→ A VC: Cheap Will Be Smart. Expensive Will Be Dumb.
Fred Wilson makes a great point regarding connected devices. Fred separates them into two broad categories, arguing that :
- Cheap devices such as phones are and will remain the smart ones. They are replaced very often, enabling the consumer to have access to the latest technology in a matter of years.
- Expensive devices such as cars, boats, refrigerators, HVAC, TVs are and will remain the dumb ones. They are not replaced often enough and therefore the way they will become connected is by relying on cheap devices.
In a way, cheap/smart devices will become the platform on which expensive/dumb devices rely for instructions.
The challenge is in the technologies required to build the bridge between smart and dumb devices, to create an ecosystem. Airplay, Apple’s closed and “it just works” standard, feels like the strongest contender in this game to date, since Bluetooth is really painful to pair [1].
Notes:- Recently, I spent 30 minutes in a rental car trying to connect my Nexus One to the Bluetooth Audio. It worked the first time I paired, but then for some reason I couldn’t get it working the next time. Male-to-male AUX cable “just works” but who remembers to have one on each trip? [↩]
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