Oscar Trelles

You have probably already seen the latest video from Corning, but just in case:

Now, forget about the materials and how long it would take to actually produce glass dashboards for cars (not to mention getting them past the NHTSA), but focus on the interactions between the devices themselves. Most of them are technically achievable today, or just about to be. The future of screen convergence depends on these kind of interactions being not only possible, but easily implemented in a consistent manner.

The question is whether a company like Corning can lead a multi-industry effort to develop interoperability standards that would make those interactions possible. They obviously need to create demand for the products showcased in the video, but can they really get traction on such an effort or is this just eye candy? We shall see.

This piece was originally published by Creative Technology 365, on April 4th 2011.

While new, smaller and more powerful smartphones and tablets are great, innovations in mobile computing need to solve problems beyond the devices themselves. Our digital lives are made out of data so valuable, yet disorganized and out of hand when we want it. From pictures, to music, to driving directions… what if we could have it all, everywhere we go?

The world is changing, pretty fast. Not long ago, boarding a plane would force me to completely disconnect from the world and have an opportunity to read a good book or just relax. Now, with in-flight Wi-Fi becoming increasingly available, I don’t need to go dark every time I’m airborne. Conceivably, I could just ignore the fact that I can send out a tweet from 30,000 feet, but like most email addicts out there, I’m likely to give in.

That was the last refuge. Our daily lives are blanketed with wireless connectivity, which keeps us plugged in everywhere between work and home, so it is small wonder than eight out of nine product categories in top consumer electronics (DVD players being the ones left out), ship with Wi-Fi and/or cellular connectivity, while cloud computing and software as a service become a common practice among all kinds of businesses.

So, how long until technology is dependable enough to handle the gory details of interconnecting devices and applications, so that we can spend more time kicking back and enjoying the ride?

The evolution of mobility

Just a few years ago, when phones were for the most part dumb, the only mobile computing devices we carried around were our laptops. Back then, our purchase decisions were mainly driven by a laptop’s weight, but as more power and storage got packed into them, laptops eventually started to replace the tower computers we kept under our desks.

We still carry them around, between home and work, and when on the road — just in case we need to do real work, but the trend is towards needing our laptops less for our most mundane endeavors such as email, calendar, web browsing, etc., as they can be handled almost exclusively in the cloud.

While we spend hours working on our laptops, our phones can only capture our attention for a few minutes. In fact, the most successful mobile applications are the ones that allow users to complete extremely compartmentalized tasks in the least amount of time possible. Granted, some games might be the exception to the rule, but would you really read a whole book on your phone’s 3.5-inch screen if you had a better alternative?

Enter the tablet. With screen sizes that bridge the gap between our other devices, tablets are quickly making their way into our super-connected lives.

The size of a device is proportional to the amount of time we are willing to spend doing something on it, which in turn determines its mobility range. While we are likely to keep our phone in our pockets all day long and leave our laptops behind at our desks, tablets are better suited to be carried around in a very specific spatial context: between your desk and meetings at the office, around your house, the commuter train, inside a plane, etc.

However, our data is unlikely to move with us through all these different contexts, while we pick up different devices. Our need for mobility is shifting from being centered on the physical devices that allow us to carry data with us, to a new paradigm where our data is readily available wherever we go.

Mobility tomorrow

Consider this scenario:

Taking a weekend trip might have been in the back of your head for a while. As spring sets in, the weather is perfect to enjoy the outdoors. It is Friday night and while watching TV with the family, you see one of those spots promoting the VisitPA.com site and, suddenly, you got it: road trip (I live in Brooklyn, so…).
Pressing a button in your remote pushes the URL from the TV ad directly to the browser on your tablet, where you can explore your destination options further and use a map application to plan your route. Once you select your destination and mark it on the map, you receive a warning: you don’t have enough gas in your car to get you all the way there. Acknowledging the message takes you back to the map, which now shows you a number of recommended gas stations along your route and within range, as well as their current gas prices. You choose one, and your route is recalculated automatically. Next morning, when you get in the car, the GPS has already loaded your route and you are ready to go, just as soon as everyone buckles up.

If you think this is too far fetched, think again. Many of the pieces needed to bring this particular experience to life already exist, and everything a developer would need to do is connect the dots. Android phones can already receive URLs from a browser on a desktop computer, while GPS users can manage and share routes online, and Google Maps mashups exist for almost anything imaginable, including looking up gas prices near you. So, what are we missing?

I recently bought a TV and a Blu-ray Disc player from the same manufacturer and, after setting them up at home, I discovered that my favorite feature was how well they worked together: powering up the BD player not also turns on the TV as well, but also automatically selects the right HDMI input. The manufacturer did not advertise this little piece of magic, which probably made it even more special.

