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Analyst Watch: Personal technology sucks—A rant


By Rob Enderle
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May 11, 2012 —  (Page 1 of 2)
So a typical day tends to go like this: Someone sends me a critical e-mail with a rich attachment that needs my input. Can’t do that on the phone because the screen is too small, so I bring out my tablet. Now I can see the attachment, but typing on the screen takes up too much real estate and it is way too slow. So I bring out my laptop... Oh wait, I either didn’t bring it or it doesn’t have a 3G connection. So I end up with three devices, one that is connected all the time but can’t talk to the other two, one that is a bigger version of the first one but can’t do phone calls, and one that is even larger but often can’t connect.

It would be great if someone came up with a single device that could provide the connection to all three... Wait, someone did. That was RIM, but they couldn’t figure out how to promote this capability and are in the process of going out of business. Argh...

Why personal technology sucks
I first started going down this path when I was at DEMO 2012 and saw the Delta DVR from Whitman Technology. (DEMO is a show where small companies go to get backing.) It was nearly exactly what I’d felt the Media Center from Microsoft should have been 10 years ago. It had six tuners, ran an embedded version of Media Center (so you didn’t have to mess with the Windows native interface), and it was a stunning product. Only problem is the company doesn’t have the money to build and sell it.

This often seems to be the case: We either end up with marginal compromises, or a great product finally gets designed but then no one has the money to build it, or they screw it up.

Another case in point: HP bought Palm, the only company that might have had the capability of running against Apple, and then delayed the product, misnamed it, panicked, and killed the company and effort, effectively burning over US$1.2 billion in the process. Sad thing was it was a pretty good offering, it just needed to be updated, renamed and rereleased.



Related Search Term(s): Apple, Nokia, RIM

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Comments


07/14/2012 05:15:32 PM EST

I mostly agree with your article apart from two points: 1) Its not Apple's fault that everyone is copying them rather than inventing their own technology (although MSFT is now doing some interesting things). 2) The issue of sharing data is the Carriers fault here in the US, not the phone manufacturers. Almost all handsets are capable of being fast Wifi Hotspots, you just have to pay (extra) for the privilege of sending date you have already paid for on to another device and most people object to the usury fee.

United StatesPiers Denney


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