Next digital decade...

IIPM, GURGAON

Bill Gates & Paul Otellini point towards the future of communications

Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is undoubtedly the most awaited technology event for any tech lover. And like every year, the CES 2008 saw technology giants demonstrate their latest products and reflect upon their technology road map for the future. However, as always, Mr. Gates stole the limelight at the CES, showcasing his vision for the next digital decade.

Importantly, Bill Gates predicted that the global technology industry was on the edge of a ‘Digital Decade’. He emphasised on the fact that connectivity will be a pervasive part of our daily lives through devices like televisions and mobile phones. “Everything will connect up. You’ll just take it for granted. No longer will users have to bridge between devices and remember what’s where,” Gates told at the CES in Las Vegas. He further opined that entertainment would be digital in nature and also predicted that the digital decade is ought to change the way people would interact in a few years time.

The next digital decade will be characterised by the onset of more natural user interfaces like gestures and visual recognition. Hence, people would be interacting through methods like speech and touch over the next decade and devices like mouse and keyboard would soon be history. This fact can be corroborated with the trend that devices like iPhone (which is basically a touchphone without a keypad) and Wii motion-sensing video game machine have been accepted well by the consumers worldwide. Also, Microsoft’s latest product like Surface computer is nothing but a tangible extension of the same concept.

Microsoft Research-developed visual recognition technology that recognises people and uses a 3-D visualisation to guide the user. This application, named Tellme, has a voice recognition service called ‘see and say’ that guides users through purchases and content sharing, such as finding, buying and sharing a movie ticket with someone. As per Gates, this application would some day be an integral part of the Windows Mobile devices. Even Intel CEO Paul Otellini gave his visionary speech at the CES, outlining his prediction of a more “personal Internet” – which will be proactive in serving users the personalised information and entertainment.

Interestingly, in this new age of ‘personal internet’ the devices would be location-aware, and would access the Internet over Wimax wireless connections. As Paul Otellini said, “Instead of going to the Internet, the Internet comes to us.” Intel believes that breakthroughs in chip development are needed to solve the problem of faster chips requiring more power and becoming less efficient. Intel also declared that they have developed a roadmap for five more generations of chips to be released over the next 10 years. At the CES 2008, Intel unveiled a range of new processors, including chips designed for so-called ‘mobile Internet devices’. Intel’s new chips, which are 25% smaller than previous generations, are expected to hit the market soon.

Well, if Gates vision is materialised in the same time frame when Intel comes out with its break-through chip technology, the future of Internet will be an altogether different experience. With Microsoft’s next generation digital concepts and Intel’s chip platform working at a lightning speed, the next digital decade will surely herald a revolution in personal communications.

Edit bureau: Sray Agarwal

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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