Microsoft's Ballmer Misses the "Device" Point

He's not the only one missing the point. Apple and Google and HP, as well as Microsoft, all seem to be missing what is happening right in front of their eyes.  We are approaching a new era in which there will only be one "device", but it will come in different form factors.

I work with consumer and business users everyday who wonder why they can't simply move files from their computers to their phones or to their iPads and back again. (Geeks; don't argue: the key word is "simply", i.e., intuitively. Like drag-and-drop.)

The users are telling the makers: "one device -- different form factors". A phone is a phone, unless "I" want it to be a PC. PC looks like a PC, but is a phone when "I" run Skype or MagicJack .  My tablet is... come on, do we users have to spell it out for you guys at Apple, Google and Microsoft?

Apple gets close with the iPod<-->iPhone<-->iPad line. But Steve Jobs still calls the iPad a "new category" and Apple still isolates that line from it's Mac and iTV cousins.  

Google is cluelessly stumbling all around the concept with Android 3.x and Chrome and Chromebooks and Google TV.

Ironically, PC maker Acer is taking -- carrying -- Microsoft closest to the "one device, different forms" mark. Acer's sweet "Iconia A500" 10.1" tablet runs Windows 7. Not a mini version of 7, but a full-on copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. 

This fits squarely, of course, with Microsoft's position that a tablet is just another PC. But Acer takes it to the "one-device" point with just a couple of key features; like dual front/back cameras.  

True, front/back cameras is sort of standard in a tablet. But the front camera feature is there for communications -- the idea comes from phones -- and this one is in a "Windows 7 PC". In other words, it is phone that is also a PC and a tablet and that, most importantly, can do anything that the Windows user wants it to do!  The user determines what function is -- and it is expressly not defined by either the form or by the manufacturer.

Now; if I could have another one that one, just like it, that would fit in my pocket -- I'd have "one device -- different form".

So come on Apple; iMac <--> iPhone <--> iPad <--> iPod: all one "thing". For the user -- they all do whatever "I" want, wherever I want, and whenever I want.

Same for you Google. With you having so many good ideas, why are you still leaving it up to us, the users, to figure out what and why the difference is between Android and Chrome and Android apps and Chrome apps and, for that matter, Google Docs!  A why, for heaven's sake, does an .MP3 or .JPG file uploaded to Facebook do what "I" expect (aka "what it is supposed to") but in Google Docs it does something else entirely different and unwanted?

And, as we started, the same goes for you, Microsoft. Until you figure out that a phone is also "just another PC", you are going to stay in your rut. But if you, act fast, you could grab a good handle on the whole tablet-PC-phone show.

Oh, and HP; WebOS?  Really? You and Google Chrome going to duke it out for the "what's this for and why doesn't it talk to my PC" award?

One device -- different forms. PC --> tablet --> phone --> TV -- media player --> GPS --> car dash --> refrigerator -->... you get the idea.  This is the new direction for IT. The new Moore's Law will be about how much user-designated function goes into the most different form factors.

"One device -- different forms".