Calling Time on the iPod Phone?

The iPod Phone Myth:

According to proponents of this myth, Apple's success with the iPod is about to be crushed by an onslaught of music playing cell phones, so Apple needs to desperately come up with an iPod + cell phone

Daniel Eran is currently dissecting the myth of the ever-imminent iPod Phone, and he makes some excellent points. Though I have no doubt that Apple labs have examined the potential for a hybrid phone/music player in extraordinary depth, and that they have interface designs that look like alien technology in comparison to the nightmares of UI that Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and MS would have us use, there's no real reason to believe that we'll see such a device from Apple anytime soon, and plenty of reasons to believe that phone and music functions are a poor fit. A stills camera is something that the average person uses occasionally and intermittently, and one that doesn't interfere with the operation of the phone. When I'm deep in Steely Dan Land, the last thing I want is another junk call breaking my reverie.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Communications, Design, Futurilla, iPod, Motorola, Music, phones, Product Design, puppy, Sony, technology, Usability

WiFi Pie in the Sky?

from Engadget:

Boeing looking to sell/scrap Connexion?: After several years of unsuccessfully attempting to coax people into surfing the Internet for a fee instead of sleeping during their international flights, it looks like Boeing has finally given up and started seeking buyers for its Connexion service, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required, as usual).

I'm really disappointed to hear this, though surely it's a matter of time before it's standard on long-haul at the very least. A wave of WiFi-equipped mobile phone devices seems to be coming for the business market, and if Brain Training and the Nintendo DS lite pushes little WiFi handhelds into a few million exec pockets we can all forget about the terrible in-flight gaming options that the airlines provide, and do something more interesting instead. The big limiter for my in-flight WiFi use was battery power and the lack of a power socket in Tourist Class, not the $27 fee.

Technorati Tags: Airlines, Internet, Networks, technology, Travel