Entelligence: One device to rule them all — or not

It certainly feels to a point that converged functionality is replacing the standalone and dedicated device. Check out the state-of-the-art iPod touch today and the state-of-the-art iPod of just three years ago. Compare the camera in your phone to the point and shoot digital of just four years ago. The argument seems strong for converged in preference to dedicated and standalone devices.

I feel the fact is slightly more complicated.

Despite recent advances of converged device capabilities, consumers will likely remain concerned about optimized devices for two major reasons:

Optimized Experiences. Dedicated devices deliver an optimized experience. At the same time as that camera to your phone gets better, the features on that point and shoot evolve in addition. When it comes to media players it’s some thing to take heed to music to your phone at the gym, however it’s another to have your whole music, video and photo collection to exploit on a plane from Long island to Tokyo. In terms of e-book readers, they’re lighter than tablet devices, offer the simplest battery life, and their black and white, outdoor viewable screens are a feature — not the negative they might be on a tablet that may also be used for content creation, games, and video playback.

Lower Costs. The value of dedicated devices keep dropping whilst their features become optimized. I doubt that a $399 Kindle (the worth at introduction) could keep pace with an iPad today. But a $139 Kindle that’s more likely to hit $99 earlier than later will probably be ready to hold its own. Likewise, low-cost media players, cameras and game machines will still be able to attract vertical users who may not be interested or care about additional features and will instead focus on buying the optimized experiences they’re interested in at lower prices.

In the case of Amazon, I think it’s wise to purse the dual strategy the company seems to be embracing. First, create and extend a good platform for e-books and their ecosystem: store, reading experience, price and content selection. By making the Kindle software experience available on iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms, the Kindle can be a broad experience for consumers. At the same time, providing a dedicated, optimized reader at cheap makes the platform availin a position to those unwilling or unable to embrace the higher price of converged devicestablets carry. The key will be keeping the device optimized and ignoring the impulse to add secondary features that are likely to go ignored and unused in order to keep driving price points down.

This is the age of multiple device with overlapping functions. While some devices such as smartphones will continue to grow in importance and ubiquity, one device will not rule them all anytime soon.

Michael Gartenberg is a partner at Altimeter Group. His weblog will also be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed listed below are his own.

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This post is tagged: device, entelligence, NOT, rule