Honda's robot Asimo has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

After the virtual world has been shaped and we’ve left traditional media such as the television, radio and telephone behind us, after 1 virtual world to which we can gain access from hundreds of different kinds of interface has been created, after 2020, we’ll slowly start emphasizing the physical world again. Very slowly physical robots will begin entering our lives. First as a gadget, but more and more as physical aids. For example, around the house, or for the elderly to help them walk. Developments like this robot are ahead of this.

This German movie features mirrors in a German shop window that react to passers-by. A form of augmented reality.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The virtual world is increasingly becoming a shell over the physical world. Now our reflection is changing, but later we’ll be able to participate in a meeting wearing our pajamas because a shirt, tie and suit can be added without problems and invisibly. We’ll also be able to address customers like this. This is a step in that direction.

Theatre lovers can sign up for a virtual queue on the website of the Schouwburg Almere. They'll be given a text message when it's their turn. The text message is free and contains a log-in code for the website. This means that the consumer is no longer forced to stay behind their own computer, but can finish their order on any computer. People who aren't in the vicinity of a useable computer at the time they receive the text message can log in at a later date and won't lose their 'turn'. It is possible that the show of their choice is sold out by then, though.

The Schouwburg Almere has a reservation system with which the visitor can choose his or her own seats for a show. On the internet they can see which seats are still available on a seating plan. They can also reserve still-available seats.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Electronic media give the allocation of a limited supply a whole new dynamic. Right now visitors have to fill things in themselves, but later they’ll let coaching brands do the work for them. Then they’ll only say “I’d like to see that!” and everything will be taken care of. Maybe you’ll just enter the maximum price. In this network economy a theatre can get a demand for 2000 seats while only 500 are available though registration isn’t yet opened. The theatre can then raise the prices until there are only 500 bookings still open. That means that the people with the most money have the biggest chance. And the theatre could do different things about that, provided they know who’s booking. For example, the people who’ve made a donation might be given priority. There are hundreds of other examples. The times of the bill, the ticket and the waiting will be left behind in any case.

Related trends

• Coaching brands
• Network economy

Since recently you can make and sell your own games for the Nintendo Wii. Developers can use the WiiWare service to develop games for the Wii. Then the games can be sold and spread through the WiiShop Channel. This means developers no longer need huge budgets to bring their game to the consumer.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

With this development the consumer is given just as much power as the exclusive developers. Of course they don’t have the same capacities and budget, but they do have the opportunity to develop their own products. In future unhappy developers will develop their own games and offer them to the consumer, and that maybe for a tenth of the price we’re currently paying for computer games. For the consumer this means cheaper and somewhat less elaborate games; for the small developers it means profit; and for the bigger companies it means competition. Resulting, eventually, in cheaper games. This tendency is visible everywhere. Consumers are developing their own applications, share these with others and then ask money for them. Consumers are receiving, directly and indirectly, more and more power and companies that don’t follow will be left behind as a result. Brands such as Nintendo realize this and are making this kind of development possible already. In future brands will have to look even closer at the consumer and even ask what the consumer wants. The consumer will then decide the presentation, the hardware and the software which a given product needs to match.

At the end of February 2008 India had a good 250 million cell phone users. The US has a good 260 million users. India has a monthly average of 8.5 million new subscribers to cell phone plans. In the US the number rises with approx. 2 million people a month.

With CBSeyemobile.com from the American broadcasting company CBS users can upload their photos and videos directly from their mobile phone.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

News is mostly ‘people news’. Often it’s about politics (about people), scandals (about people) or about incidents on the street (again, involving people). We can communicate these events with each other perfectly through various kinds of media. The need for journalists arose from the limitations of the media: not everyone could share; not everyone could report news fast. This time is over. Brands are experiencing a ‘coming out’ and are transforming into a network in which the main office only facilitates. There are still quite a few steps to take, but this is a good step forward.

NOS (Dutch broadcasting company) has conducted an experiment in which the viewer was given the chance to direct the Amstel Gold Race. The viewer could choose between different cameras to follow the cycling race.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

People will first be given complete control. They’ll be able to choose and decide on their own. Then a new need for choices will arise. Maybe you’ll make a choice for a biased commentator/director team. Maybe you’ll pay for it. Maybe you’ll still play role. Anything is possible. But the preprogrammed model will disappear; that’s a certainty.

