There is a fascinating article on Information Week I just caught that made me think about a previous post I had written. The article is more about the importance of a mobile platform from a branding and positioning perspective. It raises many interesting points, including the "Kleenex-ing" of mobility. This is my term (not something from the article), but the point being, most people call tissues Kleenex, just like they call a photo copy a "Xerox." So back to my original question? Do you need an OS on your mobile?
This is probably going to be a relatively short post, but let's see if I can net this one out. The article in question on Information Week speaks more to the fact that the "BlackBerry" is becoming a word like "Google"...meaning, it is winning the mind share game. Understandably - BlackBerry is still the enterprise leader in terms of mobile messaging, which does remain the killer application on mobile devices. The question is, what can Palm and Microsoft, as well as Nokia and Google do to displace that mindshare?
Whatever they do...they need to act fast. They all need to push the equation beyond the messaging experience and talk about the MOBILE experience. I talked about this on my last post when I talked about the SERVICES opportunity that Microsoft had. How is this any different for Palm, Symbian or Google? It's not people.
There's a great opportunity to embrace mobile cloud computing and push the envelope and the experience that people have with their mobile devices. So far, the "mobile experience" beyond email has been focused on music, pictures and Internet access. I only agree with the last one....and even the iPhone (arguably the best browsing experience available) is still not enough.
So the point is, that there is (not suprisingly) much confusion in the market, for consumers and professionals - for novices and experienced mobility professionals - in terms of what a smartphone is and isn't....in terms of what a mobile experience is and isn't. Where are the lines drawn between mobile, desktop and cloud?
Who knows. However, the group that can make a compelling argument - the one that can draw a clear line in the sand - reagrding how their OS matters most and how their OS best fits their new lifestyle....has the opportunity to become synonymous with mobile computing and the mobile way of life.
