China became #1 smartphone market

Flurry reported that China overtook US as the biggest smartphone market in January 2013.  Given China's 1.3 billion population, it is not surprising to see China taking the #1 spot away from US.  Yet it highlights China is catching up fast to the world-wide smartphone adoption.

Source: http://blog.flurry.com/

Thanks to mobile, we have accelerated disruption

Garry Tan of YCombinator shared a post showing the survey data of little over thousand teenagers.  He asked them to pick social networks that they used more than several hours per week.  On his top 5 chart, there were Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter.  But there were also Instagram and Snapchat.  They showed up 21% and 19% of the answers respectively.

Social network usage among 13-18 and 19-25 yr olds.
Surprise! Say hello to Snapchat.
Source: http://blog.garrytan.com/tenth-grade-tech-trends-my-survey-data-says-s

Easily distracted by applications

Has this ever happened to you recently?

Source: https://plus.google.com/102786751626732213960/posts/C3xgisZGWRL

Do we have privacy in public space?

You wake up.  You reach for your Google Glass.  Although you weren't used to wearing glasses, now you cannot imagine a day without your glasses.  Thanks to new Google Glass application called Daily Journal Recorder you can always rely on your augmented reality glasses to take continuous videos of your entire day and store key moments as a daily highlight.  It's like having your personal journal written for you while you live your life.

What about privacy?  Most people have accepted the fact that they are getting recorded all the time in any public space.  Privacy only exists in your home, and even then your location can be tracked thanks to GPS embedded on all devices starting with your mobile phone to your car key.  People no longer rely on their memory to remember whom they need to meet and what they need to do.  Personal scheduler running in the cloud reminds your next task through your wearable devices.

If you are not on the network, you don't have anyone to interact with.  Your identity is no longer about your physical self.  Without terabytes of data in the cloud your identity is incomplete because all your memory and profile are stored out in the cloud.  Without them, people won't be able to tell whether it's real you...

Many Agent Smiths on social media

Do you remember agent Smith from the Matrix?  In the movie, Agent Smith has a special power to hack the Matrix and turn anyone into a carbon copy of himself.  In effect, he is present wherever any one is present, and can monitor people at will.

Source: http://ireporters.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/smiths.jpg

As improbable as it may have sounded in 1999 when the movie Matrix was released, we are effectively surrounded Agent Smith when we walk down any city street.  Thanks to cellphone cameras and Facebook, we are now living in an era where anything that you do in presence of others can be recorded and posted on social media site.

1 billion smartphones in use

Next time you take public transit, take a look around.  See how many internet-connected devices that you can count.  In U.S. about 50% of all mobile devices have internet connectivity.  The number in the outside of U.S. is little lower.  According to the latest  research from Strategy Analytics, there are about 1 billion smartphones being used in the world.

What is remarkable is that number of smartphones is expected to reach 2 billion within the next 3 years.  Considering that it took 16 years to reach 1 billion smartphones since the first smartphone's launch in 1996, Nokia 9000 Communicator, adoption of internet-enabled devices is expected to accelerate by more than four times.

.The first smartphone ever, Nokia 9000 Communicator.
It featured dual screen with qwerty keyboard when flipped open.
Source: http://www.mobilnik.org

KQED Forum: The Cheapest Generation

Derek Thompson and Jordan Weissman from the Atlantic magazine appeared on KQED Forum this morning.  Topic was how the new Millennial generation is fundamentally changing our culture of consumption.  Products and services like Zipcars and smartphones propelled by more social sharing than ownership are making it easier to rent than own, especially when it comes to cars.


The most interesting comment was this idea of how cars are being replaced by smartphones.  Car was not just a means of transportation.  It had been a symbol of adulthood, social status and freedom.  Now smartphone is in some sense replacing car as social platform to share experiences for the Millennial generation.

It used to be unthinkable to think of going out on a date without a car.
Now going out anywhere without a smartphone is unthinkable.
Never mind the car, we'll hop on a Muni bus but we've got our iPhones.