On the eve of iPhone: a new generation of personal computing?

I’ve never been a big fan of convergence. I come from the “right tool for the right job” school of thought, the idea being that I’d rather have many devices that each do one thing well than one device than one device that does many things poorly. So much so that when Steve Jobs announced he was about to roll out three devices in January, I almost took him literally.

But the lines really have become blurred, haven’t they? Earlier today I received an international phone call on my computer. Yesterday I used my telephone to send a photograph to someone. And as I sit at my desk and write this, I’m not sure whether I should be using my computer or my iPod to listen to music; it’s the same music either way.

The idea that a technological device can only truly be good at one task has been dying for awhile now, hasn’t it? Not that some industries have helped the case any. My current cell phone doesn’t seem to be good at much of anything, and that includes making phone calls. But a glance over the five year history of the iPod reveals that Apple has added features including podcasting, video games, and full-length movies to a device that was originally supposed to be nothing more than a music player. And you know what? The current iPod isn’t one bit more difficult or confusing to use than the original was. In fact, I’ve got seventeen iPods sitting here and I can tell you first-hand that when it comes to listening to music, the current iPod generation is the most intuitive yet.

I’ve spent just enough time with so-called Smartphones over the past few years to conclude that I wasn’t smart enough to use one; every time someone hands me one, I have to ask for help in doing something as simple as making a phone call. But then again, my current phone, which is fairly basic in its feature set, sports such a clunky interface that it continues to confound me to this day. So it’s not necessarily that Smartphones are frustrating to use because they try to do too much. It’s that the philosophy behind cell phone interfaces in general has been so ill-conceived that these devices never never even stood a chance.

And I’m far from the only one who feels skeptical when it comes to phones. A few hours after Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, I asked Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead what he thought of it. His reply was “I just want to know how good a phone it is. If it’s a good phone, I’m getting one.” It’s not that he or anyone else doubts Apple ability to pull off an intuitive cell phone. It’s just that if the iPhone is indeed an intuitive as a cell phone, then it’ll be the first one ever, won’t it?

But I’ve trusted Apple this far, haven’t I? It’s not just the iPod, either. Over the past decade Apple has proceeded to add new out-of-the-box functionality to its Macintosh platform on a regular basis, and yet I find the current iteration of the Mac even easier to use than that original iMac I pulled out of the box back in the late 90’s. So if Apple wants to combine my iPod and my Mac into one device, and replace my current cell phone in the process, I’m willing to trust them when they tell me that it’ll make my life easier.

I would have had to acquire an iPhone for research and testing purposes anyway, if for no other reason than to begin reviewing the dozens of iPhone accessories that have already piled up here in my office and the hundreds more which will arrive over the next year. I’ve decided, however, that I’m going to take it a step further than that. As of Friday I’m tossing my current cell phone into a drawer and making the iPhone my one and only cell phone. And I’m parking all seventeen of my iPods, for now at least, and using only my iPhone for portable music playback. I’m also going to stop carrying my MacBook around with me to meetings and see just how far I can get by using the iPhone as my default laptop. If nothing else, I’ll have plenty of experiences to write about.

But my skepticism about convergence aside, if anyone can pull of a kitchen sink-type device that actually does several things well, it’s gotta be Apple. And after seeing what they’ve managed to pull off when it comes to iPod and Mac evolution over the past few years, I’m ready to take the next leap. I suspect the iPhone represents at leas the first phase in the next generation of personal computing – one device to eventually replace them all – and starting today I’m willing to test that theory on my own self. Unless there’s a specific reason, my iPods won’t leave their docks for awhile, my MacBook won’t leave the house, and my old cell phone won’t leave the drawer. How’s that for drinking the kool-aid in the name of journalism?

And no, you can’t borrow one of my iPods while they’re not being used.