MOBILE MANIA
When computers were first invented, they were the size of a room.
By 1970, they had shrunk to the size of a car.
By 1982, they would sit on a desk.
By 1995, they were portable.
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Always on. Always with you. Always connected. The world is changing as the cellphone becomes the computer. |
Today we have reached the age where a big, powerful computer fits neatly inside a cellphone.
Small enough
This latest stage is the most important.
For the past fifty years, using a computer has always meant sitting down in front of that computer.
Followed by a start up process.
And then launching applications.
This desk-centric process has been so fundamental to computing, it has defined the way people think of them.
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65 million mainly desk-bound information workers use Google every day 6 billion other people don’t. |
The first menu command in 80% of computer software today is still the desky word ‘File’.
And when you delete a file, you move it from a ‘desktop’ to a ‘trashcan’.
This is a problem
The deskiness of computers has stopped them getting into every corner of our lives.
They aren’t there when we socialize.
They aren’t there when we shop.
Or travel.
Or go to bed.
And they are just not designed for the 80% of humans who don’t sit at a desk all day.
Not so with the phone
A cellphone is a very different device.
It’s always on.
