Monday, August 25, 2014

Consider the Mark Missed

Expectations from about 1960 – 2005 or so (actually you can probably date it to exactly June 1, 2007 at the introduction of the iPhone) was the continued growth in immersive, big entertainment.  TV screens got bigger and bigger. Beta turned into VHS into DVD and home entertainment.  The expectation, Star Trek Style, was a holographic fully immersive environment and movies like The 13th Floor and Surrogates flirted with this fully immersive environment.
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But somewhere along the line, the iPhone, iPad and other devices changed the expectations of the future.  Now the small screens pull people into their environment.  Rather than large and immersive, it is personal, tiny but involving.  Watching people start at their phones or iPads, transfixed by something only they see is a little freaky.
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But we don’t get to plan the future.  We only get to react and watch.  Had it not been Apple,  it would be someone else.
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