~ Smart devices & human behaviors ~

Has been a while since I blogged. No, I haven't taken digital detox. 

Even though the smart mobiles have been there since 1998, Symbian Era (1), smartphones became popular after Apple's debut of iPhone in 2007. The success of iPhone, is not because of the smartphone itself. AppStore is the reason behind success of iPhone - Ease of search and discovering apps, app installation & updates, in-app purchases, push notifications, managing devices became seamless and convenient. The rapid adoption and explosion of smart-devices, primarily smartphones, from 2013 till now can be attributed mainly due to drop in prices of smartphones especially in the Android space. iPhone in most parts of the world is still a premium device & while Android enjoys the 84.8% of market share according to IDC report (1). 

We now have more smartphones than the population on the planet - "With 7.7 billion subscribers by the end of 2017, 103.4% of the world population currently hold a subscription to mobile cellular telephony on average" (2)

The primary objective of the post was to write about how slowly and steadily the smart-devices are playing a major role in our daily lives with adopting more & more connected devices within our homes. 

Smartphones have made urban living easy and at the same time lazy. We have an application (app) for almost anything and getting things done without moving inch from the couch.

1. Shopping - medicines, clothing, books, toys
2. Streaming content - video, music, audiobooks
3. Navigating city traffic
4. Commuting - hailing a cab within Bangalore or in another city within India or outside
5. Booking - hotels, flights, buses, trains
6. Ordering food 
7. Reviews or local directory lookup
8. Buy / Sell - Used items
9. Financial - payments, MF investments, trading, retail banking
10. 24x7 - Delivery or pickup
11. SocialMedia or Networking
12. Messaging or Communication - Email, SMS, Video
13. Video and Photo 
14. Utilities - Speedtest, Scan, FileTransfer

Most people have a minimum of 1 app per category. In some categories, people install up-to 4/5 apps. With so many apps installed, people use most of these apps for transactional purposes. It's only the SocialMedia apps - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter - which are trigger apps used often and lose track of time. Below is an interesting data point on how 1/3rd of online population find it difficult to break the habit from technology.

Watch this video to find out how Apple & Google have introduced new features to manage screen time per app in their latest iteration of OS. 

Personally, I have disconnected from Facebook in July 2015 and never looked back. However, I do spend significant amount of time on Twitter reading / following various subjects of interests. That's something that I need to work upon myself in the coming months to decrease the screen time.

Below are some insights into human behaviors 

Gen Z: A Look Inside Its Mobile-First Mindset (4)

What online activities do Indians do on their smartphones at least weekly? (5)

The OTT experience: Understanding connected living room audiences 2018 (6)

• In fact, Americans collectively spend nearly 8 billion hours per month consuming content on connected TV devices—such as Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.
• Consumers 13 and older who watch content on connected devices spend an average of more than an hour daily, compared to 36 minutes on the computer and 24 minutes on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets 

Always Connected: How smartphones and social keeps us engaged (7)

• Half of total US population uses Smartphones i.e 155.1 Million people (2012)

• Primary usage: Text/Message, Talk, Message on FB. All of them are direct communication.

• Wake up call: Within the first 15 minutes of waking up, 4 out of 5 smartphone owners are checking their phones.

References:

1. Symbian OS 
2. Smartphone OS market-share 
3. Mobile market penetration
4. Gen Z: A Look Inside Its Mobile-First Mindset
5. Consumer Barometer India 
6. The OTT experience: Understanding connected living room audiences 
7. Always Connected 

~ Wearable technology ~

"To convince people that they have to wear something, it has to be incredible," Cook said. "If we asked a room of 20-year olds to stand up if they're wearing a watch, I don't think anyone would stand up." 

If The Verge is to be believed then that above observation from Tim Cook, makes him a realist. Many of us don't wear watch these days unless for fashion statement. I wear them occasionally. Not sure if  Cook made such a statement to stop the trail leading to Apple's next wearable tech gadget, which could very well be a smart-watch.

