It's the eve of the iPad release. I note that while I expect the iPad to change life as we know it (again), it's going to increase the number of small and medium black shapes I carry around with me, much to the chagrin of my clan. Nothing is getting shut off and put away as a result of the iPad coming. It will take over functions from other devices, especially in the area of content consumption. But I'm going to need another charging receptacle.
At this point it's clear that I'm not going to get the best of everything on one device. In fact I'm not even going to be able to get less-than-best versions of everything on one device. Also, there is no one device that will be the best device for every task/need or every situation.
So I officially call off my search for the holy grail of devices. I call a truce to the convergence wars. I've decided to be pragmatic and practical. What can we do with what we've got? What's the best combination of devices that will meet my needs while not weighing me down unnecessarily for the particular task or event in front of me?
Another angle on this is clearly illustrated by the Twitter client diaspora. There are 20 Twitter clients for Mac, 20 for the PC, 20 for Linux, 20 for iPhone, 20 for Android, 20 for Windows Mobile and Palm Pre. And then the are 100 web clients, plus 20 browser plugins for each of the major desktop browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari). Yes those numbers are quite round meaning I made them up for illustrative purposes.
All those clients are competing on features, usability, etc. Now what client am I going to use on each device? In fact what device am I going to use when I want to access Twitter? In order to make the best choice every time, I am going to have to weigh things carefully. For instance I have to make allowances for tie-in, like the fact that having a PC app and a mobile phone app from the same vendor make possible neat tricks like updating what I have read across both, as Kindle does for it's books. I have to figure out the relative gain and pain in using Twitter's webpage, or another lowest-common-denominator webpage client. On the one hand I only have to learn one user interface for all my use scenarios. On the other I get reduced feature set and rudimentary usability. I believe we will pick the best app on each platform in most cases. Even once I get that decided, I have to then synthesize the benefits and drawbacks of each device/Twitter client pair together. My best client on the iPhone might have better features than my desktop/client combo, but the desktop has a much bigger screen for viewing updates. On the other hand I can't take my desktop on a hike.
Now expand that beyond Twitter to all the different computing, media consumption, communication, PIM (personal information management, ie. calendar/contacts/tasks), research, and other day to day requirements that I want my devices to fulfill. Add in the fact that we seem to be moving away from industry standards (compare social media to email, or music/movie/book DRM to ftp, gopher, html). It's just not possible right now to take everything I want to do, cherry-pick the best features and leave the worst of every platform and app, sweet-talk every vendor of devices and software and content into using the competitor's standard or product for my sake whether or not their profits might increase, create a device that has ultimate power and flexibility at the same time as ease of use, usability, lack of clutter and cohesive design (the close button looks the same and does the same thing in every app). Much less figure out how to make it small enough and big enough at the same time, all while keeping heat, power, complexity, cost, time to market, and support (issues and costs) down.
In fact using a combo of devices has some advantages. For instance if I use a mifi, rather than trying to do tethering through a phone, 5 devices can benefit from that one cellular data connection. I can also create a "personal lan", an adhoc mobile subnet if you will, which opens up some great cooperative gaming and collaboration opportunities. If I bring a GPS on a trip, in addition to my cell phone with GPS, the GPS can be giving me driving directions, while I search out alternate routes or coffee spots with the cell phone mapping app. Keeping my music on an iPhone prevents me from using the Zune subscription service, which is a great way to consume music, but which is limited currently to Zune devices. If I do have a Zune in addition to an iPhone, I can hook the Zune up to a stereo, but still have the iPhone in my hand for web searches or making phone calls. So yes two are twice as heavy and take up twice as much room, but in many cases two are twice as functional.
Not that there aren't some good convergence stories. Supposedly I will be able to read an Amazon book (via a Kindle app), Barnes and Noble book (via a Nook app), or iTunes book on the iPad when it comes out tomorrow (or soon). And Netflix, man, they are everywhere right now. The iPad Netflix app is confirmed, and I'm waiting for my Wii Netflix disk from them. They're in the dvd players, pvrs, the Roku, Windows Media Center, etc.
I'm throwing up my hands, but just for now. I envision a day when there won't even be computing devices, but rather everything around us, our clothes, jewelry, our vehicles, furniture and buildings, will all be hooked to the internet and access almost unlimited computing power and bandwidth.
As for the fool belt reference - that's what young kids with no front teeth say when they see all the cellphones and pdas etc. hanging off my side. I wonder how I’m going to get the iPad on there.
