Micro economics: contrasting opinions about convergence

Convergence is the coming together of previously separate technologies in new products and services. Sometimes this union has massive consequences for industrial structure and market performance. If the hype is to be believed, convergence is leading to the network of the future. We will soon be placing a videophone call using a networked PC, or playing a multiuser, multilocation, Internet-linked video game on cable TV. Considerations about convergence shape the business strategies of AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Time-Warner, Sun, Cisco, and Lucent, to name a few. Due to the stakes involved, there is as much advice about convergence as there are consulting houses. Have you ever listened to a consultant expound on this topic? Too many consultants look for a right answer to every convergence puzzle. This topic could use fewer opinions and more agnosticism. That is so not only because anything less than a dissertation necessarily skims the surface of this topic, but also because such strong opinions run counter to the basic economics of convergence.