Dutch housing site Moviq lets you 'flirt' with your house. You can set your house to 'flirt' and people searching for a house can make an offer. You don't have to accept, just like you don't have to accept an offer in a real flirt.

From now on, movies in America can be bought both as a direct download and on DVD. To start with, all the movies of the bigger companies (20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures and the slightly smaller Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios) will be made available on iTunes.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The media-evolution in this development is that the physical carriers are slowly disappearing and all the content ever made anywhere in the world is made instantly available. The brand-evolution is that iTunes will develop itself further as a home entertainment coaching brand, a brand that has all the content available for us, but above all it recognizes us, remembers our preferences and always knows how to entertain us.

On Barbie.com young girls can get premium content and experiences if they get a paid account.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The experience economy has only just started. It won’t occur in the real world, but in the virtual world. This is an example that marks the beginning of this economy.

Related trends

• Experiences

Housing site Miljoenhuizen.nl (millionhouses) shows houses that have been for sale for a specific period. It has, for example, the ability to show only those houses that have been for sale for over half a year, or have been added just under a week ago. The archive offers all 750.000 houses (in the Netherlands) that have been for sale since May 2005. A so-called heat-map shows in one glance where the market is tense and where it's going downhill.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Home coaching brands reason from the consumer’s point of view. All the information that the consumer needs, even if that advice is ´just stay nicely where you are´, is given individually. The origin of this type of brand can be seen in developments like these.

Amazon.com has launched an MP3 widget, a small piece of software that people can place on their website, through which the people can promote music and on top of that, if a site-visitor decides to buy the song or album, they can make a little money. After placing the code, an image, for example the accompanying image here, will automatically appear on the site.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are understanding increasingly better how they can use their customers as salespoints. Eventually this will be the digital support for the most powerful kind of advertisement: mouth-to-mouth advertisement. It fits completely in the long term trend of learning how to apply tribal thinking.

Related trends

• Tribal

A team from the university of Pennsylvania has developed a robot that can reassemble itself when it's in pieces. The different parts search for one another, recognize one another and reassemble.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In future these clusters will be perfected and mass-produced. At first they’ll be made for industrial or military robots that rebuild themselves into different structures, but soon after they’ll be made into objects for consumers. Think of key rings that find their way back to the car, telephones that transform themselves into the battery charger or the first aibo that you have to take for a walk. It’s a small step, but the potential is clearly present.

Facebook-users will soon be able to use their profile data on other sites. With a click of the button users will be able to add their profile data to all the websites that participate in different projects of the two community sites.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

While we used to have a separate device for each part of our life, we find that today devices are becoming ‘Masters of all trades’. Think of the mobile phone that just about lacks the same function as a refrigerator, but can do pretty much everything else. Might be over the top, but it’s a trend that’s also developing in services. An all-in-one profile! It’s a concrete and big step towards the idea that, as a user, you only need one virtual identity. While we now have to register separately on different sites, environments and virtual worlds, in future we’ll only need one profile to cover the entire internet. You’ll register yourself for Hyves and, during your registration, you indicate that your profile can also be registered on Ebay. So one username with one password set up only once. Also think about ready-made computers from a computer store (like the German MediaMarkt). During your very first installation (of Windows) you’ll be asked whether your personal information may also be registered at sites of your choice. The consumer will need only one password. Just like there is only one you in the real world, there will be only one unique virtual you. The Everything-doer. 

With Messenger TV users of Live Messenger (former MSN Messenger) can now simultaneously chat, watch TV/videos and, above all, comment on episodes and programs together.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

A cosy night of watching TV will become virtual and borderless. An enjoyable evening is no longer bound to physical places and areas to meet your friends. From now on you can watch TV and comment on it together with your international friends like they’re sitting beside you. In future the social aspect will be further discussed and executed. Doing things together in an individual way will become more important and experiencing things together will become more intense.

Department store Hema has its own recognisable tune, its own recognisable sound. HEMA has now called people to recreate the tune on the site een nieuw geluid voor de Hema fluit (Dutch, 'A new sound for the HEMA-whistle'). The site itself contains hundreds of objects that all make a sound on a mouse-over. In the middle of the page is the contest in which HEMA fans battle for the favour of other fans. Here you'll find the most-viewed movies, the best movies up to now, etc.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how consumers show that they have a clear input in the identity of a brand. Whether it’s a visual logo, a sound logo or a recognisable jingle, if people have been able to contribute they’ll be more involved with the brand. Good publicity stunt, HEMA!

Related trends

• More involved