Is Device Innovation Dead?

After the latest device announcements from Microsoft (Surface Studio) and Apple (Mac) I have decided that I miss Steve Jobs. Apple has clearly moved into operations mode dribbling in small innovations to get the faithful to upgrade (full disclosure, I have an IPhone 7 Plus and wear an Apple Watch) versus making any real compelling changes. The new touch features on the Mac could be interesting but represent evolution more than something that will change how I go about my day. Microsoft is being touted as finding innovation again and as stated in one of my previous posts I think Microsoft is going back to its roots as partnering to drive Azure adoption is in its best interests. I personally have never liked the Surface products and I suspect that the Studio device, an attempt to revitalize flagging desktop sales will require more iteration and still is just evolution. After having tried a number of different wearable devices I like some of the features but find myself in the "It is Ok" camp. I think the devices are necessary as ongoing evolution will make them more feature complete versus a companion device.

I have one thought on mixed reality and VR. An accident waiting to happen... I can certainly where there are use cases but they seem to be more like a Segway than something that will truly change how we live.

So what do I think would be truly innovative? I would like to get to a place where I only have to carry one pocket sized device and it would connect easy to systems and display endpoints that allow me to perform work. I first saw this vision back in 1994 (Compaq Mobile Companion) and continue to hope for it today. The attempts are being made (HP has something like this but it looks to be ARM based which is still a problem) but I still think we are far from a day when this could be a reality. I also think voice has a place here where I can summon my device (Hey...) and have it do something like pay for a coffee without me needing to have a physical device interaction (the "tap thing" of NFC). Just imagine a pocket sized device (Star Trek Badge) that is the portal to all your work product, allows you to connect to rich displays for content creation and consumption (truly enhanced TV) and the cloud for added horse power to drive applications that need it. Oh and if you lose it or it breaks you can just get a new one and the core personality of the device will be restored from the cloud (Just like MSFT, Ray Ozzie predicted with Hailstorm). That is the device I have been waiting for since 1994...