Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Ecosystems take years to build and depend on other companies. Really, who has the time these days? Plus, they kick in only if a product reaches critical mass. Microsoft and SanDisk demonstrated the risk a few years back with their digital media players in seeding the market with third-party cases and docks using their own proprietary and now abandoned connectors. Over the past year, though, we’ve seen a number of tech companies take a new approach to mobile product development — the corporate showcase — where they convincingly shun any notion of silos by throwing just about everything they’ve got into a product.

Continue reading Switched On: Assets in gear

Switched On: Assets in gear originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST.