On the way to convergence, mobiles “eat” devices around
As mobile devices are improving we can note that cellphone are the leader vector on the way to convergence.
Apart from making phone calls, mobile devices are also fastly integrating functions that characterized other portable devices before.
For example, they incorporate increasingly powerfull cameras and some fear that the market of basic digital camera might slow down, just few months after their fast blow up. why buy or carry a small digital camera when your mobilephone can do the same things? plus, a picture on a mobile is easy to transfer away, to other mobiles, to your pc, to web, etc.
“Last year sales of camera phones from all makers topped 84 million units worldwide — nearly twice the purchases of conventional digital cameras.” “We are changing the imaging industry,” says Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila. “This is a classic case of disruptive technology.”
The disruption is accelerating. Last month, seven phonemakers have announced new models that incorporate megapixel cameras, which shoot pictures with a million points of resolution.
What does all this mean for makers of digital cameras? Some are already selling camera components to cell-phone makers. All are moving to sell higher-quality cameras with zoom lenses and other features unlikely to migrate into handsets (see Picturephoning).
So, not long after having decided to completely go from film to digital, Kodak must move in the market considering the cameraphone revolution. Kodak has already started collaboration with Nokia (see article for detalis).
at the same time dgt camera producers are pushing their product into growing performances to offer a quality superior to the one of cameraphones.
It’s not easy to predict how the market will change and in which direction.
still, “it’s hard not to think that low- and middle-range digital cameras aren’t under serious threat in the next several years, as cameraphones will be sufficient for most average people’s photographic needs.” (see The Feature)

At the same time, portable devices will be eaten by a mobile phone: fm radio, mp3 players, mobile hard disk, handle game console, agendas & organizers, gps devices.
A single specific research could be made on the possibility of integration of all those and other functions into a mobile phone (that, in this way won’t b only a phone at all! even if this function is the core).