Page 13 - The EDIT | Q2 2017

At SXSW 2017, we heard that the ‘hearables’ market was estimated to be worth more than USD 40bn by 2020. Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant alone was estimated to hit USD 10bn by 2020.
Advanced computing and new technologies have certainly turned the marketing world upside down — and some of these emerging technologies are speeding up a potential ‘end of screens’. It is not just voice control, it is also motion sensors, eye trackers and thought control technology that takes a lot of attention (and eyeballs) away from screens.
And while devices like Alexa aren’t exceedingly smart yet, what they are doing is training generations of people to speak to their devices. A friend of mine recently posted a picture on social media of her 5-year-old son and Alexa. She titled the picture with “Finally found someone to help him practice Mandarin.”
SXSW also showed a significant leap forward for audio as a growing user interface. The movement repositions ‘mobile’ not just as a device you carry around – but rather, a more richly integrated and dynamic network that surrounds you and helps you communicate with varied technology to augment and enrich your daily life.
Discovery
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Is it one screen? Or multi-screen? Wait! It is no screen at all!
THE EDIT ISSUE 06 | Q2 2017