3 ms·
Enjoyably Machiavellian. But in the instance of this phone, a more straightforward strategy seems clear: to break down the monolithic phone market and suppress
by mturmon 10y ago
Enjoyably Machiavellian.
But in the instance of this phone, a more straightforward strategy seems clear: to break down the monolithic phone market and suppress the unique market position of big competitors like Samsung. As in this quote from a wowed reporter from The Verge --
Just as importantly, though, Project Ara could have a ripple effect on the entire mobile industry. One of the goals is to "democratize the hardware ecosystem, break it wide open, basically disintermediate the OEMs," Eremenko [then the project lead] says, "so that component developers can now have privy [sic] with the consumer."
Fun to read the puff piece in retrospect: http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/15/5615880/building-blocks-how-project-ara-is-reinventing-the-smartphone http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/15/5615880/building-blocks-ho...
- Someone 10y agoTo have that strategy work, you would need zero cost, zero volume connectors that stay together forever if desired, yet come apart easily. Otherwise, the guy building the integrated system would offer a smaller, sturdier phone at lower cost that suits 90+% of the market, leaving scraps for you, forcing your prices up, decreasing your market even further, forcing your prices up, etc. There's a reason that, except for a few early suitcase-sized ones, we never saw laptops with ISA/PCI/PCMCIA slots succeed in the market, and laptops had the advantage to start out as desktops, which had slots.
- Nullabillity 10y ago> There's a reason that, except for a few early suitcase-sized ones, we never saw laptops with ISA/PCI/PCMCIA slots succeed in the market, and laptops had the advantage to start out as desktops, which had slots. Huh? PCMCIA/CardBus/ExpressCard was a standard feature in more or less all laptop until just a few years ago.
- coldtea 10y agoOnly if by "just a few years ago" you mean "almost a decade or more ago", and by "on more or less all laptops" you mean "some high end models".
- barrkel 10y agoEvery PC laptop I've bought or used, at every price range (including cheap Acer emergency replacement after theft), had a peripheral slot. Higher end models had two. Even the Thinkpad on my desk right now has a ExpressCard slot.
- coldtea 10y agoYou'd be very surprised. Dell Expiron 5520 (2012) http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/dell/dell_inspiron_15r_5520_2012_model_ivy_bridge_notebook_review/432342/ http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/dell/dell_inspiron_15r_... Sony VAIO A-series (2012) http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/sony-vaio-e-series-2012-review/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/sony-vaio-e-seri... ASUS G73JH (2010) http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/asus-k42j-review/ http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/asus-k42j-revie... HP Pavilion dm3t (2010) http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/hp-pavilion-dm3t-2010 http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/hp-pavilion-dm3t-20... Just some random models, I literally just put the name of a brand + a date in the past and opened a review. No ExpressCard in any of them. Maybe you went out looking for laptops with such slots? It was hardly "every laptop" and even less "at every price range" that had them.
- barrkel 10y agoNo, I didn't. The cheap Acer's slot turned out to be handy for a Wireless G+ card when the builtin wifi stopped working. Most of the time, the little placeholder plastic thing never gets removed.