This weekend I realized something that still blows my mind. It is something I’ve seen other people talk about, but never truly felt like it was true. I bought the HTC Evo 4G the day it came out to replace my disappointing Palm Pre. I haven’t picked up my laptop for casual browsing since I bought it. I’m the same guy who can spend 14 hours straight on my laptop (programming mostly), and it is starting to collect dust. This “mobile revolution” is two pronged. First, everything is becoming more local. I want local news, local tweets, updates about stores, etc all in a personalized news stream. I get most of that via Twitter right now, but it will improve. If you don’t believe me, follow @JeffJarvis, author of What Would Google Do (my current favorite book). The Internet has brought people from across the world together, but we still live in a local world, and these “super phones”, as Google calls them, are bridging that gap. Secondly, the “mobile revolution” means the average person is going to need their computer less and less. Why drag out that big, clunky thing when all of your news comes through a simple app? Why wait for your laptop to boot if your phone is always on and does nearly anything you need? Of course, for most of the power user types that read this site, you’ll still need a laptop to program, debug, etc. But for how much longer? I’m already ordering a bluetooth keyboard so I’ll never again need carry around my laptop to take notes in class. How long until I find an online Python IDE that I like? When that happens, my programming may switch to my phone with the keyboard. If I really want, I can SSH into my server and program there in vi or emacs. I already set up scripts to do simple things on my server with the touch of the screen (reboot, restart certain services, get performance data, etc). So what I’m say is, if your site or product doesn’t have an app, you can bet I won’t use you nearly as much as your competitor that does have an app. So what are you waiting for? You can bet I’ll be showing you how to integrate Android with your home server. Let’s get this revolution rolling!
About Josh Gachnang
