02-15-2002, 09:57 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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Innovate or get hit on the head
I have with great interest read the discussions that followed the "What if"-post. I find the opinions and comments expressed there very thoughtful, to say the least.
I'd like to elaborate a bit further on why I made the remarks I did. The simple reason is that there are two options for Microsoft mobility initiatives: Innovate or get hit in the head.
Take a second and assume that Microsoft had pulled out from the mobile devices market three years ago, when even most analysts described that option being likely. What would we have had today? We'd have had a market leader saying that users don't want more, they want "zen"; which really means less. You all know where I could go with this analysis of how Microsoft brought sanity, health, energy, and innovation to this market, and to competition. But that's not what is occupying my mind at the moment.
This is what is occupying my mind: I am getting increasingly frightened of a type of self-content ostentatious attitude that seems to grow amongst the "Pocket PC fans". If that attitude would spread into the Microsoft Mobility Division, we'd be extrapolating market share trends with axes in our heads. In fact, that type of attitude is very "un-Microsoftish". The volatile dynamics of this young market will hit you in the head if you don't constantly increase speed of innovation. If it took only two years to gain x% of market share, that means just one thing in a market that moves faster and faster: It will take a lot less time to lose it.
I want more paranoia, underdog, "Microsoftish" attitude in the Microsoft mobility-camp, not less. And then I want:
� Microsoft to increase the speed of Pocket PC innovation.
� Pocket PC OEMs get their act together, and make even better hardware.
� Microsoft to get at least two of the top five cell phone manufacturers making the Smartphone 2002.
� Microsoft to convince mobile operators that Internet is really not a threat, and why this is so.
So, there you have it. I am not less passionate, just more paranoid.
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02-15-2002, 02:23 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 197
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Well said, Andy.
While I've bemoaned the fact that XScale units will probably hit before the paint is really dry on the PPC2K2 units, I agree that an agressive upgrade cycle is necessary. The ARM Palms will hit just about the same time they're oviated by the XScale PPCs but it has to keep happening that way. Palm is currently "dominating" the sales of hand-helds purely by inertia but they seem to be coming aware of that fact.
The one caveat I'd pose is that the manufacturers need to do a better job of bringing viable units to market in spite of the high-slope upgrade curve. It won't do to have more Jornadas with dusty screens; more Casiopieas with self-distruct back-lights; or more iPAQs with dark, memory-assigned-upside-down displays.
__________________
HTC HD2 US (unlocked) + 16GB micro SDHC (in holding)
HTC Evo + 16GB micro SDHC (in use)
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02-15-2002, 02:51 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
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I understand where Andy is coming from, and I have the same fears. Microsoft's marketing and product positioning leave me very skeptical as to just how successful PocketPC really will be in the future. Will it ever really be successful with the mindshare it has now? Worst of all....Microsoft and its licensees are completely ignoring the consumer market. PocketPC's role is defined as a tool for "Mobile Professionals". So that means corporate users with specialized needs and....well, Geeks. Will those two markets (the latter being a niche) carry PocketPC to the highway of success? I have my doubts. This platform will go nowhere in the publics eye so long as Microsoft continues its Marie Antoinette attitude of "Let them eat Palms".
And then there is the hardware. I'm sorry, but the current product line doesn't cut it. None of the PocketPC hardware I've looked at even vaguely resembles a "consumer" product. Why is it that, despite all the impressive specs, PalmOS licensees..particularly Sony, continue to outclass PPC products. I use a Sony Clie T615c, and while it may not have even half the features or functionality of a PocketPC, it is a damn work of art. You can tell that the designers at Sony put a great deal of thought into its design - how it would be carried, or feel in the users hand - how the apps interact with the hardware - styling! Excellent craftsmanship. Every seam is tight, the edges curve and bend uniform fashion. It's an example of why PocketPC hardware vendors just don't get it. A PDA is 50% handheld computer...and 50% fashion accessory. I don't carry a PDA...I WEAR a PDA. It becomes an appendage to me, just like my watch or wallet. Microsoft's partners seem to have a less creative approach to designing hardware: throw together two halves of a plastic shell, and paint it silver. None of the PocketPCs I've looked at even have a built-in flip lid. And what is the deal with all this painted plastic? I want METAL cases....METAL DAMN IT!!! Come on guys..we have to do better than this.
Please don't take this as a flame, I do like PocketPC. But it frustrates me to no end to see such a promising platform, with so much potential, hobble along cluelessly.
