Convergence

September 5, 2008 at 4:39 am · Filed under Tigerspike Innovation Lab and tagged: convergence, iphone, mobile, vaio

I am really liking the move to give away laptops with 3G cards that the carriers are doing at the moment. A few key thoughts of mine about convergence are:

• PCs are getting smaller. And will continue to do so until it becomes annoying to type or look at them. I have an 11″ sony Vaio which I love (especially as I fly alot and so get to laugh at anyone trying to use a full sized laptop (I travel in Monkey Class – still can’t justify the cost, plus I am sure I am saving carbon from extinction or something). Anyway… laptops are getting smaller and therefore more mobile and therefore more in need of internet connection anywhere, which is why the bundling of the PC and 3G card is a good one, and a big growth area for the carriers in my opinion
• I use my iPhone way more for data and email and other non voice services than voice (in fact I still use my Samsung for calls) I realise that I am using my computer less and less as a result. Just now I lined my iPhone screen up to my screen and my PC screen is only about 5 or 6 times bigger than my iPhone screen, soon it will be less than a third. Also when in monkey class, the movie plays on a screen thats only about twice as big as my iPhone
• PCs are getting dumber. Soon PCs will become thin clients with all the processing done on the web, (accessed at ever increasing speeds by sim cards). Apps that I use that have moved on line are lead by Google, with Salesforce also having all the data and processing done on line and Basecamp which we used to use, a great collection of Apps from 37Signals (a company I have lots of respect for).

So Where will convergence stop?

Two things:

1. The size of my pocket and whether my device feels uncomfortable in it will make a difference. Attention to jeans manufacturers – soon pockets for bigger devices will become useful. The iPhone (sorry to bang on) is big, but also slips nicely into a pocket as its edges are rounded. 
2. Size of fingers / hands. I have thin girls fingers, so typing on my Vaio is not too difficult. But if you have fingers like my cousins (about 4 times the size of mine) then you are in trouble if you go too much smaller than the smallest Vaios or EPCs.

As I have said in previous posts, plugging devices into brains and projecting them will help this, but that is a little way off yet…

Comments