With the delivery of my HTC HD2 this week it has resurfaced an idea I have kept having about modern devices and how unique they are and what that means for its success or failure.

I suppose firstly I should explain what I mean by singularity and individuality. I think of some devices as being very individual in that there are many options for a similar device so customers can be very individual with their choice of hardware/software to get the best device for themselves. Then on the flip side you have singularity which is where there is only a single offering from a company. This can be seen easily when comparing Microsoft and Apple, Microsoft offer Windows which can be put on a vast selection of hardware whereas Apple have the iPhone, a single device, with limited choice in its hardware.

Both mentalities are good, obviously, as both products own a very large market share whilst being completely different strategies and Both Apple and Microsoft follow those ideas throughout all they do. Microsoft is really a platforms giant, not just a software giant with its Office suite and increasingly SharePoint it has provided many people with a platform to build upon. Whereas Apple focus on getting one device to do things, well.

But of course you know all this, so where I am I going with this I hear you ask.

Well it seems to me that Microsoft’s idea of devices that sell less than about 1,000,000 a year are best suited to a single offering is very true, trying to provide a diverse platform for these markets is no good. This can be seen easily in the Smartphone market with Windows Mobile which, whilst facing other issues, has suffered due to devs not wanting the hassle of writing an app for many different hardware specifications. I don’t see Microsoft changing their attitude towards the way Windows Mobile is a platform but maybe they will be making it easier and more exciting for devs in Windows Mobile 7. Interestingly Google are following Microsoft’s strategy with regards its Mobile Operating System, Android, so maybe its less about the relatively small number of devices sold a year but more about he newest OS on the block.

Now if we have a look at what Microsoft is doing in the way of making singularity devices they have the Xbox and ZuneHD both of which only give the consumer a choice in of their capacity and colour, much like Apple and its iPods and iPhones.

So looking towards the future I think we will see more singularity devices from Microsoft, mainly from the Entertainment and Devices Division (E&DD) which seems to be set up to cater for exactly the same markets as Apple and other such consumer oriented companies. The reason for this is that the idea of having one device for developers to write apps for is much easier than having many choices in hardware when a relatively tiny number of people will ever use on the individual configuration. If the E&DD are looking towards the consumer more than a lot of Microsoft and in turn are very competitive with Apple it is likely that we will see a Courier like device from Microsoft that will directly compete with Apple’s rumoured tablet; another singularity from Microsoft.

I can’t see Microsoft making many more platforms for consumer devices as most viable platform markets are now catered for so it will only be emerging markets which are likely to only number in the less than 1,000,000 units sold a year. Therefore there is no gain for Microsoft to make a platform when they could monetise the market segment with their own product. From this I think we can expect to see a continuation on the path Microsoft is taking to compete directly with other companies with singularity devices and not individuality platforms for devices. It’ll be interesting to see what Microsoft do if Windows Mobile 7 doesn’t take off as they need it too, will they look into making a singularity device?

Another example of singularity and individuality comes from when the first iPhone was released, it was unique and few people had one. It was a cool device to have and if you had one you were a very cool individual. Now it seems that everyone has one which some people would argue is less “cool” and perhaps all iphone users can be branded as a single collective as opposed to a collection of individuals.

So back to my HD2 I feel it is a very individual device and I could have chosen a different phone and had a similar experience thanks to Windows Mobile (and no I don’t mean a bad experience ¬_¬). The choice in hardware is perhaps Windows Mobile shining feature but without the developers writing the apps for WinMo to make it more than a really powerful phone it will never win as the best mobile device when compared with the iPhone. And this is the point, where sometime a large choice of hardware is available it needs to be backed up by a large choice of applications utilising the hardware to the max, not something I think most developers will want to dedicate their lives to.

So what do you think is the better option for consumer devices to take? To be individual and allow the user to get exactly what they want or to provide a single device that tries to do everything?