Dumb phones not so dumb
The continuing strength of phones with the manufacturers own built-in operating systems has also been a factor, he acknowledged.
"We didn't forsee the vitality of the feature phones. The basic idea of Symbian was that built-in operating systems wouldn't be able to scale with more and more technology. That's basically correct. Basic operating systems struggle. But they've manged to stay alive long than we expected, as people found ingenious ways to extend the life of these operating systems, despite the complexity.
"But it's only a matter of time, we think, as they have more and more wireless channels in them - Wi-Fi and WiMAX as well as cellular, for example. Manufacturers will switch over more to using an open operating system than an in-house operating system."
As for digital organizers, the iPod, and the continuing sales success of Palm PDA (despite neglecting the product category for years), proof that there was a demand for dedicated devices? And wasn't he proof?
"I use a Series 5 which I have an awful lot of data on, that I don't think would survive a round trip," he says.
"I appreciate the large screen and large keyboard. I expect that one of these days someone will produce something like a a 9500 will be good enough. I'm not a terrible hurry," he says.
"But brand new users, who don't have that history you and I have, will be more comfortable with a converged device."
We ran threw a few things that an "unconverged", or dedicated device could do better. The large screen and keyboard is a good example, but there's also the ability to control and categorize personal data better. Tasks (or "To Do" items) on S60 don't have categories. On UIQ, they don't have priorities. How could the phone guys sell it as a better PDA, we wondered, when it was worse?
Tasks were that way because the designers didn't want to burden the new user with complexity, said Wood. But he did hope the eco-system would provide better PIM apps - at which point the phone manufacturers would incorporate it into a phone.
(That isn't what you want to hear if you're a software author).
"It wouldn't surprise me if it's improved from phone to phone, he said. Nokia isn't a monolith about these things."
Symbian had considered a desktop version of its old PsiWin application, something similar to Palm Desktop, but had decided it wasn't a core strength.
"It's interesting what might have been," he mused.
Overall, he sees convergence as fewer devices, with a few people still having several, and no one having the same one.
And the faith remains that like Field of Dreams, if you built it, they'll come.
"SMS was in phones before people realized they could use it. Then phones could send multipart messages, and it took some time before people realized they could send longer messages. It will take time for people to discover the features". ®
