Technology Anchor

The standard product cycle seems to show that the early adopters give way to the masses.  Part of this is just people hearing about and adjusting to new technologies.  I think the other part is the new technology maturing to a point where the masses can actually use it.

photo credit: William Hook

We’ve seen the cycle happen in the mobile field.  Smart phones have existed for years but only recently with the release of the iPhone and then the Android operating system have we seen the explosion of smart phones.  It seems like within the last year we’ve seen more innovation in this market than we’ve seen for the last 5 to 10 years.  It’s been amazing.

Following behind that is the tablet market.  It’s the next big thing.  The iPad 2 and the Xoom recently hit the market and there is a huge surge of tablet devices hitting the market in the next 6 to 12 months.

So… what’s the anchor??

Technology companies who either don’t think or don’t care about public perception.  Part of the process is for people to get comfortable and trust your product.  So what do the technology companies do?  Put their trust in question by tracking people’s locations.

Yes… I am talking about Google and Apple tracking the location data on phones and tablets.  They claim that they are using it for valid reasons which is probably true but do you consider what that information could potentially be used for?  With all the current issues with information theft and identity theft these companies should really consider their actions a little more closely.

I don’t know that I believe that either Google or Apple are being malicious with the data but it sure raises questions.  What would it take for marketers to buy this data for targeted text marketing, analysis and use by government for use in mileage taxation, or some criminal finding a way to exploit your movement information for gain?

I think the Google and Apple made a pretty big PR mistake in tracking people’s movement secretly.  It’s slightly ironic that the iconic commercial in 1984 about big brother was by a small computer company named Apple!

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