“The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with
no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup
of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people
who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for
only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of
self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino” – You’ve Got Mail (1998)
I find the name ‘phone’ in most
devices we call as Smartphones as amusing. I am sure there is a study out there,
which says how less we use the device as a ‘phone’ i.e. to make and receive
calls.
I am sure, a smartphone now is a
mobile access to various services like Facebook, Twitter, Games, Navigation,
Music and sometimes a calculator, alarm etc. Almost two years ago I wrote about
this: “Make Apps, not Hardware!” http://yourstory.in/2011/09/make-apps-not-hardware/
I think the time has come to stop
calling them as ‘Smart Phones’, ’Super Phones’ etc. They are ‘Service and
Content Access Mobile devices’ (SCAM?) – I am sure this is not a catchy name,
but this is what the mobile phones of the day are. Because, in their current form,
they are gateways to:
- Access Services: Twitter, Facebook, Enterprise Apps
- Access Content: Music, Audio, Video, Photos
- Create and Share Content
Phone feature is almost just a ‘good
to have’, and a side effect of the devices needing connectivity to offer the
above services. (How else do we explain big screens that are bigger than the
face of the user?) – But, still the name SCAM picks up, I’ll continue calling
it as ‘Phone’ – But, when the word picks up, remember – you heard it here
first!
Coming to the quote in the
beginning of the article, I just realized, that each phone is unique. A person
chooses a phone and then adds different apps (services / content),
customizations to it to make it their own. Each phone has its own distinct
personality. This is becoming so important that no longer does hardware / brand
etc play a major role in deciding a phone. It all comes down to ‘Can I do
<something> with this phone?’ which always translates to ‘Does it have an
App that can do <something>?’
Needless to say each platform owner
– iOS, Android, Windows Phone etc. compete with each other in terms of building
better app stores and supporting a developer ecosystem that motivates them to
build better apps. Few days ago, Nokia spokesperson said that they feel that
there is a gap in Apps and they should work on filling it - http://gigaom.com/2013/07/29/even-nokia-thinks-theres-a-windows-phone-app-gap-of-sorts/
Just like a person has his own
personality (or a multiple personality disorder) while ordering coffee in
Starbucks, a Smartphone is a reflection of the person who uses it. A phone reveals it all – Games lover, photo
addict, eternal dweller of Facebook / Twitter etc.
A smartphone basically comes out of
its factory as a plain vanilla(?) computing and communications device, that
gets it color and personality form the user.
So, go ahead, dress up your SCAM!
(And, don’t call it a phone!)
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