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02-15-2002, 03:08 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,350
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Foo Fighter
throw together two halves of a plastic shell, and paint it silver. None of the PocketPCs I've looked at even have a built-in flip lid. And what is the deal with all this painted plastic? I want METAL cases....METAL DAMN IT!!! Come on guys..we have to do better than this.
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from my mind to your keyboard....
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02-15-2002, 03:08 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
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Another thought, in regards to the price issue:
Technically prices on PPC hardware could come down over time as component costs decline. The problem is, Microsoft's partners have shown little interest is selling lower cost, lower margin products. When the new hardware comes out, the older models are discontinued. Will we ever see $299 PocketPC devices...good ones? There needs to be, permanently, a standardized product array that offers a tiered price scale. At this rate, PocketPC will ALWAYS be high-end.
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02-15-2002, 03:12 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 332
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I have to agree with Foo on this one.
The only non-PPC devices that I have looked at with any interest are the Sony devices (I know this is not what you were saying). Microsoft's mindset (if an non sentient entity can have a mindset) is totally wrong, and has been for a long time. It's not just on PPC either. The only thing stopping people leaving in droves, is that for those people there is not, in their mind, a viable alternative. The reason I have a PPC (H3660) is versatility, that's it. With Sony it's just another set of proprietry standards (anyone got a Memory Stick?) that I don't personally want to buy into. In generating the market share that MS have, based on somewhat open hardware, they have, being Microsoft, spurred a people into action to develop non-Microsoft solutions (Familiar). Why is this? It is, in my opinion, because people are deeply dissatisfied with what Microsoft gives them.
What I would love to see when I buy my next (insert generic term here) is the option of which OS I want installed.
Daniel
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02-15-2002, 03:30 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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Personally, I am not asking for another price point. More costs more, which we will notice when competition starts adding more memory, faster processors and color screens.
I am looking for more innovative software and hardware.
OK, so now we have miniaturized our desktop PC, which is great. But what about software that actually is designed from the fact that the user IS mobile, not from the fact that the user wants to do desktop things anywhere. I am looking for software that is intelligent enough to make tough connectivity choices easier, and that provides a great user experience to all those wireless standards out there; SMS, WAP, Web, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPRS, CDPD, CDMA, IR etc etc.
More innovative hardware. Five years ago, Pocket PC OEMs started making bricks and they still do. Phone combos are on their way, and that's about time. I really hope that the hardware speaks a quality and fashion language that people will expect from $600 products.
Another thing that I am thinking a lot about is the Consumer vs Enterprise debate. What should the next step be? A continuation of a generic Pocket PC platform that should speak the language of consumer AND enterprise at the same time, or a platform that can be had in two flavors? I don't know. I do know that whatever the positioning will be, it will require a significant amount of increased efforts and speed from all delegations in the Pocket PC camp.
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02-15-2002, 03:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 14
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Question
Question; Apart from some Casio device that I can't remember (and that wasn't really compatible with the rest - I think), how much freedom do PPC device manufacturers have over the implementation of the OS? Are the able to change the GUI and/or software or are they only allowed to add their stuff if it conforms (Casio's menu system and contacts app being an example)?
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02-15-2002, 03:38 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 623
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Andy Sjostrom
I am looking for more innovative software and hardware.
OK, so now we have miniaturized our desktop PC, which is great. But what about software that actually is designed from the fact that the user IS mobile, not from the fact that the user wants to do desktop things anywhere. I am looking for software that is intelligent enough to make tough connectivity choices easier, and that provides a great user experience to all those wireless standards out there; SMS, WAP, Web, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPRS, CDPD, CDMA, IR etc etc.
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I agree, the Pocket PC is great now, but at the rate Palm is going their features may surpass Pocket PC in a couple of years. Microsoft really needs to pick up the pace.
~Spencer
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~SpencerOwner-Editor of TabletPCBuzz.comMicrosoft MVP - Tablet PC
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02-15-2002, 03:44 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 197
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Of all the Pocket PCs, I think HP is doing the best design work this time around. (Don't even talk about gen-1 HP, please, except to not that it had a real metal cover.) There's the built in cover and there's even a built-in cover with the add-on keyboard. The addons actually look like they belong on the unit rather than sort-of slapped on. Now if they'd just do a real metal cover. (titanium?  )
I use Pocket PC OS because of what it can do. Palm can't touch it for the things I need right now, but I'll agree, I looked quite long at the Color Clie.
__________________
HTC HD2 US (unlocked) + 16GB micro SDHC (in holding)
HTC Evo + 16GB micro SDHC (in use)
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