Two blog posts today really stood out to me. The first was Eileen Brown's Weblog post "The Death of the iPod?" and then Seth Godin's post "The problem with mobile."
Eileen's post was centered around an article on TechWeb about how in five years, they think that dedicated portable music devices will disappear in favor of combined cell phone/media player devices. I have a relatively long comment there that mostly boils down to the fact that I think the prediction has more to do with Microsoft trying to define the next personal electronics battlefield since they lost the last one to Apple.
Then in Seth Godin's post questions why the cell phone industry hasn't gotten as big as it should have. He answers his own question by stating:
"I think we're going to discover a whole new universe of cell phone services that people want to pay for, things that we won't be able to live without. Like... ringtones."
I don't get ideas like these at all. I really don't. I'm 32, I work in technology, I'm a gadget lover, so I would think that I'm at least a little bit in the demographic that the cell carriers are looking to tap. The problem is that I have no interest in any of it.
I don't want to watch videos on my phone, whether downloaded from my Mac or streamed live from some site over an EDGE/EVDO network...and I especially don't want to pay extra to do it. I pay enough for the music I already have, so I don't see any reason to pay even more for a chunk of a song that will play on my phone whenever someone calls (I prefer vibrate). I don't want to check stocks on my phone, surf the web from it or do instant messaging though I've done all three. Candy bar phones are the wrong format, and I wouldn't carry one of those PDA-style ones because they're too big.
My cell phone is not, nor has it ever been an accessory. It's not for display and is not any indication of my "lifestyle." It's for me to make calls when I need to and take calls when I have to.
I've had cell phones since the original Ericsson Sprint Spectrum phones in 1996 or so. Currently I have two phones. A Nokia 6010 for personal use and a Nokia 9300 for work.
The 9300 is too big, too heavy and wants to do too much. The 6010 is too big, doesn't have bluetooth, isn't supported by iSync and really makes me miss my Sony Ericsson t610.
And I have a 2GB iPod Nano. It's just the right size physically, the interface is just what it needs...no more, no less. I just wish I got the 4GB one. Or that there was a 40GB Nano. No, I don't want anything to do with the ROKR.
Yes, this has been long and rambling but there is a point here. I think that the two articles were just good timing. The 6010's screen is dying so I'm in the market for a new phone, so I've been thinking about current and near future tech as it relates to cell phones....and I seem to have a really hard time finding what I want.
I want a cell phone that's just a phone. I have an iPod and I like it better. I want it to fit in the front pocket of a pair of jeans with room for my wallet. I want it to sync up with the my Address Book on my Mac over bluetooth. I want it to also be able to use a bluetooth earpiece so I can drive and talk if I have to. I don't want any camera on it (cameraphones are banned and confiscated in certain areas and I'd rather not have a crappy camera when I need it than not have a phone when I need it).
And for the love of all that's good in this world, I don't under any circumstances don't want it to be a conduit for people to market at me through. I don't want ringtones, or exclusive music and videos whether it's over a high speed or slow speed wireless link.
Is that so hard? It's definitely hard to find. The t610 was close, except for the camera part. The Samsung t509 looks like it comes close too, but I'm waiting to see how the quality reports come out. In the mean time, I might just pick up a used t610 on eBay.
Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Gadgets, Technology, Marketing, iPod, iTunes
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