OS in the cloud - not so sure

According to reporting by the PC World, Nokia’s ex-CTO, Bob Iannucci, envisions that next paradigm shift in mobile devices will not be hardware or software based but the

emergence of a cloud-based platform that lets users navigate their contacts and content related to them….Iannucci envisions a web of names, pictures, video and information that would be linked like friends and related content in a social networking tool….But the social graph wouldn’t be an information base hosted by a specific carrier or a presentation method specific to one device OS. In Iannucci’s vision, it would be data stored in a cloud and accessible on any device, over any carrier network.

I’m not sure the vision is desirable for consumers. I believe consumers will want the Nokia or Apple device to provide the operating system. This is what distinguishes one brand from another. It is a point of differentiation (and focus of innovation) manufacturers will not abandon easily. Consumers feel they can “ trust” the Nokia or Apple OS more than some ‘emergent’ no brand social-graph based operating system. As for the noun-verb UI, the same paradigm is encapsulated by the principle of designing the UI around content, or simply, “content is the UI”. This paradigm is slowly making its way to mobile devices and will work best with touch interaction.

For more thoughts on the cloud check out my earlier post.

Image credits: Google