CTIA 2014: Let’s Talk Mobile Trends
With CTIA’s “Super Mobility Week” in Las Vegas complete, the latest and greatest in mobile technologies, software, accessories, hardware, development and much more were showcased to the public and the industry in a big way. Events like this always come with a wave of trends and push the boundaries of what the consumer wants and/or needs.
Connected Car/Home
We are coming into an era where using our smartphone and tablets are an everyday experience. These everyday experiences are translating into what we as individuals interact with on a regular basis. As we drive our vehicles or interact with elements of our household, we are in a constant need to speed things up and have the power to control everything.
In a vehicle we are learning that controlling our dashboard elements manually can be a distraction from the main task of driving safely. Smartphones and tablets are syncing to parts of the vehicle that we as drivers and passengers do not need to worry about in terms of deterring our attention. Voice commands can control locks, temperature, audio, video, messaging and even phone calls. We are looking at a safer world when it comes to the control we can have over our vehicles.
Setting up the home as a network that is connected to a single or a couple devices such as smartphones and tablets to control when and how things work is going to be a tremendous advantage to the individual. The infrastructure of the home is being rewired to link through automatic processes rather than through manual means. Lights, doors, appliances,thermostats and alarm systems can be manipulated through a single device and tethered together to make processes simple and easy.
IoT
According to Gartner, there will be over 26 billion devices connected to the Internet of Things by 2020. More than 30 billion devices will be connected wirelessly to the Internet of Things by that same year.
When talking about a “thing” when talking about the Internet of Things, we must realize that we are talking about devices like heart monitors, car sensors, or any other man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and can provide the sending and receiving of data over a network. The switch from proprietary protocols to IP-based protocols will change how technology communicates. IPv6’s ability to hold more address space means that we can assign an IP address to every “thing” in the world.
The idea is to be able to control anything from anywhere over a network.
Payments
Near-Field Communication (NFC) in the mobile market is tremendously advantageous when it comes to retail and consumers. Smart devices use this technology to communicate with other devices seamlessly.
Tim Hortons’ TimmyMe application takes advantage of NFC and Host Card Emulation (HCE) implementation by allowing the customer to tap-and-pay using their smartphones instead of using a physical card. Information about the card is stored securely and the convenience is purely beneficial.
Apple has just announced their Apple Pay mobile payment service that uses Secure Element to safely secure personal data on the hardware with only the chip manufacturer having the ability to gather this information through NDA means.
Payment through smart devices including smartphones, tablets and watches are going to see the spotlight in the near future as the mainstream way of payment options. The high security and lack of personal information released is a big advantage to consumers who do not want to fumble around with cards any longer and can use their smart device to do everything.
Wearables
Wearable technology has been a hot topic for quite some time now. With a plethora of devices already on the market, nothing has seemed to pick up steam yet. The big question on everyone’s mind is how the Apple Watch will affect this market.
Samsung, LG and Pebble are a couple of companies that have released watches for developers to play with. None of them have truly pushed the boundaries of what is possible with these devices and there seems to be a hesitance when it comes to a truly successful approach.
Pebble Evangelist Myriam Joire spoke about how wearable technology is on the uprise and how individuals will one day find that having a device that tethers to your smartphone will change how we interact with everyday events. The infrastructure of wearable technology looks to do all of its ‘work’ through the smartphone/tablet and not put too much stress on the device itself using BLE and/or WiFi.
The Apple Watch hopes to modernize the thought process of why people should buy this type of technology. The consumer wants to look good while they are dealing with everyday events. Functionality and fashion need to go hand in hand. The look and feel of a real watch needs to serve the purpose of feeling like it has a use in every situation and watch devices have yet to hit that mark.
With Apple’s big announcements in the midst of things regarding their iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Watch and Apple Pay, Super Mobility Week will look a lot different come 2015. What will be the next big thing to showcase? With the way things have been going, we are in for another exciting ride.
