Top Ten of Whatevers…… The Failed Future of Mobile Technology Part I

06-15-07, 03:36 PM

With news stories breaking so fast on Mobilitysite it's inevitable that sometimes some things tend to get forgotten. Combine that with the fact that there's only so many arguments you can have about iPhones, Windows Mobile Upgrades yet another memory card format and it's perhaps time to take a step back and look around to see what's been going on.

So here's the first in an occasional series, the Top Ten of Whatevers..

This week, The Top ten things that were going to be the future of mobility. and then err weren't. Bonus points to those ideas that were so great they sank the company.

10) Push to talk

This was great idea,,, Phones as walkie talkies.. short instant voice messages wherever you go. Now I know this is still available in the some bits of the world, but as soon as Orange had finished explaining what it was in the UK, they killed it to new customers and phased it out.

9) Wildfire

Want a complete voice activated mobile phone, that would allow you to send emails, book appointments, and do everything just by speaking to it? That was the proud boast of of Wildfire. A premier service that would give you a virtual PA on the other end of the phone. Launched in 1999 () it became very popular with the people who used it to run their lives. Despite huge advertising (shown before the phantom menace) Orange never really did seem to want people to actually use it, and when in 2005 it was withdrawn despite huge protests from wildfire fans, Orange blamed the failure on a lack of new members joining up in the last 18 months of the service.. despite the fact that they'd been preventing new members signing up since 2003

8) Linux Phones and PDAs (Yopy, Motorola, Zaurus..)

Now I know that this one could be controversial. Linux has a very strong fan base, and while I'm not a rabid penguin fan, I do really want it to succeed. On paper it is a winning formula like the Yopy (picture from www.gicom.de) . Take a small device, design it around an open source operating system, encourage communities to port, adapt, improve the platform, sit back and watch millions of techies buy your hardware and accessories. But it's failed everytime someone has tried it (with the possible exception of Nokia). I had a Zaurus 5500. And I think it could do everything eventually. A colleague who knew nothing about PDAs bought an ipaq 2210 about the same time, within days he was watching DVDs, surfing the Internet and managing his calendar.. while I was still struggling with the packet management system on the Zaurus, and trying to build a local repository so I could install software. I think its still in a drawer somewhere.

7) N-Gage

So you're a major player in the phone industry, and you have a look to see what similar sized devices people are buying. Apple has the MP3 player business sown up, you already put cameras into your phones, you're bored with the PDA/Smartphone thing, and then you see the Gameboy advanced. Aha (you say in Finnish) We can take them on and beat them at their own game. The N-Gage was Nokia's attempt to to launch a mobile gaming device. It was built around the Symbian 60 platform and a taco-shaped phone handset. In the UK at least it was more expensive than the GB, had less games, required a sim card, and had buttons that felt like you were having to play games on a mobile phone. That combined with the fact that you had to hold it sideways to your head to make a call, destroyed any street-credibility crucial to this sort of handheld. Nokia seems to think that the brand name has some value, and so it is apparently planning to roll it out to its standard high end smartphones. Apart from them however, does anyone still care?

6) Dualcor

Take a Windows mobile device, phone and a Windows XP tablet, and stick them together in one very warm package. so you have a bulky PDA, and an under powered PC wherever you go, then remove the promised phone, wireless, and increase the price. can't think why it didn't work..

So, halfway though the countdown of despair. Have I falsely condemned something to the dustbin of history? Are there any signs of life in these dead horses? Do you want to take a guess as to what may be in part I?

View Original Blog Post

**Chris Leckness** · 06-15-07, 04:09 PM

Push to talk in the Southeast US is pretty popular in business, but yeah... I hate it.

Dualcor, yup... maybe they will come full circle eventually like Vulcan did.

runnr548 · 06-15-07, 04:43 PM

I know a lot of people who have PTT...which I just cannot understand. I want wide area WiFi so my Axim & I can Skype away...but I also have fond memories of my first electronic sweetheart...the Timex Sinclair 1000 (in kit form no less)...ahhhhhh:love:

06-15-07, 08:15 PM

I had a Zaurus 5500 that I would still be using today if not for the fact that the version of Intellisync I was running just wouldn't work with my newer work laptops. And, I couldn't find a version that would.

Granted, I wasnt doing a lot of exotic things with it. But, I loved the notion of some maverick developer whipping up a new application and then tossing it out for others to use and improve upon...a la the bleeding edge.

What I also liked was that there were several competing builds available and all with their own strengths and weaknesses. I you didn't like one you could easily replace it with another.

aximbigfan · 06-16-07, 12:52 AM

why arent UMPS on the list? they are possibly the biggest flop i have ever seen...

they were suppose to be...
*light
*under 1k

and they turned out
*heavy like a brick
*way over 1k

chris

runnr548 · 06-28-07, 07:46 PM

mmmmmmm........I wonder if there are any kits left "out there"???........LOL