Convergence - Myth or The Future?

ZDNet have an article called Playing the convergence game, where they talk about consoles becoming home media centers, and the role they they are going to play in bringing together the viewing and listening of all your media (photos, tv programmes, music, films etc). The PSX is mentioned as being a bit of a flop for Sony, although it seemed to me to be an idea that was rushed to market before the technology was finished, and an indicator of the way things are heading (convergence, not rushing to market - although on second thoughts...). They also mention Microsoft's plans to release an add-on for the Xbox that will allow sharing of media from their Xbox Media Center.

What really threw me was a quote from Schelley Olhava, an analyst at market researcher IDC - "Beyond the clock radio, what's ever worked better from putting two different functions together?". Who is paying for research that concludes this? Any company listening to that is going to miss out on The Next Big Thing, in my opinion.