story by Kim Souza
ksouza@thecitywire
When you leave your home today, the first three items you’re likely to grab include: keys, wallet and your smart phone.
ATT Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said within a couple of years mobile technology and cloud computing are likely to make two of those three unnecessary -- the wallet and the keys.
Stephenson was the keynote speaker at the Rogers-Lowell Annual Chamber Banquet on Tuesday night (Mar. 5)
He said mobile technology that is fast enough to handle data is something consumers now take for granted, but it’s barely a decade old and the iPhone didn’t debut until 2007.
From the time the Blackberry debuted around 2000 internet usage grew 75,000%, according to Stephenson. He said once the iPhone was introduced in 2007 internet usage continued to explode, growing another 30,000% through the next six years.
“We learned early on that when mobility was applied, usage increased and this radically changed how people communicate. We are on the cusp of more amazing technology that will be even more disruptive to the market place in the next five years or so,” Stephenson said.
He explained that as 4G technology – the next generation of faster fiber optic bandwidths – becomes married to unlimited cloud storage all of the data contained on the mobile device is accessible and synced with data on the laptop at home and the tablet in the briefcase.
“Now you can access any data for any device you own or one you might find the room next door,” Stephenson said.
Another area where mobile technology is radically changing products is in the auto industry. ATT recently signed a deal with General Motors to equip the 2014 auto line with the latest mobile technology, allowing consumers to interface their data, songs, contracts, messages, etc., directly into their dashboards.
He joked that the YouTube videos are only available for passengers in the back seat because they don’t want passengers being distracted anymore than necessary.
Stephenson expects in a couple years that more people will monitor and secure their homes through their mobile device and pay for items via scan-and-go technology already being piloted at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
“We believe you will unlock doors and pay for goods with your cell phone in the very near future. Every business sector will be impacted from mobile 4G and we believe this telecommunication infrastructure will be the catalyst for the next industrial revolution,” he concluded.