Communications and usefulness large (Nasdaq: RIMM) RIM, the maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry, sees a variety of defining tendencies forward. These reflect the themes of my very own research and are cornerstones of the MIT AgeLab
Motley Fool’s Dan Dzombak January 26 write-up, “4 Vital Tendencies RIM’s Futurist Foresees,” reviews on a converse given by RIM’s Manager of Innovation & Technology Futurist, Joseph Dvorak, PhD. Dr Dvorak identifies 4 developments affecting the long run of the smart cellular phone:
(1) Growing older earth: the median age on the world in 2000 was 26, by mid-century it will be 36 and the number of folks about 60 will triple — to almost two billion people today
(2) Connectivity: clever phones, other products and wireless vendors will blur exercise, place, and drive developments we by now see in social media and conversation
(3) Empowered customers: Consumers will continue on to undertake applications that support them keep an eye on and take care of their relationship with businesses, e.g., social media that advises on all the things from cafe options, to economic products and services, to ‘hey, where’s my package?’
(4)’Values’ acquiring (e.g., eco-friendly buyers). Values paying for is not just for kids. Where there is a rise in ‘color causes’ (my phrase) — getting green, supporting pink, and aiding purple — growing old toddler boomers are ever more intrigued in their social impact and legacy. That is, ‘what am I contributing and what will I go away driving?’
Perception & Innovations
By yourself these developments are fascinating and small business as effectively as government should be mindful of their doable effect on the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the future of aging and innovation is a blending of these tendencies – not the extension of any 1.
What comes about when more mature consumers are ubiquitously related, empowered and make invest in choices on values over and above cost and good quality? For illustration, what may possibly wireless-enabled health or caregiving expert services in the pocket of an ageing boomer glance like? Will ubiquitous computing ability, social media, and value acquiring produce virtual collaborative networks of support vendors for sandwiched boomers today and frail boomers tomorrow? Can you consider the emergence of a 24/7 on-desire, usually ‘visible’ on your good cellphone, green, transportation provider for a social network of ‘friends?’
The company option is not to be basically conscious of these developments, but to blend them, visualize competing realities and to see these alternative futures as motorists of solution and support innovation.