I still remember, back in December 2007, the thunderbolt that hit me when I held the Nokia N95 8GB in my hands for the first time and realized the true meaning of that “Convergence” word I was reading everywhere in mobile industry-related articles. Back in 2007, Convergence was a novelty and one of the most exciting things to happen in the industry in a while. All of a sudden, everyone was starting to realize the power behind mobile devices and that they weren’t only capable of making calls and incorporating gimmick replacements of standalone gadgets, but of doing so in an advanced way that could possibly replace those as well as enable new ways of interacting with old technology.
Think of when the camera met the mobile phone. At 0.3 Megapixels, you would look at it and snort at how ridiculous the image quality was. But upon hitting the 1.3MP and 2MP threshold it became a different beast, and it wasn’t about snapping images anymore, but you could now share these images via Bluetooth to other devices and friends, or upload online, or edit on-the-go, all things that weren’t widely available on standalone cameras but were possible thanks to the converged nature of mobile phones.
Forward to 2008-2009. I was totally sold on the concept of convergence, I had arguments with anyone and everyone about it, especially those who were still on the first and second generation iPhones. With my Nokia E71, I was ready to take on the world. I could walk out the door with just the E71 in my pocket and perform activities on it in one day that I wasn’t even close to doing on other standalone gadgets. The E71 was a true powerhouse, a perfect embodiment of convergence and I didn’t envision the day when I’d move to a multi-device setup.
Fast Forward again to 2010. I have a Kodak 12MP digital camera, a Nokia N97 Mini, an iPod Touch 4G. The old Convergence evangelizer in me is, well, skeptic. The concept itself has spread worldwide and has become such a given that we don’t mention it anymore. Convergence is dead. It is so wide-spread, so expected that it’s no longer a novelty. I should be excited at this, knowing that everyone has adopted it, but I look at today’s converged devices and I shrug. This isn’t how I envisioned convergence back in 2007, and instead of moving forward, we’ve moved backward in my opinion.
Image courtesy of Crave, CNET UK
1. The Divergence of Convergence Concepts
When I first sat down to dwell on this article, I almost missed this aspect, although it was quite obvious to me. The ever-insightful Steve Litchfield says it best in an article on AllAboutSymbian: When is a smartphone not a smartphone? When it’s a converged device! Steve explains the two schools currently dividing the “smartphone/converged devices” ecosystem, mainly the European-born Nokia school and the American-born Apple/Android/Palm/WP7 school.
In the first one, smartphones are considered as true “converged” devices, in the traditional sense of the word, and starting from the hardware they should be able to replace other gadgets out of the box. The camera is important, the GPS in important, the phone is important, the video recorder and player are important. A converged device should be able to replace all of these, and not in a mediocre way, but in at least a way that would make the standalone gadget an expensive luxury for 90% of users.
In the second one, smartphones are mostly miniature computers combined with a phone. The hardware takes a backseat as the software shines through. Converged devices are here to get a specific task done, they are a portal to the world, especially information-wise. Communicating with others through all means possible and Web Browsing, are the main features. Like computers, they have fascinating raw computing power in terms of processors, RAM, screens… And like computers, Cameras, Video, Music, GPS, even the actual Phone part aren’t the main features. Their aim isn’t to replace every gadget you own, but to place a computer in your pocket and basic functionality for everything else.
It’s true that we’re now at a time where the two schools have noticed the schism and are moving towards each other and filling the gaps that make the other side of the pond more interesting for some users. Yet, we’re still leaps away from a Nokia phone with the computing versatility of an iPhone 4, or an Android phone with the camera genius of the Nokia N8.
2. The Divergence of Converged Hardware
The more we move ahead with “converged devices”, the more we seem to have lost sight of the concept, in terms of hardware. Basically every phone being sold right now is a converged device of some sorts. In the middle-range, they replace several gadgets in a basic way: they’re all you need for 60-70% of the population. However every single one of those in the high-end fragment is specialized in some aspect. You can’t get the stellar camera of the N8 and the awesome Gaming gallery and power of an iPhone in one smartphone. You can’t get the security and encryption of a Blackberry and the raw processor power of an Android in one smartphone.
If you want a really good camera, music player, video recorder and player, you choose a smartphone that’s good at one of those aspects and buy standalone devices for everything else. Or if you can afford it, you get different smartphones, each one good at a certain aspect, and you switch your SIM card (or worse take several contracts) based on the task at hand.
