Over at The Register, Colly Myers speaks very candidly. Right from the start, he pitches the idea that an all-in-one device might not be the nirivana everyone expeects. "You end up with a 'spork' - a combination of a spoon and a fork. It's no good as a spoon and no good as a fork."
Andrew Orlowski Interviews Symbian's First CEO
He probably also thinks the Swiss Army knife is a failure.
Colly Myers is a cowardly director who backs away from anything where he thinks he will take any significant risk. He now probably wants Symbian to fail just so he is not proven to have made an awful business decision yet again!
Actually, I think that a lot of people WANT sporks. I mean, camera phones are a hype although the picture quality these devices produce is terrible as compared to a "real" camera. As for me, I never considered to buy a camera, but I wanted to have a phone with a camera.
Andreas wrote:Actually, I think that a lot of people WANT sporks.
Yes, coz a spork is one-hand operated.
So is the knork. Ever used it with your hot dog?
martinharnevie wrote:Yes, coz a spork is one-hand operated.So is the knork. Ever used it with your hot dog?
Well, I wouldn't want to eat a hot dog with a knork or spaghetti with spork. Neither do I want to listen to a Beethoven symphony on a MP3 player, but for Hip Hop its good enough. The point is usability to a lesser degree not unusability.
I also disagree with some of the sentiments about installable applications. I do think J2ME has a very big role to play, but I think C++ is going to be there as well. Some applications are not going to be achievable through J2ME. Even now the C++ applications tend to be faster, have better UI and design (because they are able to use more system elements one assumes). For example I can't really see the likes of the Handy Series or Quick Office being coded as J2ME and they're some of the best sellers. Of course software sales will drop off as Symbian is driven into mid and low tier handsets.
There a general obsessions with services too. Yes they will have their place. Some things work very well as services, but not everything. The lack of adoption of services on the PC (despite predictions) is perhaps an analogy. The mobile device is better suited to services (because of it nature), but at the moment the pricing hasn't been got quite right. A good example of a good service is WorldMate with its currency and weather. However that's based of a C++ app.
Andreas wrote:Well, I wouldn't want to eat a hot dog with a knork
So which hand do you use to hold the bread?
Rafe wrote:I also disagree with some of the sentiments about installable applications. I do think J2ME has a very big role to play
Same here, and since he omitted OPL he's not worthy of any consideration whatsoever...
martinharnevie wrote:So which hand do you use to hold the bread?
Ok, you found my comment pointless from the outset. Nice demonstration. Congratulations.