The Dutch Nationale apotheek (National apothecary) sends products of repeating prescriptions with the mail. This saves the consumer time and health insurance companies money. Since its founding last year 50,000 customers are using the apothecary's services.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

It may seem a little far-fetched, but in fact we’re just dealing with another form of homeshopping. We let more and more products be delivered at home so that we can spend the saved time on more enjoyable things. The Nationale apotheek sends repeating prescriptions in the post. This saves the consumer time and health insurance companies money. This trend will continue merrily in the coming decennia. We leave more and more repeating jobs to others. Whether it’s administration, looking up things, ironing or refilling one’s supply (of medicine): we let it all be done for us.

Dutch price comparison site Beslist.nl launches a selection wizard that allows people to make a preselection out of the overwhelming offers of today. Especially for comparing household goods, computers and electronic devices this function is extremely useful.

Take for instance the digital camera. There are at least 2,500 digital cameras on Beslist.nl. Through the product selection wizard, the consumer enters their demands step by step. Some of the choices that can be set are brand, cameratype and the effective resolution. With a filter set for, for example, 10 million pixels, mirror reflex camera and an image stabilizer only thirteen models are left. That's doable. Then the consumer can make a definitive choice based on price, product reviews by experts and consumers and such store specifications as availability, payment options and certifications.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Coaching brands help you to make a choice between all products, services and experiences. It starts with a complete overview (show me everything that’s available) and in a next step: help me make a choice. Afterwards our personal experiences and those of our friends will be taken into account. Then it’ll get truly good. This is a nice step.

Related trends

• Experiences
• Coaching brands

Through the Dutch site Startpagina Verkeer (Startpage Traffic) it's now also possible to obtain real time detailed information regarding traffic jams. The information originates from the TomTom.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how real time information is unlocked on all possible screens. In this case not only through navigational systems, but also on all other screens, like the computer screen. A new type of brand can be created that will guide us through the world based on our preferences, availability and our budget.

A Kenyan boy has developed a system with which he can prevent car theft. As soon as the car leaves unexpectedly a text message is sent. Then the owner can react and stop the car remotely.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This fits neatly in the trend of product activation: this connects products, through the virtual world, with the producers and the owners. This makes the product a subject of the discussion in the dialogue. The product loses the anonymity that it’s received since the industrialization.

Related trends

• Product activation

Wherigo is Groundspeak's newest on GPS-based activity. Groundspeak has made geocoaching into a worldwide phenomena. With Wherigo (pronounced "Where I Go") people can make and play adventure games, historical trips or other innovative games set in the real world. On connected GPS devices people can look at location, terrain, difficulty, hints and descriptions. One example is the Penguin game which starts in the Woodland Park Zoo, Washington DC, US and lasts two hours.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The experience economy takes places largely in the virtual world. Largely, because a part also takes place in the physical world. This is a nice example of this. Soon we’ll be able to practice at home in a virtual environment and make mistakes, as preparation for the real experience. WhereIGo is taking a nice step in this direction.

Related trends

• Experiences

The Technical University Eindhoven is working on a device that can trace protein in blood extremely fast and then determines a person's illness. After taking some blood a diagnosis can be made within ten minutes.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We’re making more and more technology to monitor people. At first we focused on what people point at (the mouse) or type. Now we can detect their fingers (touch screens), follow their movements (gesture screens) or analyze their voices. Soon (on a large scale) analysis will be added: then we can analyze our face too. But it won’t stay like that: we’ll start to measure the scents we give off and then we’ll start to looking inside the human body. Currently with a device, but soon with sensors in your body which measure emotions, tensions or proteins and furthermore pass this information on to the outside world.

With this companies, brands, can start new services that help us make the most of our lives. It’s a long term development; it’s the step after the dialogue.

At Capricorn Computerservices in Den Hoorn (South-Holland) customers can order antivirus-software through an interactive shopping window. The screen is projected onto the window and fingers are detected with special foil. With the created interactivity interested parties can also order software outside of opening hours. The software will then be delivered through email.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands will react to consumers, enter the dialogue, through all possible screens. Not just through an iPhone, an abri or a navigational system, but (especially) also through one’s own physical media. This is a nice example.

