{"id":577,"date":"2001-10-21T16:39:30","date_gmt":"2001-10-21T11:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madmanweb.com\/2001\/10\/21\/the_myth_of_con\/"},"modified":"2001-10-21T16:39:30","modified_gmt":"2001-10-21T11:09:30","slug":"the_myth_of_con","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madmanweb.com\/2001\/10\/the_myth_of_con\/","title":{"rendered":"The myth of convergence"},"content":{"rendered":"
Convergence. They’ve been preaching it for many years now. Don’t hold your breath though. It’ll never happen. <\/P>
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What exactly is convergence? I wanted to get an “official”definition, so I looked it up on www.whatis.com<\/A> and this is what I got: “In information technology, convergence is a term for the combining of personal computers, telecommunication, and television into a user experience that is accessible to everyone”. <\/P> I assure you that it just isn’t going to happen. Not today, not in the future. The media may be going all bonkers about it. That doesn’t make it more likely. Nor will wishful thinking by companies that have invested large chunks of money in “convergence devices”.<\/P><\/p>\n Don’t believe me? Just ask the manufacturers of the “Internet TVs” how sales are doing. When I was doing research for this column on the Net, I found an article from the year 2000 claiming that the Onida Webcruiser was already selling 2000 units a month and the company was bullish about its prospects. The next article<\/A> was from January 2001 in the Economic Times about how these devices have flopped. Sales are now only a few hundred units per month compared to half a million for regular TVs. The article quoted the COO of Mirc Electronics, G Sundar as saying “The existing distribution channel is not right for selling such products and also, a lot of consumer education is needed as most of them expect the full functionality of a PC in Internet TV”. Mr. Sundar has hit the nail right on the head ? the market expects an Internet TV to work exactly like a regular PC. Too bad he didn’t realize it earlier. He might have saved the company a lot of money. Mistaking initial buyer curiosity for long-term success is a big marketing mistake and unfortunately, one that many companies make. Some might say that these devices aren’t succeeding because their time hasn’t come yet. After all, there is a certain “cool”. factor about having your watch work as a digital camera, your phone work as an MP3 player, your refrigerator being used to surf the Net, and your fax machine working as a photocopier. Geeks love these kinds of devices. For them, utility is secondary. mere possession of these devices is enough. But that’s exactly the point. Apart from the early adopter geek type, these products don’t work for a mainstream market. These people have to be convinced that there’s actually some benefit from buying these multifunctional devices (or MFDs.) And in about every case, that benefit just isn’t there. <\/P> The biggest problem with MFDs is that there’s always a compromise involved in their design. Designers of these products face a tough challenge. They must successfully integrate two or more (sometimes unrelated) devices (for example, a watch and a digital camera.) They have to restrict the dimensions of the device (you can’t have a watch that’s as big as a digital camera or you wouldn’t be able to wear it.) And they must do all this within a reasonable price that the market can bear. In other words, it’s just about impossible to do. It’s like asking for a Ferrari that has great engine performance, costs only $10,000 and<\/I> is fuel-efficient too! You can’t have it both ways. There’s always a tradeoff. To top it all, when you want to get a better camera, you’ve got to throw away your watch too. Upgrading is a big problem with MFDs. <\/P> Let’s take a few examples. The browser technology in Internet TVs is primitive (you can’t play MP3s, view Flash, or run Java applets.) They have no hard disk, so you can’t keep your e-mail for reading later. Nor can you save attachments, download MP3 files, or store your friend’s wedding pictures anywhere. This limits you to just browsing web sites for information (and you can’t store that information anywhere.) Can you upgrade your browser like you can with Internet Explorer or Netscape? No. Why would you want a device like this? And for about Rs. 25000 ($500), what do you get? You get a very expensive TV and a lousy browser (Internet access costs not included.) <\/P>
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