Europe's online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in packaged media and new delivery technologies
Google Glass - how to become too connected
Does the arrival of Google Glass epitomise the sacrifice of privacy in the digital age? Are we getting too connected?, asks ANTONIOS MAROULIS, Research Analyst with Screen Digest IHS.
The introduction of smartphones brought a portal to consumers allowing them an 'always-on' presence on the internet. Each consumer was able to instantly connect with other users through all types of social networks and messaging clients, asking for directions is becoming a thing of the past; all smartphone users now have access to free global maps and navigation a few taps and clicks away in their pockets.
Currently, people mainly interact with their smartphones through notifications, whether they are phone calls, emails, text messages, or other notifications from third-party apps. The next focus of tech companies will be delivering notifications to consumers in less time. This means eliminating obstacles such as picking up their smartphone and opening the lock screen. Rumours have been circulating about Samsung and Apple building smartwatches; Facebook has launched its new Android home screen; Google has demonstrated its Google Glass wearable headset display in 2012, and recently has started delivering early-adopter versions to selected individuals for $1500.
Start-ups have also seen this opportunity, with Pebble launching its Android- and iPhone-compatible e-ink smartwatch after a successful Kickstarter campaign, delivering notifications and haptic feedback via Bluetooth.
Through Glass, Google is continuing its mission to deliver information to the consumer before the consumer asks for it. With the launch of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google introduced Google Now, its pre-search mechanism which does precisely that. In its first year, Google Now has expanded its arsenal of cards building out from the basic weather forecast, navigation and calendar appointment cards.
The early development of Google Now is crucial to the implementation of Google Glass, as a considerable amount of data has already been gathered on people using Google Now, alongside the extensive data Google has from users' search histories, teaching Google what people are interested in finding out on the move.
The sacrifice of privacy in the digital age is often overshadowed by the convenience offered by intelligent personalised services. Consumers are generally compliant to advertisements on a fraction of their screen, sometimes even a full-screen pop-up ad, which is where companies like Google make their returns. However, if Google, with constant access to the user's eyesight, launched ads or recommendations through Glass, consumers could opt for a "leave me alone I know what I'm doing" attitude, and opt for a less intrusive source of information.
This brings us to the big question; are we becoming too connected? With a seemingly infinite virtual space for advertisements, and people spending more time on mobile devices over other devices, it is inevitable that advertising will follow people's attention. As long as people demand real-time social and news updates, companies will find ways of catering to those needs.
A mobile device is a personal device, and ultimately each consumer will decide how connected they choose to be. But when someone gets regularly notified about what someone else had for dinner before they've finished eating it some consumers will decide this has gone too far.
Contact: www.screendigest.com...
On predicting the future
Predicting the future, let alone the future of packaged media, is a perilous exercise, and possibly counter-productive, as the exercise closes doors rather than keep them open, argues JEAN-LUC RENAUD, DVD Intelligence publisher. Consider that: Apple was left nearly for dead 15 years ago. Today, it became the world's most valuable technology company, topping Microsoft.
Le cinéma est une invention sans avenir (the cinema is an invention without any future) famously claimed the Lumière Brothers some 120 years ago. Well. The cinématographe grew into a big business, even bigger in times of economic crisis when people have little money to spend on any other business.
The advent of radio, then television, was to kill the cinema. With a plethora of digital TV channels, a huge DVD market, a wealth of online delivery options, a massive counterfeit underworld and illegal downloading on a large scale, cinema box office last year broke records!
The telephone was said to have no future when it came about. Today, 5 billion handsets are in use worldwide. People prioritize mobile phones over drinking water in many Third World countries.
No-one predicted the arrival of the iPod only one year before it broke loose in an unsuspecting market. Even fewer predicted it was going to revolutionise the economics of music distribution. Likewise, no-one saw the iPhone coming and even fewer forecast the birth of the developers' industry it ignited. And it changed the concept of mobile phone.
Make no mistake, the iPad will have a profound impact on the publishing world. It will bring new players, and smaller, perhaps more creative content creators.
And who predicted the revival of vinyl?
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