Blurred lines: the software-hardware divide

The value of this integration is clear from the market for virtual assistants. Though in 2011 Apple launched Siri, the first modern digital virtual assistant, until 2017 it was trapped inside the iPhone, offering a virtual-only experience. Amazon’s Alexa, meanwhile, has emerged as the market leader in part because it bridged the gap between hardware and software. The physicality of the smart speaker allows the user to remove yet more friction from the user journey by interacting with the virtual world without disengaging from the ‘real’ world of their living room.

Because the ‘hardware-software divide’ is really the divide between the real and the virtual, the jump to ‘hardware’ need not be literal. Facebook recently launched pop-up shops in select Macy’s stores across the US, featuring 100 popular ‘digital-native’ brands that advertise on the platform. The display, which features 3D versions of Facebook’s photo boxes, has clearly been designed to encourage shoppers to photograph and post images on the platform – a move that deepens connections between reality and the digital world.

However, it’s important to note that bridging this gap isn’t always an unmitigated success. The examples of Snap Spectacles 1.0 proves that consumer loyalty to software doesn’t directly translate to hardware sales. The hardware needs to be aspirational in and of itself, and the unfashionable design and colour options were a major reason Spectacles 1.0 was considered a failure. Aspirational qualities also need to be balanced with both accessibility and purpose. This is a major reason why Google Glass failed to catch on; only a very small audience could afford the $1,500 price tag, and it was never clear which specific problems the product was meant to solve.

As “IoT” becomes more than just a buzzword and “virtual reality” looks less and less like an oxymoron each year, the collapse of the hardware-software divide shows no signs of slowing. Innovators will continue to seize opportunities in this space, but the ideas we’ll still talk about in 20 years will move beyond tech for tech’s sake and generate real solutions for consumer problems. Only these innovations, which use integrated technology solutions to address genuine needs and wants, will open new frontiers and achieve long-term success – online, offline, and in the spaces between.