Convergence

It's coming. Everything is poised for it to happen and it may be here sooner than we think. At least I hope it is.
Do you think you know what I'm getting at? Probably not huh? Those of you who have an iPod, a cellphone, a PDA and a digital camera might now be getting the hint. These four small gadgets are becoming more and more necessary in the lives of many and we are all tired of walking around like freakin batman with his utility belt. We have gotten awfully close to this already but just not quite to the pure user bliss level that honestly I have only experienced with an iPod and my Powerbook. The proverbial all-in-one device-that-is-perfect  is right around the corner and I for one am extremely excited to see it come to fruition.

Think about the integration of the best of the best. Motorola does the phone, Palm handles the PDA software, Apple handles Mp3 and photo management with an iPod and iPod photo like interface. Nice huh? The "device' would have a built in camera, built in hard drive to store music/videos/photos (and whatever else you want). It would have bluetooth synch capability as well as wireless WiFi connectivity. Of course you can surf the interent anywhere thanks to the built in phone!

Ok, why o why is this so excting and important you say?
Well imagine a trip to to your favorite city. You want to go christmas shopping and look for deals on a couple of special items. You know that you might be able to get them cheaper online and you don't know if your friends have these items or not. So you get into the store and your shopping and listening to your music from the device cuz you gotta have YOUR saoundtrack not theirs. You find something and right there you can look on ebay to see how cheap you could get it. Surprise, what you are looking at in the store is actually a killer bargain but does your friend have one? Take a photo and send it in a call, instant message, or email to your friends spouse to let them SEE if this would be a good gift. It is! Done shopping and you want to get a bite to eat but you have no idea where the best Indian food is. Pull up a dining guide website and find a good eatery. Use a website like mapquest to show you the way and even look up a bus schedule to figure out which bus will take you there. On the bus you decide to catch up on your favorite tv show that you had recorded (or downloaded) earlier and downloaded to your "device".

And I could go on and on....
These concept of having all of this connectivity and media creation capability in one place is just to cool but the real kicker is making the device durable, relatively inexpensive and VERY user friendly. Hopefully it will come sooner than later.


-RC