5G + HTML5 = Magic

Image via WikipediaWhen we get there it will be like there is just one operating system on all smartphones and tablets. Better, it will be like there is not even an operating system. The browser is all you need. And it will be a rich browser.

For the longest time the underlying assumption has been that if you want rich applications you need to do it on the desktop. On the smartphone we call them apps. By the time you hit 5G and HTML5 we will have crossed a threshold. The reverse will be true. The not rich applications will be on the desktop and in the form of apps on smartphones. The truly rich apps will be all browser based. That is really something.

This is not just an always on premise. This is an always on, and really really fast premise. And HTML5 is that architecture that all top tech companies are rapidly gravitating towards. When we get there it will be like all of software will have to be reinvented, redone. All apps will need a redo. There will be a lot of work to go around for sure.

The single biggest failure of the stimulus bill of 2009 was that taking every American into gigabit broadband territory was not the centerpiece of that legislation.

Tens Of Billions Of Devices

Image via WikipediaThe smartphone as a form factor has been firmly established. The tablet as a form factor has been firmly established. There will be new generations of laptops, tablets and smartphones that will respond to new developments in software, hardware and connectivity. But the basic form factor level innovation now perhaps has moved to things that will be smaller than the smartphone. In an earlier post I called it the wrist watch. But the wrist watch is only one of 100 possibilities. By the time you get to small, smart flying objects you are looking at some serious damage.

The wrist watch metaphor is erroneous since most of these devices will not have screens. They will simply sit there and collect data, lots of it, like the fly on the wall. The data thus collected might be displayed on the screens of the larger form factors.

There was a wonderful article I read on the topic at ReadWriteWeb a few days back that I have not been able to dig up. But there is a similar post on AllThingsD.

Beyond Tablets: The Next Five Computing Form Factors