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More Uncritical Media Assumptions

January 12th, 2010

You just knew when Google introduced the Nexus One that it had to be the ultimate iPhone killer. After all, it was Google, and the Android platform is new and sexy. Well, anyway it’s new, so it just has to succeed.

The reality appears to be something else again. The Nexus One is a rebadged HTC phone, in the tradition of what Microsoft did when it used a Toshiba digital media player and transformed it into the Zune. That hardly makes the Nexus One brand new, but it also appears that Google is coming to realize that you can’t become a consumer electronics powerhouse overnight.

What happens, for example, if you need tech support? Google doesn’t have a credible reputation for customer service, and customers are also being sent to HTC or T-Mobile, the lone carrier supporting the device so far. Or just wait a few days and hope for an email response. A company can’t build a support infrastructure overnight, so it may take painful months to sort things out, which leaves early adopters in the lurch.

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Newsletter #417 Preview: Is This Really the End of the PC Era?

November 25th, 2007

I often think that some tech pundits have nothing better to do than create fake issues for headlines and hit counts. In recent weeks, I’ve mentioned a few of the more offensive theories, but I think one that is truly bizarre is the claim that we are at the tail end of the PC era, and that full-sized desktop and notebook computers will soon join the dinosaurs in the alternate reality of the obsolete.

Sure, this may strike some as a logical possibility, what with so-called smartphones gaining additional computing features, and the fast take-off of the iPhone. But does it really seem reasonable to you that it’ll be possible, some day, to retire “real” computers and survive strictly on a handheld device?

I suppose if you’re engaged solely in the business of building wireless phones, that’s a future to lust after. But is this a future that the rest of you would accept, or is it just a pipedream on the part of a few companies that are hoping to reach the end of the rainbow and find their pot of gold and wealth?

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