Lewis Wallace, writing for Cult of Mac Magazine, had an absolutely great list of ways that Apple has changed our daily lives in the past 45 years. Can you imagine that when Apple Computers came out, PC guys who loved DOS were making fun of pictures on the screen as if it was a child’s toy?
I’ve been writing for years how it is companies that are in the business of moving data that are shaping the world to come. Much more so than companies who are in the business of moving people or packages. The future is about moving bits, not pounds.
The various transportation industries changed the world…in the early part of the 1900’s. Most of the impact from moving people and packages faster has already happened. It’s now just about incremental fine-tuning.
When it comes to moving people or packages, most of the innovation in the future is going to be limited for two reasons.
The big changes with how our daily lives will be lived is coming from companies that are in the business of delivering information or connecting people. And Lewis perfectly illustrated how Apple has already been doing this for decades. Imagine what the pandemic lockdown would’ve been like if Apple had never existed and influenced the tech world. Imagine if there was no internet or if people couldn’t connect via video.
This weekend on Amazon Prime I discovered a fun TV Series from 2006 called Eureka. It’s about a town where the best and brightest scientific minds in America come together to innovate and invent the future. In one scene where a futuristic house was supposed to impress the audience by it’s intelligent assistant, I was amused. Because I felt like a lot of what they showed on screen, is common place today.
My Ring doorbell shows me who’s arrived, my Schlage Sense doorlocks can automatically lock/unlock for me. I walk in the house and ask Siri to turn on my HomeKit enabled TV, turn on my lights, or play some music on my HomePods. If it’s too hot inside I can ask Siri to crank up the AC via my Ecobee. And Apple had a hand in bringing all of that together.
The middle class people of today, have access to technology in their homes that is far beyond what multi-millionaires had in their homes only 15 years ago. Who knows what the future holds?
I always imagine that if Steve Jobs was still around, that he’d woo talent from Tesla with the following line. Do you want to keep working on glorified horse buggies, or do you want to change the world?
The various transportation industries changed the world…in the early part of the 1900’s. Most of the impact from moving people and packages faster has already happened. It’s now just about incremental fine-tuning.
When it comes to moving people or packages, most of the innovation in the future is going to be limited for two reasons.
- Consumer Travel - Regardless of what powers vehicles or who drives them, all men are created equal in the eyes of Father Time. Meaning we pay for travel with minutes and hours of our lives. And we only have so much time to be traveling. People don’t want to be away from home for too long regardless of how the travel occurs.
- Enterprise Logistics - The grand logistics equation isn’t changed that much when you start talking about self-driving tech. Meaning that the cost per mile doesn’t change or it actually goes up with newer technology. You offset the cost of a driver with higher equipment capital costs.
The big changes with how our daily lives will be lived is coming from companies that are in the business of delivering information or connecting people. And Lewis perfectly illustrated how Apple has already been doing this for decades. Imagine what the pandemic lockdown would’ve been like if Apple had never existed and influenced the tech world. Imagine if there was no internet or if people couldn’t connect via video.
This weekend on Amazon Prime I discovered a fun TV Series from 2006 called Eureka. It’s about a town where the best and brightest scientific minds in America come together to innovate and invent the future. In one scene where a futuristic house was supposed to impress the audience by it’s intelligent assistant, I was amused. Because I felt like a lot of what they showed on screen, is common place today.
My Ring doorbell shows me who’s arrived, my Schlage Sense doorlocks can automatically lock/unlock for me. I walk in the house and ask Siri to turn on my HomeKit enabled TV, turn on my lights, or play some music on my HomePods. If it’s too hot inside I can ask Siri to crank up the AC via my Ecobee. And Apple had a hand in bringing all of that together.
The middle class people of today, have access to technology in their homes that is far beyond what multi-millionaires had in their homes only 15 years ago. Who knows what the future holds?
I always imagine that if Steve Jobs was still around, that he’d woo talent from Tesla with the following line. Do you want to keep working on glorified horse buggies, or do you want to change the world?
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