MOCOM 2020 Hindsight

Yup, this is about right. MOCOM 2020 is a very realistic projection for what our mobile media world may look like not even a decade from now. Of course, unlike the subject of my previous post, which I have the ability to check against actual events in the timeline, the year 2020 is far enough away to be completely clueless as to its characteristics in the mobile realm. But each of the steps in this prediction seems perfectly logical and possible. The accessibility and decreasing cost of mobile devices has already allowed for many unexpected users of the technology owners of the technology. I'm one of them after buying my first smart phone earlier this evening. I am one who has been perfectly happy with doing my surfing and socializing on my keyboard rather than my cell phone, which I have used for calls and texts for years without complaints. It wasn't until very recently that I have found any reason to own a more mobile web device than my laptop. These sudden capabilities come at a time when the technology has fallen nicely into my feasible price range. I recognize that I am one of the lucky upper echelon members of the globe, probably top 1%, but I can see this technology becoming increasingly accessible to more and more of the world at a rapid rate. This will certainly occur at the same time the technology is evolving and hopefully becoming utilized for its positive and productive value as opposed to its time wasting capabilities. Hopefully, we won’t be looking back at mobile device development in 2020 and saying, “Well, in hindsight maybe we should’ve invested more effort in helping society instead of giving everyone a handheld Facebook updater.” The power of the mobile Internet is immense and will need to be guided carefully by its innovators so that it is used for facilitating more valuable information rather than encouraging trivial time wasting.