Thursday, August 23, 2018

The Next Big Thing -- August 23, 2018 -- Your iPhone Will Be Your (Only) Computer

Updates

Later, 3:52 p.m. CDT: this is really quite amazing. I attended an investing talk presented to sixteen of us, by invitation only. The presenter was a presenter from a wholly-owned Schwab subsidiary. Before the formal session began, I told the presenter about the "next big thing" below.

Lo and behold! It turns out that Schwab has opened its first "Office of the Future" -- a new concept for the Schwab office of future. The "first" test location nationwide was in Austin, TX, and has just opened. On site, it turns out, Schwab uses exactly the "next big thing" idea I posted below.

The concept Schwab uses is hosted by Cisco TelePresence. I confirmed that this was the first "office of the future" location for Schwab; the speaker confirmed that it was. He did not know where the second such office would be located, but he agreed that it most likely would be in Silicon Valley, California.

And here it is! Amazing. The office was opened June 4, 2018, apparently. See website.
Charles Schwab is growing in Texas, and especially in Austin. The financial services company has more than 1,900 employees now working at its corporate hub near The Domain, with more than 100 job openings — and room for many more.
Even if the site is behind a paywall, you can view the slide show. Making Texas great again. It looks like slide 16 of 31 is the slide you want to view if you looking at the "next big idea."

Original Post
Your iPhone will be your computer. It already is but I'm talking about the revolution coming in 2024.

Quick, how much "memory" does your current desktop or laptop computer have?
  • my MacBook Air, a fairly old model:
    • processor: 1.6 GHz, Intel Core i5
    • memory: 4GB
    • storage: 121 GB
  • the iPhone X:
    • main processor: 2.39 GHz (better than my computer)
    • capacity: 256 GB (more than twice my laptop; and much more than I need)
    • many, many more features than a desktop / laptop computer
      • camera
      • face recognition
      • ApplePay
      • touch ID
      • fits in my pocket 
Rumors suggest that Apple will finally announce an upgraded "Apple Mini" computer this September -- a computer about the size of a very, very small external hard drive -- no keyboard, no monitor, simply the CPU/computer that one carries in one's carry-on or purse or backpack or suitcase, and then connects with peripherals (monitors, keyboard, printer) at destination (home, office, travel).

By 2024, the iPhone will be used routinely as one's "only" computer -- replacing laptops and desktops.

One will simply "connect" the iPhone to any monitor/printer/keyboard anywhere.

One will get off the airplane, take an Uber to conference or to Starbucks or to office or wherever, and will place the iPhone on an external charger. The iPhone will be "connected" wirelessly (BlueTooth) to the peripherals (monitor/keyboard).

It will be another decade after that before the keyboard becomes redundant (user interaction: voice, eye/blinking movement -- the eye will focus on the target; an eyeblink will be the "click").

By the way, speaking of which, the rumors circulating right now suggest that Apple's September announcement of new hardware could be one of the bigger announcements in years. That would make sense:
  • Tim Cook is hitting his stride
  • the company has hit a market cap of $1 trillion
  • Apple has a huge cash horde
  • the distraction of the new "mother ship" will pretty much be over 
  • Apple's transition to "wearables" is gaining traction
  • laptops in Starbucks: "so 2015"
  • iPhones in Starbucks: "so 2018"

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