The quest for convergence

There’s few words less paraded around than convergence these days. Every device, from your cell phone, to your toaster oven seems to be in a hurry to mate and leave mostly deformed offspring along the way.

I do agree that there’s an overabundance of gadgets and a shortage of pockets, shelf space and real state to place them, but to extract from there the notion that I need a fork that can also work as a toothbrush while at the same time be a competent screwdriver is a bit far fetched.

In telecoms, the whole convergence pitch has centered around Triple Play first, 4Play (Really bad choice of term in my opinion) later and when we ran out of technologies to bind the whole “Fixed Mobile Convergence” banner made its triumphal entry into the world of overused acronyms. Here is a case of want but not have, of course I’d love to get TV, Internet and Telephony from one wire (And if I can bind them together using wireless inside the home, the better) the problem is, all I’ll get offered so far is a half-assed approximation of each.

Things haven’t been different in the gadget front, my phone can be my MP3 player, PDA, messaging center and replace countless other items on the road (Including my laptop, unless you actually try to do work from its tiny keyboard on feature-starved office applications).

Then in music, there’s been genre convergence. What once was a death metal band today can be labeled as a technical blackened death band with some industrial overtones, every genre is colliding, mingling and leaving out interesting bands that writers around the world are ready to ruin for you with long, pompous, “genre” descriptions. Thank goodness, this is an example of convergence that I personally find attractive as it allows music to continue evolving.

But where is the problem? If you have read about The Tyranny of Choice (And if you haven’t here it is, good read/food for thought) you realize that there’s way too much choice involved in convergence. Do I take the multifunction device that does some things well and others not so well over the 3 devices it replaces? Or shall I stick to best of breed and proven devices it replaces?

I’ve had that internal debate raging for a while on several fronts, before I got rid of most of my studio to go mobile I was wondering if it was the right thing to do to sell my lovely analog console and AD/DA chain to replace it with a more compact “converged” solution. Also the Apple TV caught my eye, but I still wonder if it’d do a better job than a souped up XBOX 360 or PS3? (Debate still raging, so far I’m holding back on deciding that one)

In the meantime companies are going into some sort of identity crisis as they wake up one day and figure out they’re “Not Convergent” enough. Microsoft seems to have caught the bug harder, as their current schizophrenia doesn’t let them decide if they are a software company, a gadget company, a gaming company, a hardware company, a phone company or a media company. The result is the same, a ton of good intentions and half-assed ideas.

Apple seems to be undertaking it’s convergence transformation a bit better, but it’s too early to say. The iPod has sold well enough to warrant maximum attention, but their computer sales aren’t bad considering. Will the iPhone be one of those devices that aims for the moon and shoots to the ground? Until I hold one, it’s too early to say.

Sony has been an example of the complete opposite, they have thoughts about convergence and media centric devices, but the implementation always leaves a lot to be desired. The PS3 could’ve been a killer if it could simply stream media from nearby PC’s and Macs without requiring you to boot into Linux.

So… the trend will continue, for sure… I just fear for the day my Digidesign converged toaster/audio interface/toilet plunger stops working, forcing me to buy a Jack Daniels convergent whiskey bottle with extra plunging and toasting capabilities (Audio recording optional, requires purchase of Jack Daniels branded cables and will only work with drunk musicians)