Anatole V. Gershman
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PDF Help As the convergence of communications, computing and content
speeds ahead, it is easy to conclude that these three elements will come
together into a single, powerful "ultimate device" that gives us access to a
wealth of information and services. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of
discussion about just what that ultimate device will be: a kind of
hyper-personal digital assistant (PDA)? A digital Web phone/computer? An
extremely thin Internet client?
The answer, however, is likely to be "none of the above."
Instead of a single ultimate super device, we can expect to see many small
"families" of linked devices that are designed to perform specific tasks in
specific situations. Yes, powerful hand-held convergence devices will continue
to come to market, but the truly significant developments in technology—the
real ultimate device—will be in this arena of decentralized, pervasive
computing.
Why? Because the shrinking cost and growing power of
technology frees us from having to think in terms of one "computing engine"
driving various applications and peripherals. Instead, we can afford to put
smaller computing engines into a wide range of everyday items including
appliances, tools, houses, clothing and nearly everything else around us. In
short, we won't have to have the ultimate device with us—it will be all around
us.
Tomorrow's Devices: Embedded and Wearable
In the next few years, we will see an explosion of
pervasive computing in two broad categories: embedded devices and wearable
devices.
Embedded devices, as the name implies, will be sensors and
processors incorporated into objects—furniture, books, display advertisements,
office supplies, containers, roads, vehicles, consumer electronics and so
forth. These objects will be able to interact with their environment, with
people and with each other, and work in combination to support highly
specialized devices—a smart refrigerator that knows when you are out of milk,
for example, or a smart wardrobe that tells you when our favorite retailer is
having a sale on brands you like. Along those lines, Accenture researchers have
developed a prototype "online medicine cabinet" that is, essentially, an
in-home personal health portal. The cabinet will alert the user if he or she is
taking the wrong medication, monitor blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol
level, and let the user consult with a physician or refill prescriptions
online. This cabinet demonstrates how common products will be turned into
channels that deliver services to consumers at the time and place of need.
The "wearable" category will encompass a loosely coupled
network of devices including microphones, earphones, displays, biosensors,
global positioning satellite receivers, keyboards, cameras, short-range radar
arrays, ultrasonic range finders and bar code readers—a mix of components that
can vary depending on the user's profession or personal interests. Some of
these devices may be carried like today's cell phones, but increasingly, we
will see devices embedded in clothing, jewelry, eyeglasses and shoes—or even
installed subcutaneously. (While that may sound unlikely, at least one consumer
electronics company is rumored to be working on an implantable cell phone.)
These wearable components will communicate with one another
via a short-range wireless network, perhaps harnessing the user's own skin to
transfer data; indeed, several such technologies are in development. Advanced
input devices—such as arm-mounted chording keyboards and voice-recognition
systems—and small displays—such as eyeglass-mounted retina-projection
displays—will make it easy to use the technology while doing other things such
as walking, driving and working.
We are already seeing elements of wearable computing in the
lab and, in some cases, the marketplace. Georgia Institute of Technology has
produced a lightweight "smart shirt" designed for the remote monitoring of
combat soldiers' vital signs and injuries. Similarly, researchers at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used conductive textiles to develop
machine-washable "e-broidery" circuits in clothing including keyboards built
into denim jackets. To power small, wearable components, they've also developed
a shoe that "harvests" the motion of walking to create a small electric
current.
New Channels, New Services As this trend toward embedded and wearable devices
continues, computing will become infused into the environment. We will no
longer have to look through a small screen to interact with technology. The
services we use will rely on the infrastructure in our environment to sense our
context. They will know where we are, and what we're seeing and hearing; they
will be all around us, working unobtrusively to sense needs and changes, and
triggering actions in response.
For businesses, this will bring new meaning to serving the
customer on an "anytime, anywhere" basis, and open up a range of possibilities
for new products and services. Accenture researchers see three broad categories
companies should be using to envision customer scenarios and visualize products
and services.
Monitoring and Response Services: For
example, companies might offer continuous medical monitoring with trend
detection and automatic emergency dispatch as well as autobiographical logging
services that transmit the customer's first-person video to a secure site for
later search and retrieval.
Personalized Expertise: Think about
video "help desk" services that let human experts see what you see—be it an
overheated car engine, a troubling rash, or a clashing outfit in the mirror—and
provide instant advice.
Third-Party Aggregators of Information and
Services. For example, a company might provide synchronized
information to "annotate" what we see by pulling information from both nearby
objects and remote databases via the network. If the user's gaze lingers on a
car, for example, the provider could quickly pull up the vehicle's
specifications and prices and, perhaps, present an attractive lease offer from
the manufacturer. In addition, providers might even subsidize various smart
devices in much the same way that today's wireless phone companies subsidize
the purchase of phones.
Where To Start? Today, companies can start preparing for embedded and
wearable devices by considering how they might augment their existing products
with new services. This includes:
- Developing new services offered by linking with other
product and service providers
- Determining how and when these new types of contact with
customers might occur and what will be communicated
- Identifying opportunities to monitor, mine and tailor
offerings based on customer interests
To thrive in this new era of small, linked, pervasive
"ultimate devices," companies will have to understand that virtually every
object will be a conduit for a service, and people will routinely expect
products to be bundled with services and helpful information. These devices
will change the way we relate to the world around us—and the companies that
learn to exploit that new reality will find a wealth of new avenues for
reaching and retaining customers.
Anatole Gershman is a partner and
director of Accenture Technology Labs - Research. He is based in Chicago.
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