As I write this, I’m on a bus to DC traveling to see my family for Christmas. The bus is fully equipped with hi-speed wi-fi. We were checked in by a guy with a sophisticated mobile app on an iPad; ticketless and effortless. I look around and every other person is occupied with a mobile device of some sort – smartphone, iPod, Kindle, iPad or laptop. It’s hard to imagine the scene any other way, so accustomed am I to the technology.
The other night I watched a bit of an 80s movie, ‘The Woman in Red’ with Gene Wilder. The office scenes contained desks with no computers on them. People were using pay phones to communicate. It didn’t really seem that long ago, but 1984 looked like some quaint old-fashioned world. I haven’t sought out the original 1935 film with Barbara Stanwyck yet – but imagine that the biggest changes would be the fashion and the film being in black and white. The communications technology probably hadn’t changed all that much in those 50 years. The cordless phone might have just been coming on the scene. But imagine if someone were to remake the movie in 2034 – now what would THAT look like?
The acceleration of innovation on the communications front over the past decade is mind-boggling. Much of this innovation has been on the mobile front of course – and mobile technology, combined with the Internet is literally changing the way we live our lives. So I am going to throw my woolen hat in the ring on this predictions thing and thrown in a couple of ideas on where I believe things are headed. So here goes.
Content in the Cloud – I can see the day very soon when I will be comfortable with using most content – my music, apps, films, books, magazines — in the cloud. I will subscribe to a mobile service from my mobile operator or other service provider and they will deliver all this content to me across all of my connected devices. Only the pieces that are meaningful to me will get a physical place on a shelf or cabinet, which will be reflected in the physical design of my home.
Everything is Connected; Everything is Communicating; Everything will have Context. I will have a sensor on my phone that tracks my moods, my blood pressure and the number of calories I consume. My kids will be connected to me – I will know where they are at all times. My 95-year old grandmother will be connected to me. I will know if she needs my help. My dog will be connected to me – I will know when he ate his breakfast and if he leaves the yard. I can be connected to people – if I want to – by a ‘bump’ that shares personal information – with someone I meet depending on what I want them to know. Imagine a new ’augmented reality’ Match.com that shows potential matches lighting up when you walk into a room. Scorpio. 38. 6’2”. Divorced. Likes brunettes who like Johnny Cash. Ding ding ding, well hello!
Apps are King. Businesses will use mobile apps as the primary way to generate revenue, create value, and attract customers. It will be bigger than the Internet as we know it today. Apps will be advertising, apps will be content.
The Beauty of Doing Nothing. I actually wrote a screenplay treatment about 15 years ago – in which the characters escaped to Maine, which was the only state designated as an opt-out or dark zone to experience the luxury of being offline and disconnected. I believe this notion will likely come true – at least in some aspects – there will be new social etiquettes and lifestyles built around being on and offline. Workers may start to object to expectations of being online 24×7 with some new disorders being attributed to this uber-connectedness.
Mobile Payments will Become Ubiquitous. Your phone will be your wallet. Your debit card will be old school. Because of this, there may need to be a foolproof security mechanism to prevent unauthorized use – either from theft or the simple fact that people lose their phones all the time.
Mobile Mind Mapping. Analytics of user behavior, collective emotions, location and other contextual information will become like gold to businesses. On the flip side, there will be serious privacy issues, which will need to be balanced as mobile marketing takes off. Incentives may need to be offered for individuals to allow following of their data trail.
And then there’s Evolution. There will be some kind of new evidence that our brains are being rewired to adapt to this pace of communications and connectedness; social skills and relationships changing, attention spans limited, better hand-eye coordination; more multi-tasking; another kind of thinking. Like most people, I already use Google as an extension of my brain. So if I rely on Google more and more for quick facts, will my brainpower be reserved for more important things like better memory and synthesis of ideas?
Some of these things are far out; some are right around the corner; and a few are probably my own little wacky ideas best reserved for screenplays (perhaps I should be working on the next ‘The Woman in Red’?) But there’s no doubt that mobile and social and location-based technologies are going to have a dramatic – I will even say life altering — effect on all of us. Beam me up!
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Tags: Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Apps, Mobile Predictions, Mobile Trends, Terri White, The Mobile Beat
