iPod-cellphone smackdown

For the last few days, Tech Review bloggers have been arguing about whether, in the next few years, we'll continue to carry around several mobile devices (cellphone, iPod, etc.) or whether we'll carry an electronic Swiss Army knife-- a cell phone that also plays MP3s, is a camera, and makes Julienne fries. (Our story to date: It started with a Wall Street Journal article, which Wade Roush critiqued; picked up steam with a Business Week profile of coming "iPod killers," which prompted another response; all this, in turn, inspired an Eric Hellweg reply. It's the kind of exchange that's the very definition of intelligent blogging.)

In the latest turn, Wade Roush makes a subtle-yet-sensible argument in favor of the survival of multiple devices:

Many technologists I've talked with believe that in the long run, the answer will be two: one communications device and one entertainment device. They probably lean toward the two-device solution because, as technologists, they know how difficult it is to build a single device that's good at sending and receiving data wirelessly and good at storing and displaying that data.

But I tend to think the answer is just one.... I think people switch devices during the course of the day, depending on what activity they're engaged in. They may carry a cell phone from 9 to 5, then stuff the phone in their purse or duffel bag and don an iPod for their trip to the gym after work.

So while people will only manually carry or wear one sophisticated PDA-sized device at a time, they'll still own more than one.

In the end, I'm not sure the iPod versus cell phone debate is really an either/or situation; it's more like a Venn diagram.... [T]he iPod circle is not a subset of the cell-phone circle; rather, the two overlap.

This strikes me as right on-- though, to be honest, I'm one of those people who feels naked without his cellphone, and I really liked having my entire music collection in a little tiny box in my pocket (before I broke my 20GB iPod). But certainly, Wade's sense that the real issue to think about isn't just device design, but use and context, is unquestionably the right way to go.

Comments

[Chris Dent]

I think this is a sort of wrong question in process. Why not one device as what amounts to the network router (the radio), and several other devices, some specialized in function, some with multiple functions, which use it?

Any other approach seems to me like re-implementing the smart rather than dumb network on your body. The dumb network provides the most options and opportunities, even at a close up level. The edge always moves.

[Dean]

I saw a thing on News Channel 2 out of Indiana, and it confirmed the reports of Apple making an Ipod/Cell. I'll I got to say is it better be freakin sweet for what its going to cost.

[caroline]

im confused. does this mean there will be, is or is no such thing as an iphone(ipod, camera, cellphone)? Please comment back with more details.

[brandon]

put neon lights on the sides of the ipod and make it really bright. and put a mobile im system in it

just a sugestion but please put in consideration

[Leo Rivas]

It souds nice having one device that stores files, songs, pictures, videos and at the same time having the functionality as a cellphone.....interesting....(how can I get more info on this?)