THE FUN HYBRID FIX

Telecom equipment makers are among today's most growth-challenged folks, focused (as are most of us) on cutting costs in a down economy. But you can't cut costs forever. My colleagues frequently ask about the “next big thing,” which the pundits will tell you is a hybrid device like the Kyocera Smartphone that combines a Palm-OS PDA with a cell phone.

Think about it: Microsoft is spending a bundle to push its smart phone concept. Ericsson and Sony each have one. Handspring's Treo is all over the press. Add Samsung and Nokia, and the list is long, if not endless.

I want the hybrids to be successful if for no other reason than to serve as the prime enabler of better business operations and provide a better quality of life for individuals. But hybrid manufacturers seem to be missing the bus on the important features needed to create acceptance among the vast majority of potential customers: Ease of use, convenience and enjoyability, or what I call “fun.”

My assertion is that “fun” is the single most important factor driving technology acceptance. PCs were successful in business use, but it was the World Wide Web that made them approachable and enjoyable, and drove them to be used for specific, mainstream applications outside of business. Cell phones enable fun because they provide a way for people to coordinate activities without resorting to cumbersome, time-shifted technologies like answering machines and (shudder) paper.

The good news is that some folks are already building devices that are easy to use, convenient and fun while still being on the bleeding edge of technology. Cybiko's Xtreme, for example, is a PDA with a difference. While it has all the conventional functionality of a PDA, it also has built-in 900 MHz wireless peer-to-peer communications capability, access to the Internet and a wide variety of applications that can only be described as lots of fun. It doesn't take a great leap of imagination to think about stuffing a cell phone chipset inside one of these toys. That would create a pretty amazing device, by any measure. Easy to use, cheap and fun. All the ingredients needed to go from niche success to mainstream acceptance.

There is no doubt that we need to keep cutting costs and be operationally effective. But if you're involved in the PDA or mobile handset business, know that someday soon, your competition may come up with a mainstream breakthrough that could put you out of business because it's fun and your product isn't.

DOSSIER DAVID WHITEHORN-UMPHRES

Occupation: Senior director and technology architect with management consulting firm DiamondCluster International

Location: Albuquerque, N.M.

Favorite Web site: www.spagthorpe.com; www.madsci.org/~lynn/juju/surr/surrealism.html

Hobbies: Computers, motorcycles, woodworking and pond keeping

Current reading: “The Nazi Doctors” by Robert Jay Lifton

Next project: Creation of a next-generation security services practice that treats IT security as a business problem, not just a technology issue