Nick Jones

Several news reports claim that Sony is considering developing some form of hybrid device that will combine gaming and cellular capabilities. If this is Sony’s best idea of how to restore their waning fortunes in the mobile space then they are, IMHO, misguided.
Firstly there is almost no technical hardware difference between high end mobile phones [...]

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Yesterday I went so a ceramics show. I like ceramics because it’s a craft that – when done well – combines beauty and utility. One of my favourite quotes is from a British designer called William Morris, who said:
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be [...]

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Today I’m working on some presentation material for our September portals and collaboration summit in London where I’ll be talking about the future of mobile working. One of the things I find disappointing about mobile collaboration and work is how primitive it still is, the killer mobile application is still the phone call. Most of the things [...]

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Yesterday Nokia and Intel announced they are collaborating (at least a little). The press and analyst call was strong on mutual admiration and broad visions, but weak on concrete deliverables, however there are some implications for Gartner clients, especially those in the vendor space. We’re just tidying up a Gartner first take with some advice for clients [...]

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I’ll be in South Africa at the end of July and the start of August visiting clients and speaking at Gartner’s Africa symposium, and I’m looking forward to the trip on both a personal and professional level. South Africa is a great country, my wife and I have been on a couple of safaris there [...]

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Yesterday morning one of the cats brought me a present; a dead bird. It’s not obvious why the cats think I need these occasional donations of small furry or feathery corpses. Do they believe I’m under-nourished? Or that I need a new toy to play with? Or was it just a hint that the feline [...]

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The UK government just released the final version of its “Digital Britain” report which is a wide-ranging 238 page tome that talks about the future of broadband, wireless networks, digital radio, TV, the BBC, copyright, digital piracy, IT skills, cyber security and digital public services. The report is strong on broad ideas and rather weaker [...]

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Two interesting news items that could require action from many Gartner clients.
On the mobile software front Antenna’s rumoured acquisition of Dexterra was officially announced yesterday. This is partly a consequence of economic conditions which are making life harder for some mobile software players, and partly the inevitable consolidation of a market containing too many vendors. [...]

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We in Gartner like watching hype, and one way to look at Gartner hype cycles is as a progression of risk and knowledge. Early in the life-cycle of every new technology there is very little knowledge about it and so massive risk if you were to invest. This lack of knowledge encourages wild ill-informed marketing [...]

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Sun is a company whose software strategy puzzles me. On the one hand some outstanding software ideas come from Sun, for example Java. On the other hand Sun’s track record of exploiting software innovation, especially in the mobile space is, well, uninspiring. The SavaJe Java phone platform could have been in the market before Android, [...]

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