The Future Of Productivity - The Cloud demands smarter devices, and cheap too!

The smarter device - one of five dimensions
The Cloud demands smarter devices is one of the dimensions that Steve Balmer introduced when he claimed that Microsoft was - All In - last year at the Washington University. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned a sweet spot in their ´three screens and a cloud´ vision on the future of productivity during his 2010 WPCDC speech. An open space between the consumer focused space of the apple iPad and the fat desktop devices on the other end. Actualy he positioned the Kindle on the the far right end of the spectrum, but that is the kindle static ´read only´ interface.

A new Game
...It is not about the interface, added value is about making content available, mixability. This is the changing game, new opportunites demanding other skills, new kind of job opportunies, new ways of combining information, crowdsourcing, mashedup apps never thought even possible.

...It is not about technique, added value is about making technology available. Hardware is becomming cloud enabled and web applications are becomming 'client aware' (*). No need to worry about where to put your data, how to format your information considering the different form factors of hardware that will be used now and in the future to access the information.

...It is not about YOUR device, added value is about a seamless experience. Transparant adding information both in digital and analog format. Transparant extracting information or sharing content again. No need to worry about, 'where is MY digital environment to put my information?'. No need to worry about, 'where is my printer where I can send this document to?'. The devices are there and so is the functionality to add or extract your information, where ever you are, when ever you need it. As Larry Ellison (Founder and CEO Oracle) stated a long time ago: 'The network is the computer'. So bring your own device (BYOD) or maybe even you do not need to bring any device. The information you need is simply there.

In an earlier post I mentioned a development of Ricoh. A device near the right end spectrum of Kevin Turner. Rumor is that this device is turning the eReader into an eWriter. I am currious how the layer is added on top of the reading capabilities of the Kindle. Will keep you posted on that.

Pay as you go
If the added value is not in the device itself but in the production and consumption of the information. What does these developments mean for the position of the devices, the pricing of the devices and the business models? Prices will drop dramatically! Devices like an eReader are just a window to the information and will deliver information to the masses. Forrester recommends strategists to diversify their next wave eReader portfolio to secure their ownership of reading experience. Forrester mentioned a drop to a price level of $50 for a stripped down pocket reader.
Apple is speeding up their iPAD release frequency with the iPAD2. The rumor machine about iPAD3 started even before the release date of the iPAD2 was revealed. The second version of the popular leader in the segment is mainly an incremental update of the iPAD. The pricing of the updated version will not change, leading to a dramatically drop of the pricing of the predecessor.
With the comments of Steve Jobs about the price level of the new version, the features of the new version and the rumour that this new version will be released early 2012, put an enormous pressure on the competition. Steve Jobs calls them the copy cats by the way.

It will be hard for the device manufactors to maintain their position and to keep up with the expected experience of added value. In my opinion, the biggest challenge is to 'blend' with the cloud and the information.

(*)Intel has developed a technology for cloud-based web applications to recognise the hardware capabilities from client computers, leading to a better optimised experience for end users.

March 7
Mary-Jo Foley posted a blog on a Microsoft research project: 'A low-tech Microsoft slate for the masses'.

On pricing the researchers estimate a cost of $100 when massmanufactured:
'While there are “no immediate commercialization plans” for the low-tech slate, the researchers estimated that a single unit witht he digital slate and pen could cost about $100 (U.S.) if/when mass-manufactured.'

She concludes the post with: 'I have no idea what Microsoft’s intentions are regarding this device/market, but still thought it worth noting that there’s room — and need — for lots of different kinds of slates and tablets, at lots of different price points. Microsoft seems to still consider the stylus/pen as worth supporting in slate/tablet designs (as do a lot of you readers). I wonder how many of the coming Windows 8 slates will provide pen-input, alongside multi-touch….'

The Future of Productivity - the sweetspot of eReaders and Business Solutions #li #il #yam

The worlThis post was published before july 2010. The information in this post was asked to take offline until now to make sure that Ricoh Innovations had room to wrap up the release of their first production version.

