Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
Well smartphones, you had a nice run. But, it looks like your days are numbered. Oh, sure, people are still buying you by the bushel-load, and device makers can’t stop turning out new versions of you on a daily basis, but I think we all know in the back of our minds that you are about 14 minute into your 15 minutes of fame.
I am not saying that tomorrow, or maybe the day after all smartphones will cease to exist, but soon, very soon, today’s smartphones will become yesterday’s news.
And just where am I getting this crazy notion from? Well, several sources, all of which are iron-clad and infallible.
First, consumers are tiring of the onslaught of 3.5-inch to 4.5-inch screened, slabs of plastic/aluminum/glass/carbonite that are being pushed to the market at a rate that makes any purchase of such an item pointless due to the fact that as soon as the plastic screen protector is removed, that device is yesterday’s news. Consumers have had enough of this game and are looking for something new.
Also, the cache of smartphones has evaporated as just about every operator, regardless of its prepaid or postpaid notion now offers just about every smartphone. You can no longer impress your friends by whipping out the latest Galaxy SXXVVII or Apple iPhone 214S as each of those devices is available from a vending machine outside the nearest check cashing establishment. And what’s the point of buying anything unless you can impress your friends?
Need more proof that smartphones are set to go the way of the DVD? BlackBerry and Nokia are aggressively trying to push their latest smartphone devices. BlackBerry and Nokia?!? They are still around? Any market segment those two are trying to gain market share in has to be in trouble.
Now, some might say that Samsung, the king of all consumer electronics, just recently unveiled its latest Galaxy S4 device, and that if Samsung is playing in a space, it must still be relevant. Puh-lease! The Galaxy S4 is more tablet than smartphone in its size and as has been previously proven Samsung’s current mental state cannot be trusted.
And, Apple has for years been just paying lip service to the smartphone space. How else can you explain the lack of innovation in the iPhone 4S and the “mail-it-in” job that is the iPhone 5? Apple’s lassie-faire attitude towards the smartphone space will be further highlighted when it unveils the next iPhone 5S with such “improvements” as a faster processor (yawn), improved Siri (snore) and more mega-pixels in its cameras (I’m flat-lining here!).
So, with my outrageous claim that smartphones are indeed yesterday’s news, what do I now proclaim will become the new electronic communication device of choice? The smart-watch of course.
This is not much of a stretch really, as these new wonder-devices are already beginning to gain traction, with the likes of Samsung, Apple and others claiming progress in the space.
Plus, every tech-geek through the history of techy-ness has had a soft spot in their heart for wrist-based communications.
You just wait. A year from now all the kids will be clamoring for the latest in wrist fashion, while today’s smartphones pile up at the bottom of landfills.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Yet another reason that smartphones are on the way out: A report from Actix found that smartphones are initiating up to 70% of data sessions without their owners knowledge, pinging wireless networks up to 10 times per hour.
I don’t know about you, but the thought that the smartphone resting comfortably in my pocket is having private conversations with who-knows-who is a bit disconcerting. We all know what happens when computers begin talking to each other behind our backs: Skynet!
We have been warned.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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