Open Mobile Platform

Excerpt from my conversation with Janne:

Q.how do we make the mobile phone a more open platform?

Think Lego.. the ability to create using basic blocks(software and hardware)... combine this with open interface standards(think bluetooth, USB2.0, Wi-Fi, IR)...

Then you will see the answer!Because trying to predict what people will want in a device is near impossible, the same way it is with a desktop!

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--Hephail, 14-Sep-2005

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On the other hand, quite a few people give up Lego when they grow up. Most people just want to have a phone that does a few simple things but does them well. They buy phones because their aim is to talk to their spouse while he's away, or something very simple but important. Just to connect to other people. How do you sell apps to them?

--JanneJalkanen, 15-Sep-2005

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That is my point. Keep a phone good at doing what it does best... Connecting people. And expand this point of view to ...Connecting devices which these people use.

I wrote this article about why a phone will never replace a gaming device, digital camera etc. So think instead, of a device which is interfaceable with all the various devices which one uses (btw, ur N91 is something on that line, with support for a typical audio jack and USB 2.0). I mean, memory is not a problem anymore with phones reaching 5GB capacity. The question is, what do you do with the data which is present. Scenario: You get off from work, enter the car, attach it to the stereo system, and play the music you like. You take it home, attach it to your TV, and directly play the movie which you had bought on an memory(say SD) card. Then you are travelling, and find out that your digital camera has run out of memory. You take out the card(say SD), plug it into your mobile, and download all the pics onto the phone.Then you continue clicking.

How do you sell apps to them?The answer to this is simple. Keep a fully open software platform (like Linux)where users may choose and put what applications they want. I mean, why do I have to keep checking whether an application is a Symbian or Windows Mobile application?

--Hephail, 17-Sep-2005

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Well, you could always use Java, but... I guess that from the point of an user a system is not open, if you need to check what kind of a Java app you need to install on what kind of a device. It's not uncommon to see long, long compatibility lists for a Java game ("Download Xyzzy! Works with Nokia 1234,2347, 3943, 23432, 24932, 43211123, 43242, 1245435, 64365437, 7654, 8756, 4356, 432, 43543, 3.1415, 4932, 4392, 5948, 7706, 7958, and 6584). That's not exactly transparent from an user's point of view.

--JanneJalkanen, 17-Sep-2005

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hehe! Exactly my point! at least on the desktop, every application is available in Windows, Mac or Linux! But on the mobile, developers are constantly trying to figure out which will be the most popular mobile, forget about the most popular platform.
p.s. nice to see Pi as a possible model :P

--Hephail, 19-Sep-2005

Any ideas?.......... It's an open platform :p