{"id":48657,"date":"2013-08-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/say-goodbye-to-todays-technology\/"},"modified":"2013-08-09T12:00:02","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T12:00:02","slug":"say-goodbye-to-todays-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/2\/29517\/technology-trends\/say-goodbye-to-todays-technology","title":{"rendered":"Say Goodbye to Today’s Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"
In the September-October 2013 issue of The Futurist<\/a>, there is a thought-provoking feature in which 10 well-known futurists speculate about which technologies and\/or cultural distinctions that we now know and love will disappear. Some of the speculations are both interesting and disquieting.<\/p>\n One of the most controversial predictions was made by the well-known and respected futurist Paul Saffo, whose article, "Farewell, Smartphones, We Hardly Knew Thee," postulates that the device that has become a virtual part of our bodies will disappear as wearable<\/a> and\/or voice-activated electronic devices become commonplace. (Learn more about this technology in 6 Super-Cool Wearable Devices<\/a>.)<\/p>\n "When we happen to think back, we [will] marvel that anyone could have ever communicated anything of consequence on a device as clunky and old-fashioned as an iPhone<\/a>," Saffo writes. A related article in the same series, "Computing’s Future Is Wearable," by Harish Shah, supports Saffo’s position. <\/p>\n "The same Internet-based communications currently used on smartphones will likely also be used on wearable computers. The need for smartphones will thus simply start diminishing, especially as prices for wearables begin to decline. That the wearable will primarily be a computer, beyond being just a communication device, would be its most attractive feature," Shah writes.<\/p>\n If we accept these projections, we must also consider what this might mean to Apple, which counts the iPhone as its leading product. Apple would have to get ahead of the curve and really develop the iWatch and other wearable devices. It would also have to maintain the iPad and current iPhone product lines while it developed a new competitive iPhone, and perhaps an iPad replacement. Many firms find this dual product support difficult to do. Meanwhile, new firms that are only working with new technologies – rather than being saddled with legacy products<\/a> – are better able to take over the dominant place in the market. <\/p>\n The impact of innovation on computer technology even goes beyond the attack on smartphones. The TechCast Project\u2019s Alexandre Pupo and William Halal in their essay "Passing of the Dumb Interface, Keyboard and Mouse," lay out forecasts of the years when massively disruptive technologies enter the mainstream. <\/p>\n