Play shifting – the need for good synching and personal content management solutions

I recently read a report from Ovum titled – Next-generation devices: the impact of convergence. It’s a really good overview of mobile devices in general and where they need to pay attention to succeed in the next few years.

One issue that is dear to my heart is the issue of folks wanting to have and use their content on multiple devices. Basically, it’s a ‘play shifting’ that one sees when one has a CD at home to listen to, but also want to use it on the road on a mobile device, or on one’s laptop.

As expected, Ovum pointed out the importance of synchronization and personal content management. Right now we have iTunes or Lifeblog managing subsets of our media and content. Ovum didn’t seem confident that things will improve, partly due to complexity and lack of standardization, but also due to media providers leery of their stuff living in so many different places.

How many media managers will we end up with? Already I split my life between Lifeblog on my work PC and iTunes on my home Mac. Will I have to make choices based on my preferred platform rather than my preferred mobile device?

Link: Next-generation devices: the impact of convergence.

Now is a good time to pause and take a look across the whole device landscape from the consumers’ perspective – and that is the purpose of this report. We highlight some product opportunity areas that emerge from the analysis, and also some areas of technology that do not seem to be getting enough attention.

This report looks at:

• the impact of consumer behaviour on devices
• the emergence of certain devices as hubs
• the effects of content going digital
• the opportunity areas and technologies needed to support the opportunities
• the possible evolution of device form factors.