When it comes to PMPs, there's Apple and then there's everyone else. We think Nokia could shake things up. Here's how.
In the coming months, Sony will start selling its new Sony Walkman X1000, and Samsung will begin selling its Samsung YP-P3 portable media player. Each has their standout features, like the Walkman X1000's OLED screen and the YP-P3's cool Bluetooth pairing capabilities, and each will aim squarely at the iPod touch, going feature-for-feature against Apple's device with similar storage capacities and a similar price point.
In the end, both companies will likely sell a tiny fraction of these devices compared to Apple. We're not picking sides here, but the iPod touch is a much more flexible device. Apple leaves it up to the user to decide whether it's a music and video player, a Web browser, or even a gaming and application platform. That's why we think it's the perfect time for Nokia to enter the market. In fact, Sony and Samsung should be begging the Finnish phone maker to make its move.
It's all about the Symbian, baby
Take the Nokia 5800, for example. That phone comes in at a little under $400 unlocked. Now, strip out the cellular radios, the 2 cameras (front and back) and anything else that you don't need in a competitive PMP. Bump up the storage, and you have a device that can match the iPod touch, except in terms of interface design. But here's where the fun begins. The Nokia 5800 uses Symbian S60, which may not be the most user-friendly platform at first, but the Symbian folks are hard at work adapting and improving their OS. On an official company blog, Symbian even announced an aggressive upgrade structure with plans to release a new version of the OS every 6 months or so, starting with Symbian^2, which should be hardened and ready for release around the end of this year.
This is what current PMP manufacturers are missing: a platform that can compete with the iPod touch. What's more important is that Nokia isn't the only Symbian device maker. Sure, Nokia owns Symbian, but both Sony Ericsson and Samsung already make devices that run the mobile OS. It wouldn't be hard to imagine the mobile teams working with the PMP developers to create a new handheld at any of these manufacturers. In fact, its just this sort of corporate synergy that both Sony and Samsung have lacked recently.
Would you like to play a game?
Once these companies get serious about a Symbian PMP, it wouldn't be hard to get jump headfirst into gaming. Nokia already has a gameplan (pun intended) in place with their N-Gage service. But if Nokia built a Symbian PMP, and if Samsung and Sony were to follow suit, suddenly there would be 3 major manufacturers building a compatible platform for gaming, and we imagine a surge in development.
Of course, it will take some changes to the hardware. In the same way that Microsoft is raising their expectations for hardware on Windows Mobile phones, we think that Nokia, with their Symbian partners, should also set some high standards for their own mobile platform, especially when it comes to games. There should be strict guidance not only for the internal chipsets, but also for the external control schemes.
As it stands, every Nokia N-Gage enabled phone you buy has a different control setup. Some use accelerometers, some have dedicated controls on a dual slide mechanism. Some just use a numeric keypad for gaming. It wouldn't be hard to institute minimal requirements across the board, but Nokia would have to accept that some of their lower-end devices might get left out.
Why not just buy the phone?
Of course, there's the concern that the PMP market is slowly being eaten up by the phone market, as smartphones can perform the tasks of a PMP. This is true, but in today's market, most high-end smartphones come saddled with lengthy, expensive contract agreements that last at least a year, and sometimes up to 3 years. Not so for portable media players. So, if I'm happy with my BlackBerry for work, why should I have to buy a Nokia N96 for multimedia and gaming? In that case, I would rather buy a separate media player, but not an entirely new phone.
Do it, or else!
If Samsung and Sony want to survive in the PMP market, they need to come to a consensus on a common mobile platform that will enable them to offer users more options. On the other hand, if Nokia wants to succeed with consumer smartphones in the U.S. market, they may actually have to challenge Apple in the PMP market. A PMP is a great way to reach a younger buyer, who might move to a smartphone with a data plan later on. Last, but not least, for consumers such competition would lead to improved solutions in the long run and would ensure competitive prices on devices, services and content.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Archive