If a picture is worth a thousand words, showing the real thing must be worth millions. Which is why when I need to make a point with an audience, I like to show what I am talking about. Typically, it’s the latest cool and shiny smartphone or tablet. However, this past week when I spoke at Rutberg’s Future: Mobile 2015 conference in San Francisco, I brought a brown paper bag to the stage. At the right moment, I unpacked a non-descript device — that was neither shiny nor cool-looking but represents endless opportunities in our connected society.
It was a device developed by engineers at the AT&T Foundry in Dallas, which specializes in connecting things to the Internet that have never been connected before. The device helps shipping companies monitor and track their cargo containers anywhere in the world. What’s more – it’s powered by a combination of batteries, solar cells, and kinetic energy and has an expected 10-year life – just what shipping companies need.
The point is that communications is not just about connecting people anymore. It is about connecting things that have not been connected to the Internet before. We already have 22 million connected devices on our network alone, including cars, homes, watches, alarms, monitors, sensors, you name it. However, we are just scratching the surface. Analysts predict that by 2020, there will be 20 to 50 billion connected devices worldwide and a global market of $1.7 trillion. The cargo container tracking device I showed at Rutberg is just one of the many innovations coming out of the AT&T Foundry which is at the epicenter of this growing trend. (Another is a connected garbage can, but I thought it would be too cumbersome to bring on stage.)
Three forces converging for change
What’s making it all possible is the convergence of software development platforms, ubiquitous broadband (mobile and fixed), and the cloud. By coming together, these three forces are creating opportunities for new companies and allowing existing companies to transform their businesses making them more efficient and effective.
That’s not to say the smartphone won’t stay relevant. We have over 50 million smartphone customers.Today the smartphone serves as the remote control of our lives – transforming the way we work and play. At the consumer level, once you have a smartphone and a shareable broadband data plan, it’s a cinch to add services like the connected car, connected home, connected health and everything in between.
The same opportunity is there for businesses large and small. The combination of mobility, advanced software, and cloud services is disrupting entire industries. And it’s not just connecting them to the network, but connecting them to each other in a seamless and highly secure manner that is key.
Take Uber, which has totally re-invented how to get a taxi. It’s the smartphone connected to the cloud that makes this business model innovation possible. You may not have heard about Blownaway. It’s an Uber-like operation for hairstylists and makeup artists — an on-demand system answering any beauty need at the tap of an icon on your smartphone. They operate in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and New York with 6,000 users and have performed over 3,000 services since launch. The possibilities are endless.
A New Dawn of Innovation
Telecommunications has seen a lot of change over the years: cellular, broadband, the Internet, mobile broadband, smartphones, and connected devices. These changes were all revolutionary in their own way. But taken together, they provide the foundation for an incredible innovation platform that is transforming and redefining complete industries. New on-demand services based on this platform are changing how we get a car ride, get our hair styled, and how groceries are bought and delivered.
We are, indeed, on the cusp of a new connected society. A society where innovation on how services are delivered and consumed will continue to create endless possibilities for those who get to the future first with the right products and services.
