Convergence and acleareye

Found an interesting new blog by Tom Asacker called acleareye for people interesting in brands and marketing. I also like the format. Each item's title is SoAndSo on Subject. For example, Al Ries on convergence. Since Ries is one of my favorite authors, I left this comment.

The telephone answering machine is my example [of convergence]. It is almost impossible to find a stand alone version anymore. Most people now have a telephone in their house with an answering machine.

However, I tend to agree that convergence is an organic process in terms of product life cycle. As a product becomes a commodity (e.g., more of a published good) it tends to become a value add for other products. Answering machines are so cheap that they are a simple value add for telephones. Or it may simply be when two products become published goods, convergence looks like a value add.

Future Note: Above would be interesting Tetrad.