Tiny devices pack a powerful punch
HAND-HELD COMPUTING Gadgets appeal by adding functions Sense of purpose key for acceptance
Greg MacPherson knows electronics and he knows business. MacPherson is the founder and president of GMS Technical, a successful company that tests electronic devices, and he’s never without his Palm Treo 650.
“ It’s a phone and a PDA ( personal digital assistant). I also use it for word processing, email, scheduling and Web surfing,” he says.
“ If I wasn’t the father of 19month- old twins, I’d probably have enough time to use it as an MP3 player and game platform. But then again, the camcorder ability comes in pretty handy.”
Besides being a phone, the Treo handles a number of tasks necessary — and some less necessary — to keep its user connected, organized and entertained. It replaces a cellphone, PDA and a number of other electronic devices, despite being smaller than a stick of antiperspirant.
It’s an example of convergence, a recent trend in handheld electronic devices in which many tasks are handled by one machine.
“ They’re what we call smart phones: feature-rich phones with a high- level OS ( operating system) like Windows, Blackberry, Linux or Palm — plus telephone capability,” says Eddie Chan, an analyst for IDC Canada.
“ The market for them is extremely hot. People need their capabilities, but don’t want to lug around two or three devices for it.” MacPherson got his Treo 650 as soon as it came out. He felt he needed its functions and he was familiar with the Palm operating system and liked the idea of keeping his data intact.
“ I already had a Palm and I already had a Telus account, so I wanted to put them together,” he says. “ I also like how it feels in my hand. My old Palm phone was so big I felt like I was talking into a dinner plate.”
Convergence underlies the appeal of the Sony Playstation Portable ( PSP). Primarily a gameplaying platform, the PSP also plays music and movies.
“ I fly to Europe about 20 times a year, so I have a lot of time sitting down,” says importer Kurt Hahn. “ With my PSP, I can play a game or watch the movie that I want — not the one the airline shows over and over again — and not disturb anyone, unless I start laughing, that is.” But there are drawbacks to putting too many tasks on a machine small enough to fit in a person’s hands. “The problem with convergence is the compromises,” says IDC’s Chan. “ You watch movies on tiny screens, you sacrifice processor speed and battery life.”
For some, though, it’s worth it.
“ Without my Treo I’d have to have a phone and probably a laptop with me all the time,” says MacPherson. “ I need it.” But sometimes, a person wants a device that does one thing and does it very well. That’s the philosophy behind the most popular of all handheld devices, Apple’s iPod.
“ After the iPod came out, there were tons of imitators and they all more or less failed,” says Tim Deal, an analyst with Technology Business Research. “Apple innovated, made a product that did what it promised extremely well and they also created a hip, sexy culture around the product.” The iPod has been so successful, he says, because it hasn’t diverged from its original mission: Play lots of music well, and look good doing it. “The focus is always music first,” says Willi Powell, strategic development manager for Apple Canada. “ We’ve had three or four little music-oriented games just for fun, but it’s really about the music.” Now, Apple has added video to the iPod. So far, the content is limited to music videos and ( in the States) television shows produced by Apple collaborator Disney.
“ People are making a big deal about the video capability, but they are forgetting that the new iPod is much smaller and has far more storage than the model it replaces,” says Powell. “It’s a music player that allows you to download songs or audio books legally, and now you can have video, too.”
Waiting until they had a ded- icated corps of users and a strong reputation has served Apple well.
“ It was a smart move by Apple to wait on things like video and gaming,” Deal says. “ Everybody expected that Sony would dominate the market because they had such a head start and they owned so many other companies, like MGM. But they just came late and missed the boat.”
Despite the success of devices like the PSP, Sony has not been able to make much of a dent in Apple’s dominance in personal music players, and may now be threatened by their foray in video.
“ Apple’s charging into Sony’s territory again,” Deal says. “ The PSP is a nice machine, but people would much rather download than buy a disc; it’s closer to instant gratification.”
Sometimes, of course, that gratification doesn’t come from a movie or a game, but from a deal closed or a video of your child’s first steps.
“ With my Treo, I can handle my business on the three or four days a week I’m on the road,” MacPherson says. “ And I always have it when I need it.”