No Middle Ground
Amit Gupta is calling it – “The laptop starts dying tomorrow”.
I’d agree with him too. Nobody around me buys a point-and-shoot digital cameras anymore – they’re all migrating to either pro-ish DSLRs, or perhaps quirky exotics like Lomo or Holga. The point-and-shoot just doesn’t have a place in competing for the consumer’s mind, because they don’t do any one thing particularly well, losing grounds in various aspects:
- Quality: vs DSLRs;
- Experience: vs Lomo, Holga, Polaroids
- Portability: vs camera phones
- Price: phone-cameras are effectively free
Does it mean that ‘middle-ground’, jack-of-all-trades products that try to seek a compromised middle ground will eventually have no place in the market? What are some of the other products that failed (or will fail) because they inherently always try to appease everybody, especially if designed-by-committee without a clear vision?
Actually, I see the opposite is happening as well. The “middle ground” devices are now both inexpensive and very very good. A $1000 quad-core laptop is faster than most desktops. Point and shoot for $250 takes pictures good enough to frame. DSLRs and desktops are unnecessary for all but the most dedicated hobbyists and professionals.
I tend to think of the iPad as the middle ground device between a laptop and a smartphone.