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The future of mobile is already here. The immediate future is about much better, less intrusive, more intelligent, better-integrated ‘interfaces’. The last few decades have laid a robust foundation: smartphones – massively powerful, affordable computers that fit into a pocket – are close to ubiquitous; unimaginably powerful services – from global positioning, to voice recognition, to instant knowledge search – are available for free; and people have invited this technology into the most intimate part of their lives – relationships and financial transactions. We are finally at a point in history where technology is adapting to the way we live our lives. No longer is a computer a desk-centric destination: it is a mobile companion. With services like the personal-assistant app Google Now, technology is starting to anticipate what we need and want, rather than merely reacting to a request. As the miniaturisation of technology steadily advances, the age of powerful, helpful, life-changing, wearable computers is upon us. Samsung launched its Galaxy Gear smartwatch in September 2013. Despite dismal reviews – and low sales projections – the company announced it had sold 800,000 devices in the first two months.28 This is not so much a testament to Samsung’s great product design (the reviews are unanimously poor) but it does suggest that consumers have a huge latent desire for a device of this sort. While the media and blogosphere speculate about a vastly superior ‘iWatch’ in the offing from Apple – one that will incorporate all kinds of clever non-invasive sensors that may measure all kinds of things, including heart rate, oxygen saturation, perspiration and blood sugar levels in addition to the already commonplace step- and calorie-measuring sensors – other companies are already profiting from wearable technology. The fitness-tracker market – where devices like Fitbit, Nike’s Fuelband and the Jawbone Up lead the market – delivered $2 billion in revenue in 2013. And that number more than quadrupled to $9 billion in 2015, and will hit $25 billion in 2019.29
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