Tablets and Smart Phones outsell PC’s for the first time.

Changing the workplace:

I mentioned Chromebooks in my last blog but really I see this as nothing but a transition device. People who leave the PC world won’t do so if the change is too radical. So Google provides a laptop with a keyword and Google DOCS that gets you off of the Microsoft Office bandwagon. Gmail and Google Calendar gives you a formidable alternative to Outlook. It’s still a stretch for a lot of people. The workplace is not the impetus of change. I think this has been Microsoft’s pitfall.

Why did tablets and Smart Phones outsell PC’s? I don’t think it was because people were looking for new work platforms. Tablets and smart phones serve two primary needs. Entertainment and communication. The face of communication has changed. You can still pick up your smart phone and dial a number but most people using smart phones now text and use social media more than they actually call. The communication standard has changed. Calling someone now happens more out of a sense of urgency than of “connecting”. For simply connecting we use texting, social media and still to some extent email.

Now onto entertainment, another thing is evolving and again we find Google smack in the middle of what’s going on. If you consider your cable as a conduit, it has two functions. One is to deliver content, the other is to deliver bandwidth. Time Warner has two distinct services. One is as a content provider, the other as a bandwidth provider. Google looms over the horizon as a bandwidth provider and compared to present standards, they plan to deliver 100X the bandwidth currently available by the average cable subscriber. 100X!

Want to see the future of Google? Follow the future of entertainment. Dump your content provider. (Keep your bandwidth). Who are the new content providers? You all know Netflix. And YouTube! And There’s also Hulu+. Then there’s the device that transfers this content to your screen. Like Roku. There’s 100’s of other channels on my Roku. But another device might even change all that, and yup – there’s Google again! I searched “Mini PC” on Amazon and came up with this Android on a stick. It plugs directly into an HDMI port on your TV and voila’, your TV is now smart – really smart! Via Google play I found a little program called Jetflix. Ha! Another content provider. I paid the annual $50 and now have access to what I had on TWC and then some for the price of one month on TWC. Goodbye TWC, hello Android!

What’s missing? Live content. I really have no desire to watch the sports events after the fact. The trends favor live sports over the internet as well. Those too will become accessible apps and today Android provides one of the most accessible conduits to that end. It’s not quite there, but it will be soon.

Entertainment will drive trends. The faster you have access to the thing you want, the more successful will be the medium that delivers it. But entertainment is just one of many needs. In the end, trends in this regard will be things that allow you access to anything you need faster and simpler than ever before. Starting to see the vision of Google? Google Glass? Android? Smart Phones? Smart TV’s. Social Media? Texting? It really is about simple access to what you want (or need).

Search will find you... don't worry about that. It's already there in your inbox and on your social media news feed. And when you need something now, it will be there too. Just ask Siri.