After investing in infrastructure and oil, China is now investing money in the African agricultural sector. Agriculture is one of Africa's main sources of revenue, but it's also one of the most plagued sectors. It's plagued by, amongst others, climate change and a lack of means. Last week the Chinese governor Chen Yuan spoke with African ministers of finance and banks and told them that the China Development Bank has planned investments in African agriculture. These investments are aimed at decreasing the food shortage.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Nearly invisibly and very slowly China and India are gaining the status of a developed country, something that’ll take decennia yet. In a parallel process Africa develops itself as a low-wages country to ultimately become at least just as prosperous as the rest of the world. We’ll be past 2050 then, though.

Hotel booking site Hotels.com has launched an application for the iPhone that allows users to search for hotels in their area (which uses the built in GPS module), sort them (on price, rating, amount of stars, names or hotel.com picks) and book a room.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Coaching brands personalize their enormous knowledge in a specific area and then use it within the context of the individual. Whether it’s about hotels, stores, ice cream cones, a bicycle repair man or a doctor, your coaching brands always have a solution. Hotel.com is taking nice steps in that direction.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

On devices that are equipped with Android, Google's operating system for cell phones, it's now possible to recognize someone by their iris. Developers have shown this.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are given more and more tools to recognize the consumer. Their voice, their walk, their vocabulary, their fingerprint or their iris. In the long run brands will be able to recognize their customers better than humans. And they’ll be able to continue the dialogue where it was left off previously. This technical development certainly adds to that.

Through Checkout, an application for the Apple iPhone, people can check prices immediately (online or in the neighborhood), read reviews or visit an online store to order there. This is done by entering a product's barcode.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This will change shopping behavior quite noticeably. If you know what you want, you just want the cheapest price. If you don’t know what you want, then maybe you want advice on or offline. You’ll pay for that. And maybe you’d like to try the product first, or hold it (like in a physical store); you’ll pay for that too. I’m talking about a shopping mall with a huge assortment that stocks in any case the products you’re considering buying, maybe brought forward especially for you. That’s a totally different concept of ‘stores’ where the retailer determines what’s on offer like we have currently.

The International Olympic Comitee, the IOC, will broadcast its own images of the Olympics in Beijing via YouTube. In countries where the television rights haven't been sold and in countries where those rights haven't been sold exclusively, the IOC will takeover the role of broadcaster. The games' organization won't have to make deals with television broadcasting companies because it'll place the images directly on the internet. No full sports competitions will be offered, but solely summaries and highlights. Inhabitants of 77 countries (such as Afghanistan and Ethiopia, but also Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand) will profit from this move.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

And so the media landscape is slowly taking shape. All brands are building brand worlds where they have high quality interaction, dialogue, with the consumer. The time of programming the consumer’s television-evening is slowly ending. Currently for 77 countries only, but soon for all of them. We’ll start paying the IOC for its content—that’s also part of the development—but will be given an experience we’ll never forget in return, it’ll put every previous television broadcast to shame. It’ll become the trick to select the right experiences and for that home entertainment coaching brands will be at our side. This is how everything correlates with one another, this is how a wholly different world is created, one in which the consumer is central.

Related trends

• Brand worlds

The Financial Times has 450.000 subscriptions for its paper edition and its website has 500.000 registered visitors of which 100.000 have a paid subscription.

The Dutch recruitment agency Netwerven puts the GPS-location of recruiters on Google Maps. With this candidates can address the recruiter directly if they happen to be in the neighborhood. It's also possible for the candidate to make his or her position known to the recruiter.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

All information, even real-time information, is being unlocked and used by brands where it’s useful to do so. In this case it could significantly reduce traveling time, so this works efficiently and furthermore it can increase effectiveness by ensuring that it’s relatively easy to have ad hoc and short personal contact. Currently this is true for recruiters, but soon it’ll go for all people who work or consume. It shows how the network economy is establishing itself and how brands use it.

Related trends

• Network economy

The Dutch internet provider KPN has started a webcareteam: a specialist group of people who watch forums and blogs and reacts where needed. This is intended to keep information accurate.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are experiencing a brand coming out where they integrate fully with society; they become a natural part of it. This is an example.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

And 80% has broadband. The number of .cn domain names is by now surpassing the number of .de domain names.