Predictions or Knowing the Trend
All Time 10s is a video shorts series that can be accessed through YouTube. One upload is entitled "10 Amazing Predictions That Actually Came True". The predictions revolve around electronic innovations. These predictions don't surprise me. Evidently, these men--Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Roger Ebert, John Watkins---were familiar with the existing precursors. It was a matter of understanding the sequence of events or natural course of action to which the general public isn't privy. In other words, it's a matter of insider privileges.
I find the introduction of "electronic innovations" appear to flow backwards into the consumer market. For example, if televisions and radio preceded computers, it would make more sense to have introduced arm-held devices with phone, video, and office applications, thereafter. Instead, to make more money, the big floor-model TV, was replaced with a miniature nightstand-size TV. Decades later, the widescreen TV is brought to the market. Similarly, the beeper is introduced after people had grown accustomed to telephones. The beeper is overtaken by the small cellphone, which was overtaken by the cellphone with web access, to be overtaken by tablets. I suggest the answer is sustaining the gravy train via Big-Box or e-commerce.
Why were tablets introduced in the late 90s, knowing people had been accustomed to large screens from viewing movies in theaters and from floor model televisions since the 20s? It's quite a cognitive jolt to go from widescreens to viewing 3-inch screens. Again, it's the gravy train.
Keeping the gravy train running is at the expense of people, though. The issue that slow adapters may have to innovation is that much innovation is physically uncomfortable. For example, a worker has a desktop at the job where she's used to a large screen and a reliable keyboard but her boss wants her to switch to a Blackberry, an iPhone or other handheld device so she's "mobily" accessible. Had the worker been given a tablet or Netbook device the transition would have been less jarring.
Labels: consumer behavior, electronics, hype, innovation, marketing, YouTube
Riding a Tablet for a Buck and a Half
Riding a Tablet for a Buck and a Half
By Akosua K. Albritton
Call me a techno fool but I got pulled into the commercials and magazine ads
when it came to the tablets. For years, I kept a tablet on my wish list
but never went into a big box like Best Buy to get the skinny on my options.
It seemed iPad Air (about $500) and iPad Mini (about $400) were pulling the
consumer strings but I wasn't forking over the "four or five bucks"
to own a piece of heaven. I guess the ostrich in me stuck her head and neck
deep deep into Terra Firma. To cement my misconceptions, my experience
with a Kindle had me wanting my tried and true desktop. Yeah, the big
screens on the desktop have me hooked. I don't want to squint and love
the dependability of the keyboard. The Kindle I handled gave me Internet
access but the screen narrowed my Facebook experience.
Then, I saw the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 priced at about $380; Microsoft
Surface Pro at $900; and the LG G Pad (talk about comeuppance with Apple) at
$320. Still the tablet stayed on the wish list because different tablets
had differing functions. I want one that let's me work on the fly but I
wasn't doing my old tech journalist research to uncover it.
Quite recently, I came upon a man named Jermaine Jones sitting at a corner
table of a large cafeteria. It looked like he was set up to watch DVDs
but once in front of his table, before me was an array of compact tech
gadgets. There was an ASUS 16G Tablet. He purchased it at a Walgreen's
for $150 (Hey, isn't Walgreens a pharmacy?). There was a cookie-shaped
CLEAR Voyager Mobile 4G Wi-Fi. Jermaine explained that since CLEAR had
been bought out, the device was no longer on the market and now, consumers had to
buy mobile Internet access by the gigabyte. I couldn't conceive of how the average web
surfer could estimate his Wi-Fi needs in lots of gigabytes. This cherished piece gave him
24-hour mobile access to the Internet using the monthly contract price
structure. He paid $50 for the cookie-shaped CLEAR Voyager Wi-Fi and $50
a month for the service. The third piece on his table was an It wireless
bluetooth portable speaker which can be used with cellphones, tablets, and MP3
players. He paid $30 for it. All items used an USB charger.
He had dozens of apps on the ASUS tablet that he downloaded from Google Play.
All apps were free. He had a GMail account which meant he had
access to Google's cloud apps such as Calendar, Wallet, Docs, and Translator.
This Walgreen buy had two-way camera shots.
His ease of explaining the gadgets and the apps had me ask Mr. Jones the type
of work he did. He said he was into security and open to other
suggestions. I asked him had he thought about working at an electronics
store. It was obvious that he liked technology and knew how to scour for
great and practical tech deals. No, Mr. Jones hadn't thought about it
before. Sometimes....we need a third party to point out a few of our
strengths.
Labels: affordable, ASUS, consumer electronics, economical, Google Nexus, Google Play, iPad, Microsoft Surface, mobile Internet, tablets, technology, USB
