A Bold New Vision

With product coming to the market like Palm’s Foleo Mobile Companion I wonder if these devices are the first steps in a new computing paradigm or just the latest in a long line of must have “toys.”

From the beginning, Palm has been about mobile computing.  Company founder Jeff Hawkins has always said that the future of computing was mobile computing.  I recall reading about new technologies that would allow us to have instant access to our data wherever we go early in my IT career.  With the rapid rate of change in the technology field, I find myself looking at the devices that we have today and trying to figure out where we are going to be five to ten years down the road.

There are a few things that I see in today’s market that makes me think that we are about to see a shift in how we approach our day-to-day computing.  The first is that notebook computer sales are out pacing the sales of desktop models.  People no longer want to be tied to their desks when they want to get something done with a computer.  Secondly smartphones are finally starting to get some sales traction here in the United States.  You can thank the iPhone for that.  (Many of the new iPhone users are feature phone users who have traded in their flip phones.)  While still insanely over priced, OQO’s model 02 mobile computer is a very intriguing product that I think is three to five years too early to market, and yet, OQO’s vision is very much in line with where I see things progressing to.

One of the big questions that we need to come to grips with is how we want to access our data.  Do we want to take it all with us?  Do we want to select what data is important to us and only take a sub-set with us?  Or do we want to leave all of our data on a server that is accessible for a number of different clients?  I believe that the answer will be a blending of taking the most important data with us and leaving the rest on a server to be accessed when required from a remote client.
 
We are already selecting what data we deem to be important to us when we synchronize data to our PDAs, smartphones, iPhones, and BlackBerrys.  For what we don’t or can’t cram into our devices there will be companies like Avvenu which will provide a secure digital bridge to our desktop computers over the Internet to access files.  The challenge will be to make the desktop “server” software easy enough to use so that you don’t need a degree in rocket science (my apologies to any rocket scientists who may be reading this) to configure and secure the data connection.

Consider a day when your mobile phone is the center of your computing universe.  It isn’t that big of a stretch.  Chances are that you already carry a feature cell phone or smartphone with you all the time.  And chances are that you already have some important data on the phone in the form of contact information and schedules.  Smartphone users can easily add much more data in the form of email messages and office documents.  In the future, you will take that device with you to school or the office.  When you get there, you will connect to the network (wireless for a school or to a dock at the office) and synchronize the data relevant to your day.  Again look at how the OQO Model 02 works.  It docks only to provide users with accessories such as a full-sized keyboard, mouse, peripherals, and networking.  Important data stays on the device and moves with the user.  When you are done with your day, you undock the device and plug it into your car.  (We already can do this today with Bluetooth hands free kits.)  And all of your data is with you.  When you get home, you connect your device to the local wireless network or with a dock to drive your monitor, keyboard and mouse.  The important thing through out all of this is that the data is either already on the device or available on a server you can access from the client.

In conclusion

Mobile personal computing isn’t just a vision that is being advanced by Jeff Hawkins & Company.  Apple has been working on a similar vision since the early days of the Macintosh.  While the Newton is considered to be a commercial flop, Apple learned a lot from that early attempt at mobile computing.  OQO also shares this vision. 

This future vision of mobile computing isn’t just shared by device vendors.  Google and Microsoft, among others, are getting “in” on virtual office technologies.  The amount of resources being expended by both companies to develop solutions (hardware and software) is amazing.  Services like Microsoft Live Office and Google Office Suite are being built so that your data can reside on a centrally managed server that will be accessed from any number of clients including traditional PCs, smartphones, Internet kiosk machines, and yes, even the lowly feature cell phone.

What do you think the future holds for mobile personal computing?  Let us know in the 1SRC forums.