With the release of one of their humorously rendered videos, Motorola seems close to launching the Atrix on AT&T, an ambitious Android phone + ecosystem on which we previously offered some thoughts. Peter Rojas on gdgt also chimed in recently with his thoughts on where he thinks Google should take Android as it pertains to these smartphones and dumb docks. The idea of a world where you have machines ready and able to be controlled by your phone is very appealing, almost more so than the vision of Chrome OS where everything is limited to the browser-based view of the cloud. What is concerning, however, is the lack of a standard for all Android devices to perform in this manner and work with all "dumb docks."
Part of the concern is that Motorola has built this functionality into Blur, their proprietary skin that runs on top of the Android OS. It seems a given that if Google chooses to adopt this functionality and build it into the core Android OS, they will do so in a manner that will break compatibility with whatever Motorola is doing to accomplish this. They're also almost certain to do it in a way that will launch a different desktop environment than what Motorola has created, especially in terms of using a Chrome offshoot instead of the desktop version of Firefox. Needless to say, this current crop of Motorola phones and docks may be less relavent by this time next year if Google wants to incorporate this into Android.
With that in mind, this isn't just a software issue. Motorola has built these docks with specific form factors in mind, particularly on the Laptop Dock. What happens when they come out with phones that have the mini-HDMI or micro-USB ports on different sides and edges of the phone? What happens when they introduce a phone of a different shape or size? How long consumers expect their docks, especially the Laptop Dock, to work for them is a big question, especially in a time where Android phones are obsolete in a year and the company has moved on to focus on other models. The hesitancy to shell out money for an unsure ecosystem is the challenge that will most hamper the adoption of these devices and accessories. What the Atrix and its Motorola siblings will offer will probably be very useful, but like many Google and Android products, that may not be enough for buyers to not feel a bit of remorse when the idea is fully developed and packaged better for users.