Although there have been a number of great developments incorporating our OSM strategy, it's should be no surprise that we want even more. I believe that there is a ton of untapped potential in the market - basically technologies for specific applications looking for a computing platform to run on top of.
In addition to the great partner-developed solutions in IngenuityLive!, you've probably also seen the developments on top of the Omnii by Lee Hunt in this forum. Sure he's having some fun, but there is a very real aspect to his work in that it showcases the ease of developing hardware on top of Psion devices. But, is there more that could be done to make it easier? There are lots of ideas swirling around within Psion about what we can do to better support those looking to develop technologies on top of our platform. Some focus on more / better documentation? Or standard, over-sized end-caps? Maybe a new wider, thicker back cover? Perhaps improvements to the HDK? Or, in the spirit of Open Source, an Arduino interface board?
What do you need that would make your development tasks easier?
To get people up and running (at least for prototyping) some type of container is mandatory. A new plastic back with some flat surfaces for connectors would speed development and enable partners to showcase their products early on in the development phase. However, I think it would only work for prototypes and small scale production; imagine if you had to drill and mount connectors on hundreds of chassis… it would quickly become more cost effective to mould your own housing (not to mention that you could style it for the market).
So the big question, how big should this prototyping back cover extension be? What do people want to put in it? What connectors would people be using?
Not that I'm a perfect example of prototyping for the Omnii XT10 (but I've had a go), I'm currently at the stage in my project where I need to simplify it and bring its footprint down before mounting it inside the device. At the moment, I think that I'm going to be able to work with the scanner pod attachment as my boards are very small (it should look something like the XT10 HF RFID attachment).
My challenge is now more about how I expose sensors that need the air but keep the rest of the device sealed!