Last Friday night Joanne and I were playing Quiddler while eating dinner at Miller’s Grocery – one of our long time favorite relaxing spots. We enjoy the ambience, the live music and the great down-home cooking. Debbie, the owner stopped by to chat and in the conversation asked if we carried a dictionary with us to challenge questionable words. We told her we used to carry a dictionary but at this point we simply use our iPhones to check any word instantly. She then started listing the things the smart phones have made obsolete and Joanne and I continued thinking about that list on the way home. While we certainly think of our phones as primarily phones, it is interesting to note what we no longer use as a result of the many functions.
What about you? When was the last time you used a physical map? Or even bothered to pull your GPS out of the glovebox?
Our list started to expand with things we no longer use:
- Map
- GPS
- Flashlight
- Alarm Clock
- Wristwatch
- Calendar
- Dictionary
- Bible Commentaries
- Board Games
- Tape Recorder
- Newspaper
- CDs
- Land Line Phones
- Camera
- Yellow Pages
- Address book
- Catalogs
- Fax Machine
- Phone Booths
- Notepad
- iPod
- Calculator
- Level
- Cookbooks
So how do you respond to these changes? Are you discouraged because nothing new needs to be invented? Are you excited because everything seems to be a possibility? Do you have an idea that would make people’s lives easier? Do you think now may be the time to launch that service business you’ve been thinking about? (With all the fancy electronics we have there’s still plenty of opportunity for solid service businesses.)
Do you have an idea for a business or invention?
My suggestion: Keep an “idea log” for this year. Write down every idea you have. Experts tell us we all have 3-4 ideas a year that would make us millionaires – IF we acted on them. Don’t let your $1,000,000 idea slip by. In the next few days I’m going to be sharing some more tips for turning your ideas into reality.
Thanks for an eye opening post, Dan. It struck me how much my Windows phone has replaced so many things I used. I actually use it more for the other functions than as a telephone. I have both Evernote and a voice recorder on my phone, so I am going to be intentional in recording ideas this year. Take care.
Ken – Yeah, once we started listing things we were blown away by how much our phones have replaced things we used to depend on.
That’s a great list Dan – and it keeps growing! Although mobile devices have eliminated some products, they are creating wonderful new business opportunities. I work with innovative people every day and can definitely confirm that there’s an Abundance of great ideas still waiting to be discovered and implemented.
I’ve heard it said several times that you have the wealth of knowledge of the entire world in your hand if you own a smart phone.
Love this post. And perfect timing! One day before Google announces that it purchased Nest, a company that started in 2011 by making a better home thermostat, for 3.2 BILLION dollars.
How many times have you walked by or adjusted your thermostat since 2011? There was a multi-billion dollar idea right in there.
Nick – yep, we need to keep our eyes open for that next opportunity. I’m thinking about post-it-notes. Oh wait – I’m a little late on that one.
Dan,
Along the idea line, my new favorite find is Quirky.com . It is sort of Crowd -manufacturing. You either submit an idea or you can just be an influencer. Even if you have just a rough idea of a product, they take it to the team to vote on creating it. Then through the processes of design, name, pricing… Influencers vote or give input. Everyone who contributes to making the project happen, gets a cut. It also gets the creative juices flowing with ideas.