Okay tech-fans, have you bought or ordered the just-released iPhone 5?
When you finally go into the store to check it out, buy, or pick it up, the conversation won’t be about 3G or 4G but LTE. Even Sprint, which is just rolling out its LTE network and is way behind AT&T and Verizon, will still talk about it. That is because LTE is what you have been waiting for; real speed. The cellular companies love it because its utilization costs are less but they are going to charge the customers more. Sprint is the only one today with a truly unlimited data plan, but look for that to be phased out as Sprint’s LTE network builds out.
With the iPhone 5, the computer is now in your pocket/purse. The looming battle is between Apple and Google. Blackberry and Nokia have fallen too far behind and don’t have the software infrastructure to compete. Going forward the focus is on software.
Mark Andreessen, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and now co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz, who has invested in Facebook, Groupon, Skype, Twitter among others, has put forward the thesis that “software will eat the world.” What he means by that is that moving forward six decades into the computer revolution (he goes back to computers starting in the 1950s), that all the technology required to transform industries through software finally works, and can be widely delivered. And oh, by the way, the cost of technology is dropping and the application power is growing.
More and more major industries are being run on software and delivered as online services – from movies to agriculture to national defense.
The iPhone 5 is in the category of smartphones, and by the end of this year, smartphones will be over 50% of the U.S. market. So penetration of smartphones will grow but now the attention turns to apps. Apps are software.
Now it’s about what you can do with your smartphone. It’s about how you use your smartphone. What functions do you need? With LTE the speed is there and that’s what will drive software creativity.
We do more and more with smartphones and other portable devices. Doesn’t everyone see this? Yet in my last presentation, a guy asked me, “Are you saying direct mail is dead?”
Come on, go out and buy the new iPhone 5. Play with it, use it, figure out what all the hype is about and let it become an indispensable part of your life – the way it is already for 150 million Americans. Then let’s talk about building a real online plan for your fundraising organization so we can connect with those folks.
-Mike
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