ever told them Silicon Valley's diktat that you can't build hardware in the US, so they do a lot of their own manufacturing here.

I always admired their obsessiveness about navigation. They also seem to learn pretty well -- the interface on their latest Palm OS device looks beautifully simplified.

Unfortunately, Garmin's not as well distributed in Europe as it is in the US.

Although my personal preoccupation with Palm OS de...

2006-01-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

Although my personal preoccupation with Palm OS devices blinds me a bit, I think Garmin probably meets your criteria as a mobile device company that "gets it." They have kept their laser-like "location, location, location" focus as they've branched into PDAs and through artful integration of GPS have turned the modern Palm OS PDA into something that in the minds of the consumer is quite different and unique.

I'm not sure if people realize what an enormous undertaking the Garmin iQue was. It runs the Palm OS middleware on top of a proprietary kernel that Garmin developed themselves to enable effective integration of the GPS--something that no other Palm OS licensee has attempted. That in itself doesn't prove that they "get" anything, but I think it's emblematic of a powerful commitment on the part of Garmin to get things absolutely right when it comes to what they consider to be the primary functions of their devices.

I have no idea how well the iQues have done in the marketplace, but I wouldn't be surprised if they've sold well. In addition to their great attention to detail with both hardware and software Garmin seemed to do an admirable job of product placement. Distributing them in retail stores like Radio Shack, REI, and the WalMart sporting goods section was smart, and I thought their TV campaign did a great job of differentiating their product from both PDAs and car navigation kits.