September 18, 2009
Your company? There’s an app for that.
In case you missed Jason Kottke’s piece on how the iPhone is a problem for technology and device-making companies, here is a teaser:
Once someone has an iPhone, it is going to be tough to persuade them that they also need to spend money on and carry around a dedicated GPS device, point-and-shoot camera, or tape recorder unless they have an unusual need. But the real problem for other device manufacturers is that all of these iPhone features — particularly the always-on internet connectivity; the email, HTTP, and SMS capabilities; and the GPS/location features — can work in concert with each other to actually make better versions of the devices listed above. Like a GPS that automatically takes photos of where you are and posts them to a Flickr gallery or a video camera that’ll email videos to your mom or a portable gaming machine with access to thousands of free games over your mobile’s phone network. We tend to forget that the iPhone is still from the future in a way that most of the other devices on the list above aren’t. It will take time for device makers to make up that difference.
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While he makes an important point, there are other devices which had claimed this fame way before the iPhone. The Nokia N series is probably the most notable. It is unlocked to carriers (even in the United States) and feature-laden. Had the best camera on a mobile phone on the market. The only downside was that it cost around 500USD and wasn’t available to purchase at mobile carrier stores like T-mobile or Cingular.
So, while I agree this is changing the way devices are manufactured, I think that this trend has been in progress for a while now. And I’m excited to see devices made as multifunctional tools to share information to a broad audience. Huzzah!
True, Lex, but it’s also worth noting that in the first footnote Jason mentions that he is using the iPhone as short hand for those sorts of devices. The iPhone for Jason, is a prototypical device.