Benjamin Scott <dragonh...@gmail.com> writes: > > On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen > <roz...@geekspace.com> wrote: > > If you'd be content with something that has RF transceivers, > > microphones, and/or cameras ... > > The market for devices without at least one of those is fast > approaching zero, and most manufacturers have already discontinued > plans or production of such.
Right--the market for `something that can't be online all the time' has been reduced to: people working in government or industry where there is a concern about espionage, accountability, privacy, or fodder for blackmail or public criticism (so: G-men, political staff, lawyers, social workers, R&D labrats producing `high-value IP', in-studio viewers of `Crossing Over with John Edward' and the like, or even people attending some concerts or exclusive events); people working with high-sensitivity equipment where RFI is a significant concern (scientists, some musicians..., others?); paranoiacs who really do think that they are `allergic' to Wi-Fi or who think that RF `radiation' is going to give them cancer; and people who are just afraid that `too many features' will make the device `too complicated'. et al. > I don't like it, either, but I conceded defeat on this issue early > last year. Funny--I thought, about that time, that the market for `dumb devices' actually seemed to be returning: for a while, it had seemed that `mobile phones that were just phones' (and didn't have cameras) were relegated to being `for old people', and were all large-buttoned models; but then these tiny, super-cheap just-a-phone mobile phones started appearing. Maybe that's just when I started paying attention, and it was just news to *me*. :) Isn't that part of the technology market cycle, though? Fancy toys become cheap and pleantiful, which means that less-fancy versions can be *really* cheap, and someone remembers that there's actually a sizable market of cheapskates waiting to buy cheap stuff (even if they don't need it--just so long as it's cheap!)? At least until they're really commoditised, to the point where making the less-fancy versions starts to involve manufacturers buying featureful all-in-one bases and then actively *removing* components, I guess.... > My PDA and music player is now also my mobile phone, and it has a > camera and multiple radios (CDMA, Bluetooth, GPS). Ironically, it's > missing 802.11, the one thing I might actually have wanted. > > In all fairness, the ubiquitous, always-networked, does-everything > device does provide a huge amount of potential, so I can see the > appeal. Yes indeed--I've actually quite enjoyed having all of those in my FreeRunner, on many occasions--things like being able to IM an old friend whose phone-number I forgot to put into my phonebook, find some lyrics that I can *almost* remember, read online news, research mobile phones...., find resources for debugging my other Internet connection, circumvent the useless staff at a store by just checking their inventory online *myself*.... :) Tying computing, Internet-connectivity, and *GPS* together yields even more fantastic opportunities--how about a `local NPR station finder' application? I've wanted a solution to that problem for *years*, and now it's possible (which reminds me... I think I need to try contacting NPR again, to see if they'll let me distribute one that I write). I just realised, the other day, how nice it'd be to have a location-aware `soundtrack generator' in my music-player: it would warn me when I was about to enter a bad part of town by switching to scary music, and then switch to fast-paced `getaway' music when it detected that I was running away. The `always-on everywhere Internet' feature is actually, debatably, *more* attractive than the `telephony' one. Pair that with the fact that biggest issue that I've ended up having with the bundling of different non-phone functions *into my phone*... is that it allows *phonecalls* to be more jarringly interruptive than ever before-- and there are now things that I just cannot, due to physical limitations, multiplex along with a phone-call: I can't, for example take a call while I leave my multigadget plugged into a stereo to play party-music. To resolve those issues simultaneously, I've actually been considering getting a `dumbphone' with a cheap pay-per-minute plan for phone-calls, and keeping the FreeRunner on a buckets-o-data plan. Then I might just let the FreeRunner replace the defunct iPod. > Those who have contrary needs are a rather tiny market. So > I've resigned myself to leaving my memory augmentation device in the > designed bins outside the designated areas. And carrying a clipboard. Actually, I wonder how big a market *can* be found in the union of the sets that I listed above, and how much money could be made by tapping it... :) -- "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))." _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
