Team Talk
You see, while all this stuff sounds great and it's reassuring to hear that the likes of Intel are working on the baby-step solutions that may eventually lead us to this goal, the simple fact of the matter is we're still depressingly far from this reality. And, what really hurts is, knowing the reason this vision will not see the light of day for many years is not because of any technical issues but instead is all about bureaucracy getting in the way.
Going back to our examples, for something as simple as having any phone wirelessly playback video on any TV, all the manufacturers of TVs and mobile phones will have to agree to implement a universal standard unto which all new devices will comply, which seems simple enough. Unfortunately, getting companies to do this can be more difficult than drawing blood from a stone.
The HD format war is a perfect example of this. At their core the two disc types did the same thing, they stored data that was read and written by a blue laser - surely a perfect candidate for a universal standard? Well, apparently not. Somehow we ended up having a drawn out battle between two technologies that the public couldn't give a monkey's about. So what happened?
Without getting too much into the semantics of who designed what when and why they did it, the simple reason we ended up having a format war was because Sony had already developed its format when the DVD forum proposed its own (arguably better) HD DVD standard and it didn't want to give up the huge potential for royalties it could make by using its own format.
Yes fokes. Surprise, surprise. The reason these situations arise and the reason we aren't already walking around with devices that have this sort of functionality is of course money.
Why would the likes of Sony agree to join someone else's proposed CPWVS technology when it could develop one itself and make it exclusive to Sony Bravia TVs, and Sony Ericsson phones or license the technology and charge a hefty premium? With the marketing clout, global awareness, and deep pockets it has, Sony could easily make such a solution work, just as it did with Blu-ray.
Of course, we shouldn't want everything for free and it's only fair that the inventor of a new technology has the chance to make the money back from its development. However, sometimes, as the old saying goes, 'You need to speculate to accumulate.' By taking a gamble and making these new developments open standards or, at least charging a very small fee for their use, adoption of the new technology will be much more rapid and ubiquitous and surely that's got to be better for business?