I’ve chosen the first solution. I have an N97 Mini for the phone and Twitter functions. Yet I never get out of the house without my iPod Touch which is my Music Player, portable gaming machine, and Medical information portal. I also whip out my Kodak V1273 camera every time I know I will be making serious photography. I recently got a Nokia N8 for trial, and it lets me ditch the N97Mini & Kodak V1273 from my setup but it’s still years away from replacing my iPod Touch. I’ve also been saving for an Android device, yet I know that there’s no Android “superphone” out there that could replace my Kodak, and it won’t really replace the music/gaming aspects of the iPod, but at least I’ll be able to walk out the door with only it in my pocket as it will have medical apps on: the entertainment aspect is secondary. Convergence is on a break, for me, for now.
Even Ricky, who I know hates to carry two devices at the same time, had to break down a while back and buy an iPod Classic, because his Nexus One just wasn’t cutting it when it comes to music storage and sync’ing (play count and rating mostly).
3. The Divergence of Converged Operating Systems
This is the big Oh-No-They-Didn’t in my opinion. Back in 2007 we had Symbian and Windows Mobile (and Blackberry/Palm to a respectively elitist/extinguished extent). If you wanted a true Smartphone it was either or. Now? Symbian, Meego, iOS, Android, WebOS, Blackberry, WP7, Bada. My head is swirling only trying to think of whether I missed something else. Choice is fantastic but the problem? Oh. My. God. Where do I start?
First, confusion yet superposition. All of these OS have differentiating features and paradigms in terms of interaction and UI. Yet all of them are converging to let you do the same things. Facebook-Contacts integration anyone? Full-web browsing? Widgets?
Second, all these OS don’t play well with each other, especially out of the box. Calls, SMS, Email, work mostly well cross-platform. But think of venturing anywhere further and you’re in for the biggest brain-teasers of modern times. Sharing anything from any platform with an iPhone is rocket science. And it’s not only iOS. Want to bluetooth the image you just took to your friend’s device? Want to share the ringtone you just edited? The game you just downloaded? The Music track you’re playing? Most of the time, if you and your friend own converged devices built on different OS, you’re in no luck. And don’t even think of sharing a document or a weird file type. That’s a riddle harder than the Who Came First Chicken/Egg dilemma. It’s funny how functions that were dead easy to do back in 2006 are now almost impossible.
Third, and most importantly, third-party developer and accessory support. Accessory manufacturers and software developers face the biggest confusion in their history nowadays. There’s no way for them to target the worldwide “converged devices” market unless they pour in thousands of working hours and hire at least 8 different developers to develop for every platform out there. And let’s not even talk about divergence in the same platform where one app could work on a newer firmware version but not an older one. This tight corner situation forces them to prioritize based on the target audience and the cost of development. They have to give up on several platforms, and even choose elitist support for certain versions of each platform they’ll work on. Even the big names, who could potentially afford working on all platforms don’t see the need to, for example Twitter made an official app for iOS, Android, Blackberry and WP7, but nothing else. From a user perspective, it’s even worse. If you own an iPhone now and have bought Angry Birds on it, but want to switch to a WP7 soon, you will have to buy Angry Birds on it again when/if it’s released, despite your previous ownership. Accessory manufacturers are forced with the same dilemma, they either need to make sure their product works cross-platform in order to declare it a universal accessory, which requires them to buy many devices to test on, or go specifically and target one platform or one brand or even one single device. Universal accessories are becoming a rarity find these days and if you find one, you declare it a gem.
Foursquare only officially support iOS, Android and Blackberry
Will Convergence Ever Get Back On Track?
As I said earlier, I’m skeptic. We seem to be now at a stage where the further we go, the further apart converged devices split. I’ve read several posts from highly regarded tech journalists stating that they own and use an iOS, Android and Blackberry. Those technology leaders need to own several converged devices to stay on top of their job and life. What puzzles me even more is that these same leaders said they would gladly buy a WP7 device when they were announced. Really? Four devices on four platforms? How do they even keep on top of their captured images alone, I have no idea. I find it hard that no one has yet rebelled and told manufacturers publicly “I’m going with one platform, one manufacturer, ONE device only, and you guys need to make it work for everything. Stop splitting hairs in your lineups please.”
We might be moving closer to similar convergence in terms of concept and hardware, and we might achieve that in the next few years, but convergence on the software level is still a far away dream. Thanks to the divergent nature of all these OS and the greed and world-domination dreams of manufacturers behind them, cross-platform communication, development and support, are a long way from reality. The first signs are here, though, look at Instant Messaging applications, the ingenious concept of WhatsApp or the different cloud-based Storage solutions like SugarSync and Dropbox. These are the light that shows that sharing across different platforms isn’t impossible. Also exciting is the new Wi-Fi Direct standard that might help bridge the gap a bit closer between them.
As I close this (very) long article, I can’t help but sigh over where I stand now and where I did 3 years ago in regards to convergence, and I wonder, am I the only one not excited by the current divergent state of things?
