An article in Gizmodo last week (“Question of the Day: Watch or Cellphone for Telling Time“) reminded me of discussions we had back when I was at Palm in the early 2000’s. Though far from unanimous the outcome was, or should have been, obvious: with personal devices, less will eventually win out over more.
Back in the late 90’s, the standalone organizer was Palm’s bread and butter. The question was, with cell phones everywhere, how long would the stand-alone device franchise exist? Time answered this one for us but the discussions were very lively.
Changing Human (User) Behavior
I’ve noticed, after a few startup experiences, that the biggest challenge is changing human behavior. For change to occur rapidly there has to either be 1) a small payload, or 2) huge benefits. An example of a small payload would be to go to a new website. Little risk, little time investment, who knows, there may be something there for me. A large payload would be a financial commitment and something that requires a lot of training.
An example of a huge benefit is the microwave oven. Note that even with obvious benefits, this device took 15 years from the cover of popular mechanics to becoming a part of every modern household.
So I digress. Basically, when you are talking about a device a human must carry, the payload can’t be small enough and the benefit better be huge. Not to be sexist, but I am a guy and think like one and so will use a guy example. In the last century, up until 20 years ago or so, we carried some variation of these things: a watch, wallet, a comb, keys and change. Then came the cell phone. It was initially bulky and not convenient to carry in a pocket. But the benefit was huge. Back at Palm, our destiny was obvious - whatever benefits an organizer offered could be incorporated into a cellphone. Luckily the merger with Handspring occurred and the Treo came out and Palm survived to fight another day.
So the moral of the story? Less is more. Any integration of multiple devices into one will win out. How can it not? If my watch had iTunes, why would I have an iPod? If my phone was in my watch (flashback: was Dick Tracy right all this time?) I would have no need for a separate phone.
Integration. Coming to your person. Or not…
