Smart/iPhones – a convergence hub device? I believe so.

By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on August 26, 2010 at 7:18 pm

A few days ago I received my iPhone 4 and I absolutely love it! The setup was pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. So far the only thing that took any length of time was the necessary step of downloading iTunes for the device which is primarily used for syncing contacts, email, and the like from my PC. After toying around with this device for a few days and gathering my initial impressions I started pondering the past, present, and likely the future for Smart/iPhones.

Historically speaking my early cell phones progressed from an early MicroTac (1996) to a MPX200 Smartphone (2003). After that I found I pretty much only used the Smartphone for the calendar functionally and sort of gave up on them for awhile and went back to a normal cell phone (Razr). Over the past few years I then moved towards a Pearl blackberry device which I had more success with in leveraging other functionality such as email, texting, etc.

So what fascinates me the most about all of this and what does it have to do with my position statement about Smart/iPhones being a convergence hub device? There are actually several things. Going back over the history of my cell phones I can’t help but notice that the displays in the 90’s have transitioned from 2D LED’s to the gorgeous touch capable 2D/3D LCD’s that we see today. Furthermore; when you look under the hood at the capabilities of something like an iPhone 4 its literally about twice as powerful as the first desktop PC I purchased which was a Micron P266 with an 8mb video card! Throw in a 5-12 MPix camera and portable Music/Media players (e.g. Walkman, iPod), and I believe there’s been some significant convergence going on in the handheld space.

Given that the capabilities of Smart/iPhones are currently accelerating at a Moore’s law pace or faster; where do they go next? My prediction is that they likely won’t replace PCs (Laptops/Desktops) but will end up being a central “Hub-like” device that enhances one’s existing PCs and other Smart Devices. If past trends are any indication of the future then it’s not out of the realm of possibility that in the next five to ten years Smart/iPhones become more important as they become glorified memory sticks (Hard Drives) tethered to the cloud, keeping your data synchronized. I expect that they’ll end up with processors in the 2-3+ GHz range, with Drive capacities in the range of 100-250GBs or more, and sporting video graphics capable of handling DirectX11/OpenGL 4 games & applications. When we add the additional ability of these devices being able to push or pull wireless HDMI, WiGig, etc types of signals to the mix I foresee some interesting game changing scenarios emerging. At least I hope we’re heading in this direction! In the meantime I’m going to go download some games for my new phone!

Categories: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Software Tools, Uncategorized

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