(Annette Moser-Wellman)

How long have we lived with the futuristic scene of a homemaker in front of her refrigerator ordering milk on the built-in computer screen? Images abound that have not transpired, but it doesn't stop us from wondering about the future of these rapidly changing computer devices and their application for everyday uses. From smart phones to dumb netbooks, from game boxes to cable boxes, we wonder how this panoply of screens will work together, or not, in the future.

One point of view on this future comes from Ephraim Cohen, a consultant in the digital media space at The Fortex Group. We asked Cohen about technology trends he notices in TV, mobile and more. Instead of the PC dominating the computer interface, he predicts "The cell phone is on its way to becoming the entertainment hub of the home and potentially the information hub of the workplace."

How did this transition happen and what can we expect the changes to be? Cohen explains that with the iPhone, Apple popularized the app store, and made it easy and fun to use the full potential of computing technology off of the mobile device. Previously wireless carriers controlled how people used their phones by selecting functionality like video or texting.  Now carriers are giving control to the user, who can download applications as they want or need them. Cell phones already had much of this capability, but it was the one-touch apps and the choices the App Store offered that demonstrated the phones' potential to consumers.

To illustrate how cell phones will be the hub, Cohen uses the Roku as an example. The Roku is a digital video player box that streams Netflix movies directly to the big screen TV. Using an iPhone, you can choose a movie that's not yet programmed into a Netflix account, hit "Add to Instant Queue" and watch it on a large screen TV. Similar to the way phones can be used to program a DVR remotely, the phone becomes a juiced-up remote control.  Cohen cites other examples of the cell phone as the hub screen for the home by accessing theater systems, streaming music and especially gaming. "People are even starting to manage their social networks through their phone in addition to over their web browser," Cohen says.

In fact, Cohen believes business enterprises may become increasingly open to employees using a single cell phone and a laptop (or netbook) for both work related responsibilities and personal use. While the company might provide a cell phone and/or laptop, more people are using the same device as the hub between personal and professional uses. Since most want to carry only one phone and laptop, many are using them for both work and personal use as well. Rather than just putting up with the practice, there may be a trend toward companies providing ways to use a single phone and laptop as a complete personal hub and to assist the employees by keeping work-related information separate and protected.

Cohen tells me there are four screens for Internet based applications, information and content, and that these screens are merely different sizes serving different needs – mobile for instant, on-the-go information, PC for long form reading and composition, TV for the lean-back couch experience, including interactivity, and the movie theater for communal viewing. These seamless experiences will be enabled by the introduction of broadband capability to the TV and the big-screen theater.

Theaters are currently using connected digital cinema projectors and experimenting with live screenings of football games, but the bigger change will come when broadband TV is widespread and made as easily accessible through the iPhone apps store. Broadband TV already allows Netflix movies, streaming of Amazon on-demand movies in HD, and access to both Flickr photos and Twitter feeds.

Cohen predicts that in the same way the app store unleashed the power of the computer on an iPhone, the app store may become available on broadband TVs as well. "Yahoo already has a platform that's kind of like an app store - the Yahoo TV Widgets platform. Vizio is also putting Adobe Flash into their TVs, which is a sign that developers will start creating applications that use Flash for TVs. People will start seeing their TV as they do their phone - as an Internet device," he says. The need for a separate video game box will disappear and gaming companies will create new applications that let people download games through the TV app store.

When the four screen model is in its full bloom, consumers will be able to select what uses work best for them on what size screen. Because the cell phone is usually no further away than 3 feet at any one time, its dominance may crown it as the roving hub of a networked world. But I could really still use that ordering screen on the refrigerator door.


Annette Moser-Wellman is President of Firemark, Inc., an innovation consultancy, and author of Six Competencies of the Next Generation News Organization and Running While The Earth Shakes: Creating An Innovation Strategy To Win In The Digital Age, both published by the Media Management Center.

This TechScout article is part of a series of Moser-Wellman interviews commissioned by the Media Management Center to explore opportunities and insights at the intersection of technology and the news media. Click here to view other articles in the TechScout series.

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