You Thought iPhone Is a Cute Telephone with Internet – Wrong

The world’s technical culture can be experienced as an evolving collection of interactions driven by communication tools on, say, the iPhone. Within that sphere of connections, as new technologies evolve, new subcultures and mores evolve across age groups. However, it’s one thing to be immersed in the culture and quite another to step outside it and analyze it from broader human principles.

I ran across two articles this week that relate to all that. The first, “Facts about today’s teens’ technology, social media use and sex.” describes various social phenomena and the role the iPhone plays. [Make sure you look at all the slides.] To understand that evolution of culture is to understand how Apple likely thinks about the evolution of the iPhone. That understanding goes a long way towards explaining the June WWDC keynote emphasis on emojis and messaging.

iPhone Design Imperatives

In a broader sense, for an Apple engineer to be plugged into that culture, either personally or though their children, means that the future designs of the iPhone are not merely technical advances, better security, and new convenience features. In essence, the profile of an iPhone’s utility has to both mesh with the culture of young people and respond faithfully to social evolution.

In terms of analysis from a broader human perspective, as I mentioned above, here is a doctoral student, Laur M. Jackson, trying to make sense of how, in an age of megabits per second communication, we’ve evolved (or devolved) into a shorthand culture of code, emojis, cryptic phrasing, idioms, hashtags and so on. The analysis is here: “E•MO•JIS: Netspeak and chill.” For the linguists, anthropologists and those curious about the evolution of our communication culture, this is fascinating reading. Here’s an excerpt.

We know what happens to idioms that reach critical mass; more important, how the process of popularity in fact necessitates a kind of ironic reduction of the object. The unique, inventive aspects that make us want to pass it on must be shorn off for maximum circulation and accessibility. The examples are endless: Consider the relatively recent fates of “basic,” “Netflix and chill,” and “squad,” words sourced and repurposed from Black vernacular for, it seems, the sole purpose of later writing a jaded testimonial about them. Linguists identify the processes that make up this phenomenon as entextualization, transduction, and—as many nonlinguists know—appropriation. Entextualization describes the making moveable of an idiom; induction is its actual relocation; and appropriation, taking on that which has been displaced as one’s own.

To think of the iPhone as a miniature telephone with a UNIX-based operating system and Internet access is to think of it only at the crudest and highest level of hardware and software. Digging deeper, one finds that it has become a social tool of the first order and, accordingly, must provide specific kinds of functionality that enables essential and popular services: Apple Music, FaceBook, Instagram, Kik, Snapchat, Pinterest, Spotify, Tinder, Vine and Twitter.

Of course, there is much more. The mechanisms and design of these services both define and enable social interactions that dictate mores, language, values and allocation of life’s priorities. That’s whole different doctoral thesis. Or dozens of them.

Understanding Apple

In summary, then, it seems possible in principle to put the evolution of iOS into perspective against the social needs of the users. Of course, not every iPhone customer engages every cultural sphere, but the facts and analysis contained in the above two articles go a long way towards an explanation of what we see coming out of Apple with each new version of iOS in June.

Back in the early 1980s, John Dvorak advised all his readers to buy a PC and learn to use it or they’d miss the bus [heading into the future]. Today, a new bus, the iPhone, is inviting and enticing the next generation of  very communicative passengers.

Next page: The Tech News Debris for the Week of June 27th. The biggest risk for AI agents.

Page 2 – The Tech News Debris for the Week of June 27th

The Biggest Risk for AI Agents

When we think about Artificial Intelligence agents, we’re presented with a dilemma. If the agent knows to much about us, we consider it creepy. If the creator of the AI agent uses that information to either manipulate us or seduce us into impulse buying, the creepy factor goes off the charts.

One way to solve the problem is to keep the information local. Our smartphones certainly have the 64-bit horsepower and storage to do that, but there’s little incentive for the developer to give us that tech for free. Apple is attempting to solve the problem with what’s called “Differential Privacy.”

By structuring the scope of what can be known about you personally, Siri can answer a question like, “What’s the best pizza place in Austin, TX?” But Siri can’t answer other more personal (and possibly uncomfortable) questions about your personal life. By design.

However, when some kinds of information are collected about you personally, ostensibly to, ahem, help you, that information has value. This podcast asks the question, “Artificial intelligence companies need our data. Can we stop giving it away for free?”

The challenge for users in the near future will be to figure out how much assistance they need and want from AI agents. That dictates how they’ll interact with them. In turn, those decisions could dictate the evolution and success of AI agent technology. These agents might become an intrinsic part of our lives if done right, with corporate discipline and judgment. If not, this emerging technology could go the way of Google Glass.

Moving on….

The rate of smartphone sales growth is slowing where adoption is widespread in the U.S., Europe and China. As the first article in the preamble on page one points out, “73% of [U.S.] teenagers between the ages of thirteen and seventeen own smartphones.” Today, growth in these regions continues, but at a slower pace, and robust growth will be in, most notably, India. For some perspective and brief analysis, see: “The forces behind the global deceleration in smartphone sales.”

There are rumors that Apple will introduce a new iPhone 7 colors in the fall. Both black and blue are mentioned. (Personally, I like the idea of an all black iPhone.) Martin Hajek, who specializes in concept renderings sent me a link to his website where he presented some cool possibilities. Here’s one that shows what both a black and blue iPhone 7 might look like next to the classic space gray color.

Image credit: Martin Hajek

Finally, unlike Stevie Nicks, I seldom keep my visions to myself. One of the visions I had a few years ago, perhaps shared with a few, was this. With the advent of smart TVs and most households with Wi-Fi internet connections, why not put a video camera on the top? Then everyone could have a joyous, long-distance, big screen FaceTime (or Skype) call with friends and family.

That turned out not to be a Big Thing.

And so, with a heavy heart, I saw the final nail in the coffin. “What changes are coming to Skype for TV?” Here’s an excerpt.

Since 2010, Skype has delivered a great calling experience in the living room in partnership with several TV manufacturers. But over the years, users have changed the way they use Skype, with the majority accessing it from a mobile device—including when in the living room. We want to make sure we prioritize delivering the best possible experience to the platforms our users are asking for, which is why we’ve decided to focus our efforts in other areas…

Visions come and go.

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Teaser image via Shutterstock.

Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed on page two by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holidays.

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