What is the next step in mobile technology beyond the smart phone? Wearable technology – watches, activity trackers, health monitors, augmented reality headsets, pet wearables, shirt camera. Connected technology – smart house, floor mat, vehicles. This panel began with a brain-dumping of all the mobile technology these panelists currently see on the market, or in product development. After the brain dump, panelist Dash Gopinath of if(we) stated I think it is “a little premature to think about extending beyond mobile [phone], but over the next five years we will see as many people on a mobile [phone] as we have today…this will be the first computer they’ve ever had.”

After Gopinath expressed his opinion on moving past mobile phone technology, panelist Sean O’Leary said that “we must rationalize mobile before moving on past [the phone]…we are still in the first inning of mobile [technology].” The adoption of smart phones will be the driver for growth of mobile technology beyond the smart phone.  From smart phone adoption and usage developers will be able to focus on specific problems that need to be solved, not just creating technology for the sake of creation.  So where do the technology developers start? They begin with determining problems for primary platforms, such as the smart phone or tablet, and then begin to build out in to niche technology.

Concluding the panel was a discussion about online versus offline worlds and data versus content. The question was posed, what if we are always online? Gopinath believes that online in ten years won’t be the same as being online today. “There will be advances in technology infrastructure that will provide more accessible wireless connection than we have currently; everywhere we go will have access to high speed connection and you won’t recognize that technology is intruding in your life…that data is being collected.” As mobile technology begins to move beyond the smart phone, there needs to be a distinction between the features and benefits of data that is provided – what is the application of this data? How can I use it? Though the members of this panel were highly optimistic about mobile technology beyond the smart phone, all of them believed that there is still significant developments within smart phone technology that need to come to fruition before we dive in to mobile beyond the smart phone.