Last updated: 10 February 2016
Close your eyes and imagine you’re in a truly connected world. You’re woken up by a digital health tattoo on your chest, getting you up at just the right time for your body. You activate your connected wristband, showing you customized news headlines and data from your specialized implant. You travel to work in a connected car, with your favourite music playlists pre-loaded and boasting a dashboard covered in touchscreens, enabling you to control your smart home from your driver’s seat. Life couldn’t be better…
…The question is, though, could the connected lifestyle be a reality in 2025? To give us an idea, we thought we’d ask 1200 young people across the globe about their expectations for the connected world; the responses make very interesting reading. Young respondents from the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, the US and China all envisaged a world more connected than ever before in 2025. For instance, 87% believe they’ll be able to access any piece of content they wish. The enthusiasm for speedier connectivity will inevitably place more pressure on mobile network operators to use their resources more efficiently, making the most of techniques like offloading, which we’ve talked about previously on the blog.
That wasn’t the only trend to emerge from the research. Young people also expect to see more inventive and seamless authentication on their smartphones. 44% thought facial recognition would be possible, for instance. Clearly, security is going to be crucial if the connected world of 2025 is to become a reality – and more inventive, layered authentication is surely the way forward.
Another striking revelation to emerge from the survey was the difference in attitudes between nationalities. Generally, Brazilian and Chinese young people were the most optimistic – for instance, seeing DNA scanning on smartphones as a potential security solution. French and Germans, on the other hand, were more cautious about what the connected world of 2025 might look like.
Evidently, there’s a lot to discuss, and we’ve gathered some leading IoT and technology experts to take part in a lively debate on what the future holds. Applied Futurist, Tom Cheesewright, and Growth Marketer/TechCrunch columnist Dan Kaplan, will be joining the Gemalto team, Xavier Larduinat, Marketing and Communications Manager for Innovation, Manfred Kube, Head of M2M Marketing, and Frederic Martinent, Head of Product Marketing, to chat about connected living. Make sure you get involved by joining the #CL2025 chat.
You can read our report here – tell us what you make of it by tweeting @Gemalto, contributing to #CL2025, or by posting a comment below.
