The hype has been on for years and although the frustrations of continued dropped cell calls haunts us all, the future has arrived in full swing….pardon the pun!!! I thought this article between “Mad Money Cramer” and MLB is a fantastic illustration of a dream unfolding before everyone’s eyes.
This month has been a time to reflect upon the historic moment 40 years ago of man’s first walk on the moon. I am sure just about everyone can remember where they were when the first televised pictures captivated the world. For the legions of people that made that historic event a reality, they undoubtedly felt they were living on the bleeding edge of technology with as many known’s as unknowns. But for the rest of us, it was a completely controlled event. One we marveled at but did not participate in. One we were all touched by, but could not touch.
Contrast that event to what is transpiring today. We are in the midst of an “explosion of the mobile Internet”, but it hasn’t arrive with a single defining moment. It has crept up on us virally, gradually becoming more pervasive and entrenching itself in our daily lives. Even trying to quantify the market potential is difficult to predict, as Cramer exemplifies - “Until you see these applications, you don’t understand how this thing is going to take over the world. It’s the definition of why I value the Mobile Internet as the biggest investable trend I’ve ever seen.”
There was a time when many of us tech-maniacs would hear from our significant other “are you ever going to put that damn thing down” referring to our iPhone or Blackberry. Now I for one watch in stunned silence as my kids and significant other are constantly glued to either their iPhone or Blackberry. What was once the exclusive domain of the workaholic, semi-obsessed information junkie, has become the “always connected” device of…well everyone I know. It is no longer a “work device” it is “my device.”
The transformation was fairly seamless and uneventful except for one subtle difference….one by one we are all participating in this event…not just witnessing it. Experts in the varied fields of human behavior must be licking their chops as this new era spreads across humanity like the rising sun across the horizon.
The world has changed and I sometimes wonder if we now have “a new world disorder.” A world where snippets of information are all anyone has time or interest in, a world where one on one communication is not the norm, a world where if we are not connected we are not comfortable.
Somehow it all seemed more managed when it was a “work device” as opposed to “my device.” Time will tell how far out in front the “explosive mobile internet” progress is over the process necessary to support it.
