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.
Trend observations, analysis and future predictions since 2005
CBS and civilian journalism
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 puts directing in the hands of the viewer
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.
Moviq lets you flirt with your house
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.
Movies from now on available on iTunes and DVD
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.
Barbie.com gets paid content
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
Miljoenhuizen (Millionhouses)
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 launches MP3 widget
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
Self-assembling robot
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.
Transferable profiles on Facebook
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.
Watching videos together with messenger
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.
HEMA lets you play their tune
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
Gloveinput for shooting soldier
Rallypoint has designed a glove for soldiers that enables them to use firearms and a computer simultaneously. It's supposed to ensure that computer usage won't be restricted to safe situations.
Future vision by Erwin van Lun
Soldiers are equipped with less weight and more and more technology. In principle the possibilities become endless. Think of commands that can be sent to fighting robots, asking for air-support during a fire fight or live satellite-images of the surrounding area. In future these technologies will be refined. As soon as these become cheaper they’ll be made available to the consumer.
Google calculates chances of illness based on your DNA
Google has invested in several DNA-research centres. These centres offer paid services in which they analyse your DNA and present it to you in online reports. The test results of your show if you have a genetic chance of medical conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer or rheumatoid arthritis.
Future vision by Erwin van Lun
Such a service is useful to us worried consumers. It also fits in the tendency that we as consumers take matters in our own hands more. In the future we’ll be our own specialists and we’ll be able to make our own diagnoses. In combination with the indexation by Google we’ll have no more secrets. Getting turned down on your first job interview, based on your DNA, supermarkets with specific departments for Altzheimer’s patients or insurance companies that decide if you get a policy based on a simple Google search. It seems far away, but with this the first steps have been taken.
Related trends
Number of chatbots in the Netherlands explodes
This year in the Netherlands the growth in the number of chatbots, automated chat friends on websites or in Live Messenger, has tripled. Chatbots.org, an ErwinVanLun.com and Mensmerk.nl initiative, has announced this morning via a press release. These statistics have been gathered by analysis and questioning of all Dutch chatbot suppliers. In the future we will more often have contact with, for example, companies, via chatbots. Here follows the full press release.
Related trends
Kieskeurig.nl now also on your cell phone
Consumer's site Kieskeurig.nl has expanded its services with a mobile version. This allows consumers to compare products and prices while they're shopping. Consumers will be able to check whether they're really shopping in the most economical fashion whilst they're standing in the store.
Future vision by Erwin van Lun
Whether you’re comparing apples to pears doesn’t matter anymore. And shop owners will have to be careful with phrases like ‘always cheaper’ or ‘low price guarantee’. In future we’ll receive information on whether a product is cheaper elsewhere directly on our mobile. We’ll also know whether it’s in stock or nearby. All we need to do is point our cell phones at a product and the information will pour in. For physical shop owners, it’ll become harder and harder to compete with smaller and cheaper online stores. In the market of the future small physical show owners will cease to exist and big chains will be almost as cheap as online stores. Huzzah for the consumer.