Models, distribution, and a 'trans-platform' approach

A post on CDM a while back has been in my mind now for quite a while. It made me think about the different models adopted by handheld device makes for some time.

If we go back to the early days of the palm platform the model was all about synchronisation with the desktop. Now lots of people use a mobile device with no sync at all, or perhaps for back up. But the Tonium model is interesting.


It has three distinct elements:

DEVICE - DESKTOP APPLICATION - WEB BASED COMMUNITY

Combining these elements together makes for a very different and interesting mix of technologies, and that's half the picture that's been rattling around in my head.

The second part is all tied up with Mixtikl from intermorphic. Mixtikl will be a 'trans-platform' tool. This is not my term, it is from Pete at intermorphic. He describes the term as follows:

These are tools that are not just cross-platform (within a category of device), but cross-platform and cross-category! They allow creatives largely to be device or platform agnostic, and productive either on the move or back in the studio/office (subject of course to the capabilities of the software...!).

Mixtikl is I think is the first announced trans-platform audio creativity tool. We already have it working in the labs on:
- Windows desktop (standalone, VSTi)
- Mac desktop (standalone, VSTi, AU)
- Windows mobile (PPC)

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. If you can have an 'trans-platform' application that allows you to do more than the traditional sync function, but lets you move a file or idea from device to desktop or vice-versa and back again that's a real step forward.

Do we need to add a portal too? Maybe, let's see how Mixtikl works as 'trans-platform' application first. My guess is that it is going to be a sea change in mobile music making, and a welcome one at that.