This year Microsoft World Partner Conference me and my collegue had the opportunity to meet Ron Barr of Ricoh Innovations. Our goal was to get to know each other since we are collegues in the Ricoh family and share some developments and ideas. Ron had this prototype with him of a Ricoh eReader. The device has a WIFI and 3G connection, the surface is based on the kindle technology on top of that a pen interface is implemented. Writing on the surface realy feels like wrinting on paper. Not to smooth, and a lot like writing with ink on paper.
Ron informed us that this was the first time he was able to show a prototype of Ricoh so upfront and I´m really glad we experienced the tablet. Some things are changing. As Steve Balmer announced several times now, The Cloud demands smarter devices and Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned a sweet spot in their ´three screens and a cloud´ vision on the future of productivity during his WPCDC speech. An open space between the consumer focused space of the apple iPad and the fat desktop devices on the other end. Actualy he positioned the Kindle on the the far right end of the spectrum, but that is the kindle static ´read only´ interface. Well this Ricoh device rocks, it is able to go beyond the crisp display of books and is able to deliver support to business processes. The layer on top of the Kindle infterface is able to capture writen input and will integrate that interaction with business processess.
There will be a SDK available. We think it should be free of charge. The community will take care of the huge opportunity. We discussed the need in logistic processes and other paper and information appended processes. The possibilities are infinited. How should we price the product itself. Well in our opinion the added value of the product is not the issue, it´s the huge added value of the process behind that. Maybe free of charge is not the way to go, but look at the US eReader forecast and the prediction the prices of a stripped down device will drop to less than $50.

The device will launch in the US april 2011. We in the front line of Europe will try to support the device as soon as possible.

The Cloud demands smarter devices - looking for the sweetspot - ereader format on a laptop screen

When I returned from the Microsoft World Partner Conference wrote a blog which will be republished in a short while. Subject of the blog is the eReader sweetspot. Microsoft has this vision  - three screens and a cloud. Steve Balmer mentioned the importance of these different devices but even more the importance of smart devices - The Cloud demands smarter devices. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner beliefs there is a sweet spot in the huge amound of screen devices.

The eReader is such device. I came across this blog by Julie Bort - Toshiba sells ebooks while Amazone puts Kindle in a browser.  Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I do like the eReader for just the goal it is meant for. Read a book. It has to have the experience of a book. The Kindle screen technology gives the reader just that experience - except the smell of ink and paper.

With Kindle for the Web, bloggers and website owners can embed a book preview into their sites (a function Google Books has offered for a year). They'll earn referral fees from Amazon when customers take the bait and buy the full version for their Kindles. Kindle for the Web will include many a feature from the e-reader. Users can change the font size and line spacing, adjust the background color. And of course, they can help promote the book -- sharing it via Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail.
This part I do understand. Put a small example of the full product for free to lure a customer.

Toshiba has decided it's not to be outdone by the likes of Kindle, or of the bulging tablet market, e-readers all, or even by the new e-readers and bookstores planned by rival Sharp. On Tuesday, Toshiba launched its own e-book store, Book Place, and is offering a free Windows e-reader to all comers, available for XP, Vista or Windows 7.

Oké... It can be easy to have another device to read an ereader format book like say your laptop. Still the success of the eReader is the fact it reads like a book. A laptop does not. Not even close in my opinion. The strategy is ofcourse to make the ereader format available for everyone, even those people that do not have the device. That's smart for the business of those books.
However I do not understand the folks reacting on this article. Why should I buy an other device to read the book? In my opinion because you want to read a book and that's just the experience an ereader device will provide.

So what is smart about the device? And what about the sweetspot? I will explain in the blog article I mentioned, but picture the 'old world situation'. Paper was the most important infomation carier. I can assure you it still is in a lot of situations.
For example the forms needed to report tasks fullfilled by an engineer that need to be signed by the customer, freight documents etc. True, DHL uses those handy devices where you can sign for the delivered goods. It took the paper out of the proces, but a lot of information too.
Picture this eReader device and the forms that carry the information of the business proces and the same experience of the paper forms... That's a smarter device.