Jason Kottke writes a brilliant essay on how the iPhone1 — and, to a lesser extent, other mobile platforms like BlackBerry, Android, and WebOS — isn’t just competing against phones, but against dozens of different types of pocketable gadgetry: cameras, music players, game players, e-book readers (...)
(...) the iPhone does a lot of useful things pretty well, well enough that it is replacing several specialized devices that do one or two things really well. Space in backpacks, pockets, and purses is a finite resource, as is money (obviously).
Kottke's replacement list is mine - more or less (edits):
Mobile phone, PDA with address book, calendar, to-dos, notes (for me, the notes functionality is lousy and a major pain), and easy data syncing, the iPod as a full-featured music-playing device, point and shoot camera (I don't need more), PC (I'd label it a shallow fallback), Nintendo DS or PSP (not my cup of tea), GPS (know where you are, like it), watch (I use the clock on my iPhone more often than any other function. By far.), portable DVD player, ebook reader
The thing is - as Kottke correctly breaks it down - "Once someone has an iPhone, it is going to be tough to persuade them
that they also need to spend money on and carry around a dedicated GPS
device, point-and-shoot camera, or tape recorder unless they have an
unusual need." It's all about convergence, connectivity and 80/20 solutions as long as it works for me.
(Read his footnote - no whining, please.)
