The Three Screens Platform, Part 2, Docking with the PC

By Stephen Wood, Technology Stragegist

This article is the second in a six part series discussing the convergence of the Smart Phone, Personal Computer, and Television. Each article will discuss an event or technical capability which is forecast to emerge in the near future. These forecasts were developed for Incisor using new techniques in market analysis that provide a context against which Incisor readers can evaluate the value of innovations entering the market.


The prior article in the series, The Emerging Three Screens Platform, described how the smart phone, PC and television were being connected together into a common logical system. In the same way that the PC was a physical platform and the Internet emerged as a logical platform, the Three Screens logical platform will cause significant changes to the way in which we interact with technology.

This article and several others in the series will explore portions of the Three Screens platform in detail. The focus of this article will be the connection between the smart phone and the PC. Just as docking stations were created for notebook PCs to enable them to gain access to better user interfaces, wired networks and peripherals, three screens docking will expand today’s docking station to enable the smart phone to connect to peripheral devices and other computing systems.

Before getting into the details of docking and the applications that it will enable, consider a theoretical point for a moment. Engineers all over the world are deeply involved in trying to figure out what new features should be added to the mobile phone. This is proving to be a challenging question for them. However, much of the difficulty is due to how one frames the problem.

If one believes that the task is to find new features to make a superior phone, the task is particularly difficult. This is because existing phone designs already excellent at solving the problem which telephony is intended to address. If, by contrast, one asks the question, “What can be changed to make an extraordinarily good mobile computer that also does telephony?” the range of options expands significantly.

This is a valid way to frame the problem because of the way that the market is evolving at present. If one looks at the computer industry, it is following a very clear trajectory. Desktop computers came first, followed by notebook. The next computer in the series is handheld. If one looks at the evolution of the telephone, it is moving from wired/stationary to wireless/mobile to intelligent/wireless/mobile. The definition of this last stage looks very much like the same device being built as the handheld computer. The markets are converging into a common device. However, the telephony portion of this common device is already quite mature as it has been in this form factor for some time. The greater opportunities for innovation are in the computation portion of the convergence. This then is where development teams will need to focus their attention in the search for differentiation.

Handheld computing differs from notebook computing in one very significant way. The notebook computer is a desktop computer that you can easily pick up and move to a second location. It is not mobile. It is nomadic. By contrast, the handheld computer needs to be both mobile and nomadic. In a mobile context, it talks to the world over a Wide Area Network (WAN). In a nomadic context, it employs a variety of short range connections. These are not just wired and wireless physical links. These connections also describe protocols and capabilities affecting security, enhanced user interfaces and improved ease of use. The best way to convey the idea of a docking system for the mobile computer is through application descriptions.

As an example, imagine that the user is a tourist visiting Rome. Rather than carrying a laptop computer, they carry a smart phone / handheld computer. At some point, they wish to sort through their photos, edit one or two and then email them home to their friends. So, they enter a local Internet café where they dock into a terminal which is composed of power, a monitor, keyboard and Internet connection. The terminal lights up as their personal PC using software and data resident on the handheld device. The larger screen and the keyboard enable the tourist to view and crop pictures. They write a long letter into which the photos are added. When they are done, the letter is sent. The tourist then picks up the handheld device and leaves, taking all of their data and software with them.

This example highlights the ability to temporarily enhance the user interface. While a thumb based keypad or a touch sensitive screen is an excellent choice for sending a quick note or an unmodified photo, it is insufficient for many tasks that involve creation tools such as word processing, presentation development, photograph editing, video editing, programming, etc. In these cases, the user shifts from a mobile context to a nomadic context where they are temporarily stationary.

As a second example, imagine an outside salesman for a engineering test equipment manufacturer. On a visit to one of his regular customers, he recognizes the opportunity to sell one of his company’s new oscilloscopes. Now, these devices cost about $45,000 each and weight around a hundred pounds. So, it is not practical to have one in his car. Instead, the salesman docks with the customer’s projector. He pulls up a presentation and walks the customer through the major features of the oscilloscope. When he is done, he disconnects the projector and docks with the user’s printer to print out the latest data sheets on the product.

This type of connection resembles the manner in which PCs connect to their peripherals. In this example, the application is nomadic. However, the connection could also be between the handheld computer and a heart monitor, pedometer or other health and wellness sensors.

In a third example, imagine a soccer mom going about her daily activities of shopping and managing children. Before leaving the house, she connects to the Internet. A program on the handheld computer quickly downloads music and video that have been selected to match her tastes. She bundles up the kids and loads them into the car. By docking her mobile computer into the car, she initiates a number of exchanges. The music that she downloaded from the Internet is uploaded into the radio where it can be used to create logical “stations” that are selected through her radio buttons in addition to normal radio stations. A movie is also uploaded to the car’s entertainment system to be played on the passenger seat display to keep the kids occupied during the drive. The car then uploads data from the engine to mobile computer. Assuming that the customer has signed up with their auto dealership, his information can be fed back to the dealer to monitor the car’s performance. Driving information can also be collected and fed back to insurance holders in order to earn good driver discounts.

As one of the soccer mom’s stops, she visits a grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. Her handheld computer can be used as a financial instrument to dock with the Point Of Sale (POS) terminal to pay for her purchases. Instead of relying on a four digit PIN code, the handheld computer can use more sophisticated identification methods to prevent theft. The POS terminal also deposits electronic coupons onto the handheld computer and stamps her electronic loyalty card to enable her to get discounts for later visits. Any application for which a ticket or chit is provided can be adapted for use on the handheld computer. Valet tickets, prescriptions, theatre tickets, business cards, laundry tickets and a host of other incremental applications are possible.

Unlike a traditional notebook docking station, the dock for a handheld computer/smart phone needs to be standardized and common so that it can be readily employed by manufacturers across a number of different businesses. It needs to employ the security and identification functions that are present on the three screens platform in order to enable financial transactions. It should be able to identify the customer in order to associate consumption information to the right individual in order to build reliable profiles. In order to place and remove data from the device, there need to be common protocols for establishing where the device will be located and which programs have access. And because all of this connectivity creates an ideal viral environment, it is also necessary to have malware suppression technology to keep the system safe.

To bring this discussion all of the way back around to the beginning, these examples demonstrate how the change in mental context away from the obsolete mobile phone context and to the emerging converged context enables designers to readily develop new applications and to describe the functional blocks that enable them.

If the convergence that the market is entering were limited to the blending of PC with mobile phone, it would be a fairly straight forward task to identify all of the emerging features and uses. But there is more to this convergence than just these two. In the next article, the discussion will shift to include the convergence between the mobile phone and the television.

Additional information about the three screens platform and other upcoming market events can be found at www.mappingthewhitespaces.com.

Stephen Wood has spent the last eight years developing a series of behavioural models which explain the behaviour of high tech markets and which provide insights about upcoming events. These models provide the basis for the projections described in this series.

Additionally, Stephen has spent the last twenty years doing market analysis and product management in PAN, WAN and LAN technologies. Most recently, he held the role of President for the WiMedia Alliance in UWB personal area networking. Stephen’s website at www.mappingthewhitespaces.com discusses his models and forecast.

He can be contacted at
wood.stephen@verizon.net