MP3 and iPod are excellent examples of what focus can do. I strongly recommend application dedicated devices to build up focus and synergizing the application and hardware to maximize user value. I would also like to take this opportunity to address a myth that people do not like to carry more than one device. People already carry one or more of the following, when they step out of their homes: wrist watch, reading glasses, sun glasses, wallet, bag, umbrella, water bottle, cosmetic kit, keys, fountain pen, ball point pen, Discman, Walkman, MP3 or an iPod, mobile phone, PDA etc.
PC, home cable and three-in-one stereo are some every day convergent solutions, which stand out as successful but interestingly, have had very different dynamics. The PC has evolved into a convergent platform, since its introduction in nineteen eighties. However, when a certain application on a PC becomes critical to business or lifestyle, there is a tendency to dedicate it to a separate PC. At home, also the growing tendency is to have a separate PC for the children or household chores. Again on the home front, each service in a home cable is usually an established offering on a different platform before being included in the convergent home cable suite. A little known service on a home cable often struggles unless a special focus is brought on to it. Its survival chances significantly improve, if it is included into a relevant focus group like entertainment, news, cartoons etc. We buy three-in-one stereo for our homes for it is a good value for money but end up mainly using CD/DVD during its lifecycle. Well that is the dynamics of convergence.
It is important for all those associated with mobile voice to realize that anything bundled with it is likely to struggle through out its lifecycle unless a very special focus is brought on to it. SMS has survived and prospered on a mobile phone because it first established its value proposition on a separate platform i.e. pager, before it was migrated to a mobile phone. If the text messaging had been directly introduced on to the mobile phone, it would have struggled. SMS complements voice and like it delivers a personal message. The fact that it delivers a personal message – builds up the killer potential in it that must synergize with the handset to make it killer.
SMS as an application has considerable synergy with mobile phone, however, what typically goes against it is the small size of the key pad, which typically excludes the older generation from using it.. No wonder SMS is prospering as a secondary application among the kids, teenagers, young adults, and adults who had the opportunity to use it during their younger years.
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