What comes after the Internet of Things, augmented reality, virtual reality, and haptics? In order to clarify, we’ve put up a list of 10 Hot Consumer Trends worth paying attention to. Although it appears that the Internet of Senses may define the next phase of 5G-enabled online experiences beyond sight and hearing.
In your kitchen, you are seated. The atmosphere in the room begins to alter as you consider hosting an Arabian Nights dinner party. There is calm Arabic music playing, colorful patterns appear on the plain kitchen tiles, and the aroma of spicy lamb stew fills the air. Your attention shifts to the table, which is now covered with a woven cotton cloth in a rustic pattern, flowers, lit candles, and plates with elaborate decorations that you touch and arrange.
Your friends’ avatars appear in the chairs and have access to your calendar, leading you to immediately think, “Create an invitation.” Your table fills up with items from a digital store as the calendars are being filled, allowing you to inspect their freshness and sample a brand-new yogurt sauce. Two of the guests are vegetarians, so in addition to trying the vegetarian stew before ordering, you do so.
5G – materializing dreams with the internet of senses
Currently, technology largely interacts with the senses of sight and sound. According to Ericsson Research, by 2025 a complete internet of senses will be possible, and by 2030 ideas will be able to be transmitted digitally. Smartphones are a vital part of our lives in the screen-based 4G world we live in, but people don’t anticipate this will continue for very long. By 2025, according to half of the world’s smartphone users, everyone will be using lightweight, stylish AR glasses. Consumers also anticipate wearables that translate languages in real time, let us manage the acoustic environment, and simulate taste, smell, warmth, and texture. Consumers will need ultra-fast connectivity, lag-free edge computing, and sophisticated automation as they immerse themselves further in this sensory digital environment.
Consumers expect an internet of senses
This vision is supported by consumer data as well as anticipated technical advancements. Urban early adopters predict that by 2030, we will be using all of our senses online. Of those, 68 percent are interested in using at least one of the six hypothetical internet-of-senses applications we have discussed, and 81 percent are generally receptive to the idea.
Forty percent of those who want an internet of senses consider immersive entertainment as the main force behind the transition, followed by better online shopping for 33 percent and the environment issue for 31 percent. By 2030, it is anticipated that the top five tech firms and sector-specific businesses will control and operate around half of all internet of senses services.
Trend 1: Your brain is the user interface
Greek philosophers believed that each person was alone and could never completely know the existence of another more than 2,000 years ago. This loneliness is only a symptom of being human, but maybe not for much longer. Technology is predicted to react to our ideas by 2030 and possibly communicate them to others. Consider what it will entail; consider what that will entail.
By using the brain as an interface, keyboards, mice, game controllers, and ultimately user interfaces for all digital devices, may become obsolete. The user merely needs to consider the commands; they will then be carried out. Even without touch screens, smartphones may still work.
Due to this, additional device classifications and interaction paradigms are now available. The majority of consumers have the highest expectations for AR glasses, with 6 in 10 anticipating that simply thinking “show map” will bring up a map in front of their eyes and that they can look up directions by simply thinking of their location.
With these qualities, many other applications that are currently practically unthinkable become surprisingly simple. Have you ever seen someone who seemed to know you, but you were unable to identify them or even recall their name? By 2030, this issue will be resolved because, in response to thought requests, AR glasses would, according to 54% of consumers, display information about new acquaintances such as their name and previous places of acquaintance.
The idea is that technology will have complete access to our minds. As a result, roughly half of all respondents think that by 2030 the ancient Greeks will be proven wrong and that our minds will essentially be connected; they anticipate being able to respond to brief messages using only their thoughts, and 40% even think that they will be able to directly share thoughts with their friends and loved ones. In our 2015 trend analysis, more than two-thirds of consumers predicted that thought communication would be widespread by 2020.
The terms “integrity” and “privacy” will mean new things with this technology. People don’t want advertisers to have access to their minds, as evidenced by the fact that well over 50% of respondents say data will be private for any thought service concept we asked about, and that 7 out of 10 people believe thought data for locking and unlocking their front doors must be private. Today, most application categories—if not all—are powered by advertising income. So, in 2030, what will the new business model be? A lot of consideration needs to be given to this topic.
Trend 2: Sounds like me
We are surrounded by sounds, which range from annoying noises like the jangle of the metro train to calming music we choose to play via our earphones. Consumers anticipate having complete control over both what they hear and what others hear from them by the year 2030. Customers will actively create their own soundscapes rather than simply accepting exposure to unwelcome background noise.
People anticipate having even greater influence over how their voices are perceived in any language in the future. More than 7 out of 10 people anticipate having earbuds that seamlessly and automatically translate languages. They could call anyone in the globe, in any language, and sound exactly like themselves with such earphones. In fact, 67 percent of respondents think they will be able to impersonate anyone with such realism that they may even trick family members. They could even choose to speak like someone else.
Additionally, the use of sound will accentuate the naturalness of both digital and real experiences. As a result, it is anticipated that sounds will become spatially integrated in such a way that they will make any digital object placed in the physical environment sound completely real. For instance, fewer echoes would be heard in a room filled with digital items as opposed to one that was empty.
Six in ten people anticipate being able to hear the breath and footsteps of virtual characters, like a Pokémon, and to locate them using those sounds just like they would a real person or animal. A headband will carry sound directly to the mind, so we won’t even need earphones for these things, according to the majority of people.
Many people view being actively in control of what we hear favourably; 54% anticipate being able to construct a digital sound bubble that will allow them to selectively hear what they want, for example on a crowded bus. When everyone has the ability to construct an echo chamber, communication will suffer. Social media platforms are frequently condemned for creating echo chambers.
When our hearing exceeds its normal range, perhaps this potential isolation will be broken. Nearly half of respondents anticipate being able to use a headband that transforms sounds into other sensory experiences. For instance, you may transform sounds like the traffic around you into colors or conversations into skin sensations.
Trend 3: Any flavor you want
Today, the majority of online traffic consists of video data. But appearances can be deceiving, so seeing isn’t necessarily believing. Because of this, when neonates first encounter the physical world, they naturally try to ingest objects to learn more about them. We haven’t been able to practise digital “mouthing” up until now thanks to our existence online, but that is about to change.
Would you be able to conceive putting a device in your mouth that digitally improves the flavor of the food you consume? 44 percent believe that will be doable by 2030. This might have a significant impact on our diets and health by allowing us to eat nutritious foods that taste like the food we would get at a five-star restaurant.
The way we recall the past is heavily influenced by taste. If you think back to your early years, you almost surely recall the flavor of particular delicacies or homemade meals. Therefore, it is not unexpected that 44% of respondents believe that in the future, digital taste will be able to augment these memories; photos from gatherings and vacations will allow you to not only remember what happened, but also to fully experience its sweetness and sourness.
Customers frequently enjoy the free food samples offered in grocery stores so they can sample before they buy. Many people will happily accept a sample even if they aren’t actually planning to buy. More than 4 in 10 predict that the ability to virtually taste samples while lounging on our own gadgets would revolutionize online buying. Almost as many people think that TV culinary shows will be available where you can taste the meal while watching it. Additionally, 4 out of 10 people think that advertising will finance this kind of digital sensory information, showing that people do not think that taste reactions are as sensitive as many other types of personal information.
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