Symbian is an operating system for cell phones like Microsoft Windows is for computers. Symbian doesn't work on all cell phones, but it does work on, for example, the ones manufactured by Nokia. Some of the big cell phone manufacturers, amongst which Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, have announced that they will start a Symbian Foundation. Its most important goal will be turning the Symbian OS into open source, which means that the source code, the big secret of Symbian if you will, becomes accessible to everyone.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The great thing about this development is that soon not only a few thousand people on the Symbian head office will be working on new versions of the system, but millions of programmers across the globe. This ultimate form of co-creation means that you can involve millions of people with their brand, you can create fans that infect their neighborhood in turn.

For now this works for software developments, but in time it’ll also go for electronics, furniture, clothing, food, even bank products. The big trend is called brand coming out.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

American passengers who travel with Delta Air Lines from La Guardia Airport in New York can now download their boarding pass onto their cell phone prior to their flight. That way these passengers will no longer have to wait in line at the Check In desk when they arrive at the airport and instead walk straight towards the Gate. There the mobile boarding pass and the passenger's identity will be checked.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This shows how ‘recognition’ by brands becomes extremely relevant to the consumer: it means comfort. Each time consumers let go of some part of their identity, each time brands learn something more about them, consumers will be helped better, faster or more completely. This is how the dialogue has value for both parties.

Psychologist Savid Moxon has researched the effect that so-called 'Sound Snacks' have on the physical and mental wellness of men and women. 'Sound Snacking' is the listening to short pieces of music and/or parts of records, something that a grand total of 93% of the young (Dutch) music fans (18-24 years old) do regularly. The research, in which a good 200 adolescents participated, shows that men are far more able to judge which musical genres influence them and how different sounds will make them feel than women.

Chinese CKing is the first in the world to create a cell phone, the CKing E1000, with a built-in projector. With it users can easily share movies with others through using a wall in the vicinity.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We can project everything life-sized around us. Soon we’ll be able to point out things in these images and our cell phone will respond to them. Or control them with our voice or even our posture. It’s getting ever easier to picture something of that world. A world wherein brands fill in the dialogue in a completely different way from what we think of now.

This robot of the MIT balances on two wheels while he gracefully throws a ball.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We’re getting the subtleties of natural movements more and more under control. Soon we’ll combine all the new insights and create robots of which we can’t see the difference at first glance. Only when we start talking to them we’ll be given our first clue. But as the decennia pass those doubts will disappear and robots can grow to be your best friends.