The Mobile Device of the Future Is NOT a Phone
Computers are getting smaller and more powerful every year. Regardless of whether we call them PCs, laptops, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, slates, smart phone, game consoles, etc., they are all computers at the core. As our lifestyles continue to get attached to the computer, we take the computer out of the appliance category and make them as mobile as we are.
The mobile device that defines our generation is the mobile phone. We use it for communications, entertainment, gaming, research, studies and what have you. For many of us, the mobile phone can be the only thing we'll need to get through our day-to-day digital life.
However, the mobile device of the future is not a phone. Rather, it is a computer device shrunk to be as mobile as we want it to be. The mobile computer can be anything. Install games and it's a gaming device. Install a media player and it's an entertainment device. Install GPS and it's a GPS device. Install a camera and it's a camera. Install a phone and... well... it's a phone... among other things.
The mobile device of the future is essentially a modular computer to which we can install the applications, features and functionalities we need. In 2007, Nokia marketed their N series as mobile computers. It's a vision of a future that's not beyond us. Three years later to date, we have "super smart phones" brands like iPhones, Androids and Windows Phones. Although they are appearing in sizes and form factors that are still currently associated to phones, they are basically mobile computers.
There is no limit as to how we can define a mobile computer to be. We make the mobile computer what we want to use it for. The only thing that limits us is the capacity to make them smaller and more powerful as quickly as we can fold a bond paper into a small rectangular piece. Progress has to be incremental. After all, Moore's Law
is not a law for nothing.
The mobile device that defines our generation is the mobile phone. We use it for communications, entertainment, gaming, research, studies and what have you. For many of us, the mobile phone can be the only thing we'll need to get through our day-to-day digital life.
However, the mobile device of the future is not a phone. Rather, it is a computer device shrunk to be as mobile as we want it to be. The mobile computer can be anything. Install games and it's a gaming device. Install a media player and it's an entertainment device. Install GPS and it's a GPS device. Install a camera and it's a camera. Install a phone and... well... it's a phone... among other things.
The mobile device of the future is essentially a modular computer to which we can install the applications, features and functionalities we need. In 2007, Nokia marketed their N series as mobile computers. It's a vision of a future that's not beyond us. Three years later to date, we have "super smart phones" brands like iPhones, Androids and Windows Phones. Although they are appearing in sizes and form factors that are still currently associated to phones, they are basically mobile computers.
There is no limit as to how we can define a mobile computer to be. We make the mobile computer what we want to use it for. The only thing that limits us is the capacity to make them smaller and more powerful as quickly as we can fold a bond paper into a small rectangular piece. Progress has to be incremental. After all, Moore's Law
is not a law for nothing.
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