Mobile phone manufacturers love convergence it seems. Nokia loves pointing out that it sells more MP3 players than Apple and more Cameras than Canon. So how come someone like Pure Digital Inc can have a hit with a simple, low quality video camera, and end up selling over $200m worth of them - and have rumours of a Cisco acquisition for $500m?
Why would anyone buy a Flip Mino when they could get all the same features integrated into a handset like the Nokia N90?
It seems that consumers do buy the Mino, but don't buy the N90 - Nokia have quietly stopped producing N90 sales, and have admitted that the "transformer" form factor and the video focussed mobile devices have not proved popular with large number of consumers.
Similarly if you dig underneath the claims made around "most MP3 players" and "most cameras" - while the headline numbers are true if we look at the popularity of Nokia cameras on Flickr we get a different story - it seems that people still want to take, and share pictures with real cameras.
So given you can get everything you want on a mobile phone, why are consumers still buying and using other devices?
There is a benefit in simplicity and focus - Pure have picked one thing (capturing video for the internet) and focussed on being the best in the world at that one thing. They have beaten the consumer electronics giants like Nokia in that field. Consumers appreciate the benefits that this gives you - and there is always a choice - the consumers that want a single, converged device can get it - with the compromises that that device includes as a result of it's lack of focus.
The lesson? Pick one thing, and try to be the best in the world at that one thing.
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