Phones are hardware AND software
So I think about phones a lot. I think a lot about why phones, generally speaking, suck. For awhile there I was buying Apple’s jive that phone’s are all about the software and that’s what makes it. On the one hand it seemed to make sense - all the handset vendors (Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Samsung, etc…) they’re all hardware guys. They make hardware and slap on whatever the engineer that day made for the interface. But Microsoft’s all software and despite the fact that I don’t particularly like the software they put out, many, many people do and by those accounts they’re pretty good at it. That thought was what made this software argument not feel quite right.
See, I think phones are consumer items that provide a pivotal function - they keep people in contact with each other. And they are becoming more and more important and more and more indispensable. So all the hardware guys focus on stats and functionality and making phones with every possible feature. Microsoft does the same thing, but on the software side. But they don’t meet up in the middle - I think phones need to be a perfect blend of hardware and software - both need to be well considered and paired to each other. The look and feel of the shell of the phone, with the physical interface of the phone need to match up perfectly with the software interface of the phone.
Look at the key vendors now, the iPhone obviously is a great pairing of the two. It doesn’t have every feature, but it does what it does very, very well. RIMM is another company that people love - they build their hardware and their software. People love that scroll wheel and or that little roller ball and the software just works perfectly together with that. Same with Danger and the Sidekick. All these companies control both hardware and software and go the extra mile to make the two work perfectly together and their customers are vehement about the love for their devices.
Helio should have been in with that group. To me though, they’re just a hardware company. The Ocean is awesome as a piece of hardware, I love the feel of it and the dual sliders is a great physical interface. But just like the other big handset vendors, they couldn’t care less about the software. So much effort spent on every detail of building the phone and not a moment for the software powering it. A shame.
Palm? Well, they’re neither a hardware nor a software company. They’re a resting on their laurels company. But when the Treo first hit the scenes it was amazing. The phone itself was amazing, the keyboard was great, the screens were sharp and bright and the touch screen was perfect. And Palm OS was a wonder, so easy to use, everything was right there at your finger tips - they matched up perfectly. It is a testament to their gigantic early lead with the Treos that people still buy and use Palms today.
So that’s what I think the ingredients of a successful phone are - it’s not either hardware or software - a phone needs to be a holistic blend of the two, each complimenting the other. You can get by with just one or the other, you can get by with a marketing checkbox of features, but to get a lot of people to really love your phone - especially in the day where phones are beginning to do more and more - you need a perfect love-in between the metal and the bits.
