Reuters Industry experts believe innovation in
Post# of 96879
Posted On: 03/24/2016 10:27:10 AM
Reuters
Industry experts believe innovation in smartphones is giving way to phone functions popping up as software or services in all manner of new devices from cars to fridges to watches and jewellery rather than remaining with handheld devices.
And analysts and product designers said fresh breakthroughs are running up against the practical limits of what's possible in current smartphone hardware in terms of screen size, battery life and network capacity.
"Everything in the phone industry now is incremental: slightly faster, slightly bigger, slightly more storage or better resolution," said Christian Lindholm, inventor of the easy text-messaging keyboards in old Nokia phones that made them the best-selling mobile devices of all time.
The financial stakes are high as the futures of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, the world's three biggest listed companies at the end of last year, may now turn on who gets the jump on making handsets redundant.
Many firms are experimenting with new ways to help consumers interact with the wider world through touch, sight and sound.
These include voice-activated personal assistant devices dangling from "smart jewellery" necklaces with tiny embedded microphones or tiny earpieces that get things done for us based on our verbal commands.
The world's biggest tech companies have made real progress in this arena with Google Now, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon.com's Alexa now able to read texts or emails for users, answer practical questions, control phone features, handle basic communications or read a map.
Lindholm now runs KoruLab, developers of compact, ultra-efficient software for running wearable devices. He sees smartphone functions splitting into two camps - big-screen devices for rich entertainment and compact wearables for more transactional activities like keeping up with one’s calendar, health or fitness monitoring or paying for goods or services.
Whatever platform might displace the handheld phone also will need to resolve nagging questions about battery life, which have become more pressing as consumers watch more and more video.
The next big device also needs more flexible screens capable of working in different lighting conditions. That’s a decades-old dream of gadget enthusiasts that has eluded recognized market leaders Samsung and LG of Korea, which have struggled for years to mass-produce flexible screens at anything close to mass-market prices.
Industry experts believe innovation in smartphones is giving way to phone functions popping up as software or services in all manner of new devices from cars to fridges to watches and jewellery rather than remaining with handheld devices.
And analysts and product designers said fresh breakthroughs are running up against the practical limits of what's possible in current smartphone hardware in terms of screen size, battery life and network capacity.
"Everything in the phone industry now is incremental: slightly faster, slightly bigger, slightly more storage or better resolution," said Christian Lindholm, inventor of the easy text-messaging keyboards in old Nokia phones that made them the best-selling mobile devices of all time.
The financial stakes are high as the futures of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, the world's three biggest listed companies at the end of last year, may now turn on who gets the jump on making handsets redundant.
Many firms are experimenting with new ways to help consumers interact with the wider world through touch, sight and sound.
These include voice-activated personal assistant devices dangling from "smart jewellery" necklaces with tiny embedded microphones or tiny earpieces that get things done for us based on our verbal commands.
The world's biggest tech companies have made real progress in this arena with Google Now, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon.com's Alexa now able to read texts or emails for users, answer practical questions, control phone features, handle basic communications or read a map.
Lindholm now runs KoruLab, developers of compact, ultra-efficient software for running wearable devices. He sees smartphone functions splitting into two camps - big-screen devices for rich entertainment and compact wearables for more transactional activities like keeping up with one’s calendar, health or fitness monitoring or paying for goods or services.
Whatever platform might displace the handheld phone also will need to resolve nagging questions about battery life, which have become more pressing as consumers watch more and more video.
The next big device also needs more flexible screens capable of working in different lighting conditions. That’s a decades-old dream of gadget enthusiasts that has eluded recognized market leaders Samsung and LG of Korea, which have struggled for years to mass-produce flexible screens at anything close to mass-market prices.
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