Mobile Internet & Me – Your Life in the Next Ten Years

Ever wonder what you’d be doing right now if the internet as we know it hadn’t been ‘stumbled upon’ back in 1990? Would we be interacting with technology the same way we do today?

It’s hard to believe anything can advance as much as technology has in the last 20 years. Heck, in the United States, 20 years doesn’t give you the right to drink. No celebration champagne for you, Mr. W.W. Web. You’ll have to wait another year.

One thing is for sure: the internet has grown up. And it’s becoming one thing we can’t live without.

I’d be willing to bet that at least a quarter of the audience intensely eyeballing this piece of work can reach into their pockets (or over to their desk) and access a piece of technology that goes with them everywhere. This hunk of junk went from being a “cellular phone” to a “cell phone” to a “smartphone” to a “superphone” (the last, of course, according to Google).

As technology advanced, the internet grew – in speed, accessibility, and content. Pretty soon, with Apple’s announcement of their ‘new device’, the mobile tablet industry will blast off, and yet another era of internet technology will be upon us (desktop, laptop, cell phone, and tablet).

With these super expectations ahead of us, and the undeniable truth that mobile internet isn’t just a trendy fad but an inevitable utility, I have five ways that your average life now may be obsolete in ten years time. Although consumers are currently limited by financial reasons, mobile internet will be integrated in technology that hasn’t been invented yet. With that said, let’s dive into the list:

1. Your vehicle will be like your home – or better

With the addition of WiFi-enabled internet access in the production of cars accompanied by the movement toward electric vehicles (although still very distant), your suede carpet and sheet-covered couches may be second to your leather seat and steering wheel. Ignoring the obvious safety issues here, cars will soon pack the same accessibility as your mobile-phone does now, but it ALSO keeps you warm! Fancy that?

2. Going to classes will still be a pain – but less of it

Remember those good old days when you had to buy textbooks to read, notebooks for vigilant note-taking, and lots of paper and ink for that self-proclaimed “green” college class? With the explosion of mobile technology and access to the internet, everything will soon be accessible via a simple internet connection – through a single device. And to think, with every year that passes, the new technology slowly trickles down to younger markets.

3. Personal entertainment

This is the hardest area to envision due to its unlimited and relatively untapped potential. With the emergence of 3D Television, how long will it be until we start seeing 3D content via the web? Also, with technology growing more pocket-sized, how will game developers adapt to higher resolutions and smaller screens? This, in my humble opinion, is the most fascinating and open-ended area of mobile internet explosion. Companies like Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are fully aware of the capabilities that come with their devices, but what will their strategy look like when it comes to integrating past entertainment experience with new means of interaction?

4. Social media will explode – yes, I mean more than it has

One of the greatest examples of a social media explosion is Facebook – and soon after its arrival in 2004, the online networking community began to diversify. What will the next social platform be, and why will we need it to exist? Do you remember life without Face book or Twitter? Could you go back to those days? Some view these things as “absolutely necessary.” Will the mobile internet change the perception of the world, or will the eruption of mobile internet unveil ends of the information world we’ve yet discovered?

5. There’s always the possibility of more than one ‘internet’

More than one internet? This can’t be! Well, it might not be soon, but the current foundation upon which we sit was not meant to last forever. In fact, the internet was never meant for any of this, merely conceived as an advanced computer network for the military way back in the 1960’s. The current Internet Protocol Suite is running out of IP addresses; some experts have predicted that we’ll run out as early as 2010! Don’t worry – I’m sure there’s no Mayan theory about what happens when IP addresses run out.

Where will you stand in ten years? Technology is evolving at an alarming pace, and there are certainly areas of improvement that have yet to be uncovered. I guess the important question is – what will you be doing when you’re moving?

With what we know, the data and experience with mobile internet growth, we can expect the next ten years of mobile internet technology to act like the last twenty years of the internet – grow up.

Be prepared to see the Mobile Internet integrated into everything you can imagine. Then sit back and watch it evolve before your eyes.