However, Tim Cook feels that the market for wearable computing is "interesting & profound" which is ripe for exploration by many companies. When asked about Google Glasses, here is what he had to say 

"It’s probably not likely to be a mass market item. It’s probably more likely to appeal to certain markets,” Cook said. I'm interested in a great product. I wear glasses because I have to. People generally want glasses to reflect their fashion, style, etc. So this is difficult from a mainstream point of view. I think the wrist is natural. I think there are other things in this space that could be interesting. Sensors are exploding. It will become clearer over time.

I feel that with ever expanding world of technology & manufacturing we are just churning out more smart devices for the same purpose - mobility & function. Lot of smart devices which are already in the market - Smartphone, Music Player, Tablet, Laptop - overlap the feature set over form factor. I have a music player, smartphone & macbook. The most I use during my day would be - Smartphone, Macbook, Musicplayer - in the order which is mentioned, when it comes to mobility. The pattern would resonate with most who own more than one mobile device. I feel people would prefer owing one unified device {carry/wear} over many devices for same feature set. 

There are already many next gen devices out there & also talking shoes, which is beginning to shape the ground for the next big thing - Bionic Technology - for the masses.

If you think Bionic technology is in nascent stage then you should watch this video to open your mind ;)

Additional Reading: Full transcript of the interview with Tim Cook at D11 | Tim Cook interview from AllThingsDigital | High resolution configurable bionic eye | Bionic eye gets better | Terminator Hands | 9 bits of scary Terminator tech that already exist

~ Knowledge never goes obsolete ~

In the era of Information Age where information is available at your finger tips. Adoption of mobile applications, by metropolitans, for carrying out daily chores has fueled the growth of Smartphones in the last 5 years. Many of us, at some point of time, cannot recall a person or place or information without reaching out to our smartphones. Feel that by constant leveraging of devices, we are getting dumb on some of the basic functions in offline world. Didn't know about Hippocampus region existed in our brains and was responsible for memory & spatial navigation.

Knowledge never goes obsolete. As we embrace new technologies for convenience, do  keep learning & don't outsource it to an app & become an handicap. An interesting talk by Ken Jennings: Watson, Jeopardy and me, the obsolete know-it-all 

~ Next Gen Devices ~

The future of technology is heading towards integrating computing with regular consumer oriented devices, to make the daily chores easy. 

We have been hearing a lot about Smarter Homes & Cities. Smarter Home, is more or a networked world of Refrigerator, Washing machine, Climate control, Lighting control, et al, being controlled the way one wants through a pre-configured settings or via a Smartphone application.

There are many companies who already offer these lifestyle solutions. However, these solutions are still not affordable for most of us. There are companies who are making affordable Next Generation products, some of them have been adopted many people. While some of the products, like Google Glass, is still trying to find the middle ground of how to remain unobtrusive.

Following are some of the products which are interesting, by their own. We could build interesting mashups via integration.

UP

 

MYO

LEAP

GLASS

NEST

Let me know if you are aware of other smart devices out there.

~ iWatch you ~

The rumor is that Apple is gonna bring another consumer product. This time around they have plans of making your watch smarter. Am sure you guessed it right with the name they have iWatch.

Am sure the device would be a reality very soon from the coverage it is getting from various media houses, NYT & WSJ being more prominent.

The idea of a smart watch would be a childhood dream come true for many. Personally, I think this device is an overkill in a market where we already have too many smart devices - Phones, Music Players, TVs, Tablets, Notebooks, etc. I wouldn't have the need to buy it as I already have a Smartphone. 

What do you think about the following 

1. Aren't there too many smart devices already out there
2. Would you buy one
3. Is there a need for one

Here is the coverage on the device - GigaOM | NYT | WSJ | DataMotion | Mike Elgan has covered much more here

Concept illustration courtesy of ADR Studio