Hardware 2.0

Quite recently the term Web2.0 is all over the place and it seems that everyone wants to get over this bandwagon. Though I shouldn't be complaining as I am in the queue to get onto the web2.0, web3.0, web4.0 and so on. These are surely new and exciting times\tools for the marketers.

Well I can go on and on over the Web 2.0 however has selected the topic of Hardware 2.0, hence need to keep the focus onto the same. A good example of Hardware 2.0 could be iPhone, and with the Apple release of an SDK for the iPhone and iPod touch, we can expect more and more application that we can be used on iPhone. Though not being an analyst, I will not be able to justify the new paradigm shift in the Hardware business. However with visible trends seen in the case of the Web's of the world surely foresee a new dimension to the hardware and its business as well.  Conceptually it will create a dimensional shift from what and how we know our hardware today.      

We all know how the "Soft" has changed over the years; however can we say the same on the "hard" side. Though this encourages me to think that aren't we to much focus on diversifying in the software and not that much about on the hardware side. Is it to "hard".

The software side has gone and is expected to go through the hyperdisruption however I am yet to see this happening in the hardware side.

With the introduction of the Apple iPhone, and my friend being kind enough to let me see the features of it has forced me to think that we have gone through so much of development in the software, telecommunication, mobile technology however are we still living in the same age of enterprise "hard" automation. Can we we expect it to change? 

Things like Google, Salesforce, Appexchange, Mashup, so on has changed the way we compute today even at an enterprise level. The thing I would like to imagine is, can we move in direction on Hardware "hyperdisruption".  I have been hearing now and then the cloud computing, however still do not know that will it enable an enterprise level disruption.

SMB, SME, "target the small", seems to be the flavor of all enterprise targeted sales. But sometime I do wonder that are the companies gear to understand the implication that the SMB sector entails. I may be talking specific to the Indian domestic market, with not even a single person in the name of an IT department in an SME organization that I have visited or known. Please do not take me wrong, I am talking about companies with annual revenue of $30 millions sustaining the IT on single free email. Then we talk about things like online\on-demand application and we conveniently assume that the organizations we are targeting will have T1 lines with redundancy, backup, etc, etc.

Not going much in detail would like to put the question to wonderful people who have been kind enough to read this post -

• Can we imagine that we will be able to have single "hard" server that will allow us to have or "add to cart" application(s) that are only one time downloadable, application that suits our requirements, at the time when we require, and we do not want to worry about an integration, and also not to worry about the having T1 redundant net lines?
• Switch on & off application as per our requirements.
• Ability to create hardware that does not require a power connection and runs on power from the network cables as phone lines does (conceptually).
• Not to worry about backup, maintenance, etc. as that will build in by the hardware provider who providing you the servers.
• Can we imagine Hard 2.0, Hard 3.0, so on?

The answer is a probable "YES".