What if we could expect the same level of awareness between products from different manufacturers? What if there was a common platform that allowed devices to share data contextually and in meaningful ways? Perhaps the Android OS is on its way to become just that, as it moves from smartphones and tablets to other consumer electronics, including TVs and set top boxes. Another option is RIM’s QNX operating system, which before powering the Blackberry Playbook was embedded in a car, and can now connect both products seamlessly.

I like the idea of home automation like the next guy, but I would not trust my fridge to make the right choice of brand/price when we are running out of milk. I much rather have that shopping list available to me whenever I’m at the supermarket.

This piece was originally published by Creativity, on December 20th 2010. Was 2011 indeed the year of the tablet?

The beginning of this year saw how Apple disrupted the mobile market with the introduction of the iPad, which despite criticism from some user segments remained the sole offering in the tablet space, until just weeks ago. While it took a long time for other platforms to catch up, the situation is about to change dramatically as a slew of competing tablet devices are introduced to the market throughout the holiday season and into the first quarter of 2011.

A major component of the iPad’s success was Apple’s ability to enable its existing iPhone developer base to start developing for the larger device immediately after its release, relying on them to significantly augment the iTunes store with applications designed for the iPad. This, combined with a lack of real competition in the consumer market and the imminent need for content developers (notably newspaper and magazine publishers) to break out of the smartphone, provided the perfect conditions for Apple’s monopoly of the tablet business.

Six months from now, though, the picture will be quite different.

With at least ten major manufacturers releasing their own tablet products by April of next year— including Apple’s own sequel to the iPad—and others following down the line, 2011 is off to be the year of the tablet.

While the iPad will continue to lead the growth of the tablet market as other devices make it into consumers’ hands, it is bound to lose significant ground as the medium stabilizes. How much of Apple’s market share is at stake depends on how successful the strategies laid down by two of the other major players in the space are.

On one hand, Google has established relationships with almost every leading electronics manufacturer, which will allow them to ship the latest version of Google’s Android operating system on dozens of new smartphones and tablet devices. Case in point, the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab has already made a dent in global sales with over a million units sold, significantly due to their availability with wireless plans form all four major carriers in the US.

Research in Motion is also making a remarkable investment in its own platform, introducing its new Blackberry Tablet OS to established developer communities, as well as launching a new application marketplace. Not only that, the company has made evident its commitment to breaking out of the enterprise silo with its acquisition of Swedish UI design shop TAT , which signals their intentions to make their operating system’s interface more appealing to a mass market audience.

So, what?

All this is painting a picture of a new and colorfully fragmented tablet landscape. In this scenario, a successful mobile strategy will undoubtedly require thinking about application development beyond the iPad and allowing consumers to perform activities across multiple platforms and devices.

The depth of device integration required by a specific execution, along with the demographics of its target audience, will place production somewhere between two possible extremes: developing a native application that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of each target device or establishing a common set of features that are available across the board.

Device specialization tends to be costly, as the production process becomes labor-intensive and additional costs may be incurred in the procurement of specialized contract talent. However, by leveraging each particular hardware configuration, accessing OS specific functionality, adopting established interaction paradigms, etc., experience is optimized with a device-specific version of an application. Twitter is a good example of this practice, with the many, slightly different versions of its client application targeting Android phones, iPhone and iPad.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a more cost-effective approach relies on targeting features common to all tablet devices. Economies of scope apply when creating content that can adjust to multiple form factors, runs on multiple platforms and utilizes a common content delivery mechanism. Popular games, like Angry Birds, are a good example of creating a consistent experience across devices, leveraging common user interface features.

Careful consideration should be given to the pros and cons of each approach in order to maximize reach while delivering a rich user experience. However, the most important thing to realize is that with some many different devices entering the market in the coming months, the difference between them will be blurred for consumers. The number of screen sizes available is a critical factor on its own: never before did mobile applications need to account for so many form factors.

Fragmentation is challenging, but can be turned into an opportunity if we are prepared to invest time and effort in delivering a well thought product. Once thing is certain: if we don’t take advantage of the conjuncture, somebody else will.

Creativity published an article of mine right before the holidays. There, I outline how the tablet market is going to look in 2011, with more than just the iPad to choose from. Specifically, I list ten major electronics manufacturers that have officially or unofficially announced tablet products:

I wasn’t thinking about CES when writing that article, but you can bet those guys will have their products on display in Vegas. More vendors may need to be added to that list, but if you are attending CES and/or happen to be following the product announcements,please do let me know if I am missing anybody.

Watch this space for updates.

— Updates —

Comprehensive lists of manufactures that announced tablets at CES:

http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/24/over-100-tablets-were-unveiled-at-ces-2011-heres-a-list-of-all-of-them/

Pictures: Tablets in the wild at CES

Motorola Xoom

Toshiba 10.1-inch Android tablet

Blackberry Playbook

Panasonic Viera

Viewsonic Viewpad

Zood