Thursday, November 21, 2002
Worlds Collide - PCs and Cell Phones Put Computing in Your Pocket
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 03:00 PM
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1454436
Ten years ago computers and cell phones had about as much in common as blenders and televisions. Today, coming from totally opposite directions, they are rushing together into a single unified device in your pocket driven by their respective industry titans. In this corner, weighing in at $30B in sales annually with 50,500 employees is Microsoft, representing the computer industry. In the other corner, with $25.7B in sales and 57,700 employees is Nokia, representing the cell phone industry.
" 'A COMPUTER on every desk and in every home.' This was Microsoft's mission statement for many years, and it once sounded visionary and daring. But today it seems lacking in ambition. What about a computer in every pocket? Sure enough, Microsoft has recently amended its statement: its goal is now to “empower people through great software, anytime, any place on any device”. Being chained to your desktop is out: mobility is in. The titan of the computer industry has set its sights on an entirely new market."
As Microsoft rushes headlong into this arena backed by companies like HP, Dell, Toshiba, mm02 and Orange, Nokia isn't sitting still. It has a new operating system for its phones, System 60 and it was enough to lure Sendo from the Microsoft camp to its own. Nokia also has a commanding lead in market share with cell phones and has strong relationships with carriers world-wide.
"...the collision of the computing and mobile-phone industries seems likely to lead to a surge of innovation, as the two camps fight it out to create a truly personal computing and communications device, with far wider appeal than the misleadingly named personal computer. And as these titans slug it out, it will be consumers who emerge as the winners."
Ten years ago computers and cell phones had about as much in common as blenders and televisions. Today, coming from totally opposite directions, they are rushing together into a single unified device in your pocket driven by their respective industry titans. In this corner, weighing in at $30B in sales annually with 50,500 employees is Microsoft, representing the computer industry. In the other corner, with $25.7B in sales and 57,700 employees is Nokia, representing the cell phone industry.
" 'A COMPUTER on every desk and in every home.' This was Microsoft's mission statement for many years, and it once sounded visionary and daring. But today it seems lacking in ambition. What about a computer in every pocket? Sure enough, Microsoft has recently amended its statement: its goal is now to “empower people through great software, anytime, any place on any device”. Being chained to your desktop is out: mobility is in. The titan of the computer industry has set its sights on an entirely new market."
As Microsoft rushes headlong into this arena backed by companies like HP, Dell, Toshiba, mm02 and Orange, Nokia isn't sitting still. It has a new operating system for its phones, System 60 and it was enough to lure Sendo from the Microsoft camp to its own. Nokia also has a commanding lead in market share with cell phones and has strong relationships with carriers world-wide.
"...the collision of the computing and mobile-phone industries seems likely to lead to a surge of innovation, as the two camps fight it out to create a truly personal computing and communications device, with far wider appeal than the misleadingly named personal computer. And as these titans slug it out, it will be consumers who emerge as the winners."
