Fred Joseph, CEO, EMEA at Performics, considers the evolution of the smartphone, as consumers come to see it as just one of a number of connected devices they use to help them manage their lives
The smartphone is one of the most rapidly-adopted consumer technologies in history. In many advanced markets, more than 60 per cent of the population owns a smartphone, and their spread continues at a rapid pace. Given their unprecedented success, smartphones’ future at the centre of our digital lives seems assured. But really, we’ve only seen the first phase of a process where everything will become mobile, one where we expect the smartphone to evolve from the handset in our pocket to a multitude of new devices and connection points.
The development of the smartphone has changed our relationship with mobile devices. We use them to organise, curate and control our daily activities, and we expect to be able to use them in an intuitive and spontaneous way, without having to learn how to use each new app or operating system.
The smartphone will continue to grow in sophistication and ease of use, and will become the device that enables us to run our homes – and increasingly our lives.
This ongoing evolution of the smartphone was on full display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of last month. Smartphones are getting bigger and better: there were plenty of larger smartphones and ‘phablets’ on display, like LG’s G Pro 2 (with a 5.9-inch screen) and HTC’s Desire 816 (with a 5.5-inch screen). These are designed to improve the user experience for video and other high-quality content, moving closer to the functions of a tablet, while retaining the personal connectivity of a phone.
Larger screen sizes and faster connections are making smartphones a better platform for consuming media content; their new centrality to social media also means they are a vital nexus of media distribution through social sharing. Smartphones are therefore becoming ever more important for brands investing in ‘owned media’ – content that the brands create and distribute, instead of relying on traditional media partners.
The Internet of Everything
As the smartphone develops, we will move ever closer to the ‘Internet of Everything’ – a world where all devices and objects are connected online. Over the next few years, the internet will extend to many different physical objects, creating a smart integrated system of sensors, data and internet-enabled devices that manage our lives.
As our smart devices and sensors communicate, they will be able to track our every move and respond accordingly. In our homes, heating will be turned up as we drive home from the office. Music and lighting will be personalised to our moods. Fridges will automatically reorder our usual purchases.
Mobile World Congress showed that the early stages of this vision are already in place. The Qualcomm Connected Home demonstrated how almost everything in the home can be connected and controlled with a smartphone, keeping the householder informed of the status of their home wherever they may be.
Most of the handset makers had some kind of wearable technology on display. These included watches and bands that users can consult instantly, providing a more immediate connection to messages and notifications than a smartphone (like Huawei’s TalkBand B1), plus devices that monitor the user’s steps, sleep cycles and other activities, helping users to measure and improve their health and fitness (such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear Fit smart band).
Mark Zuckerberg gave his keynote speech on his Internet.org project, which aims to connect the whole world to the mobile internet by improving infrastructure and offering cheap or free mobile subscriptions. Meanwhile several handset manufacturers are developing cheaper smartphones for developing markets, such as the $25 Mozilla phone. As smartphones spread throughout developing market we move closer and closer towards a truly connected world.
The Mobile of Everything
We believe that once we enter the era of the Internet of Everything, we will come to realise that it is actually the ‘Mobile of Everything’. Our future is profoundly mobile. Mobile data will connect together the sensors, devices and screens that will capture data about how we live; predict our desires based on our movements and history; and customise our content wherever we are and on whatever screen we choose.
We will come to rely on mobile devices to program and be the control point for all aspects of our daily work, communication, shopping, comfort and convenience.
However, the term ‘mobile’ will cease to refer simply to handsets; instead it will refer to the ‘mobile consumer’ and the multitude of devices, screens, sensors and connection points around them wherever they go. In the Mobile of Everything, we will no longer be reliant on just one device to connect us to the world around us. Smartphones will evolve into a variety of independent devices designed for different purposes: devices that we wear, devices integrated into bags and clothing, and even implanted into our bodies, and connection points in our homes, cars and offices. The smartphone will have evolved into a smart world.
Fred Joseph is CEO, EMEA at Performics