Every developed technology integrated into the daily life of people, result in a process of social adaptation. Thus, when the radio was born, the traditional language style of printed communication media began to change. The burst of the cinema and the television also caused an adaptation of language into the audiovisual field.
The most striking change we've had in the recent decades has been the adaptation to the Internet. Not only an adaptation of the way of redacting and structuring the news has occurred, but also new forms of communication and business systems have been created. It was a shocking change for those who had not an easy adaptation, but for many users this advance has meant simplicity, the development and the increasing of speed to work.
With the first iPhone in 2007, the smartphones’ boom started, since that, we are utilizing daily smart mobile devices. They are not just phones with instant messaging capabilities, but powerful mini computers. Since that first apparition six years ago, it has been necessary to start rethinking the shooting style of video contents because the smart mobile devices screens are smaller. The reading form has changed and, therefore, the writing form too. Any generation not adapted to these changes often says that the new generations do not read, and many experts, as Yanet Acosta, believe that the new generation reads more and more, but in other formats and in other ways: Facebook, short news, in 140 characters, in WhatsApp, and others applications. Web page programming has also had to be tailored to the screens of the new kind of handset, and also to the urgency of an increase of content in the social nature.
Everyday products have been exclusively created for these smart mobile devices, and even games that can only be played from tablets or touch screens mobiles. What is intended to express is that there are social networking sites that exist because today's mobile devices are smart; without them, social websites like Instagram, Foursquare or others location-based applications couldn’t be explained.
The adaptive curiosity and the games
Today, “I am buying a toy” is not a term as usual as “I'm downloading a game”. The videogames have gone from being a simple leisure mode to be part of teaching tools or memory booster. With the growth of the market for sensitive screens of smart mobile devices, new ways of playing have been created; is the evolution, the birth of new api or types of interfaces: Candy Crush, Angry Birds, Zuma Factory, Bubble Shooter among much others.
The Public Relations world (PR) and the corporate communications evolve. Almost all big companies have established internal communication through internal social networking sites, and many of the managers are connected in these through their smartphones or another kind of smart mobile devices.
The virtual world merges with the real one
The 2.0 world has grown thanks to the omnipresence of the smartphones, and now we are seeing an interesting business transfer from the 2.0 to the physical world. In most malls, there is at least one store exclusively dedicated to the physical protection of our devices, either a tablet or a handset. These are specialized stores of enclosures of smart mobile devices, cases or covers and screens protectors, shops that 2 or 3 years ago were not so common. The supply of these products has grown in number and variety of shapes, colors, materials and textures.
The Angry Birds case is another example of the virtual world over the real one, because today there are many establishments that market the products of these feathered characters, products like stuffed animals. Its growth has been so great that they have cartoons movies and series. The latest versions of Angry Birds games include the ability to integrate characters in the game from the physical product of that character, by scanning with the smart mobile devices the tag with a Bidi or QR code.
In the advertising business, you can also observe this integration of worlds. Now the most common is access to commercials or even to movie trailers through scanning a barcode from posters or magazines.
The corporate event invitations through barcode or through Wab (Wireless Application Protocol) pages are now a routine, as well as the sending of congratulations for special dates, such as Christmas, specifically via e-mail and with suitable format for smart mobile devices. They are few websites that have not upgraded their interface; this means that there are very few websites that have not adapted its format to one that can be read comfortably on smartphones or on tablets.
Times change, trends alike. We are in the interactive era
Things that we do not propose happen: Nokia lost its supremacy when data rates enhanced their availability and became accessible, when the providers achieved the improvement of connectivity and when sensitive touch screens turned important. The cellular mobiles regrow in size because of the needs of the screens and interfaces; the low cost smartphones are taking more and more power, the universalization of the audio or battery chargers has been raised, and what is causing real explosion in the online market is the use of these devices. The m-commerce (purchases through mobile devices) accounts for 11% of all e-commerce, according to the report Mobile Commerce 2013 of Online Business School.
The change of the environments
It goes beyond the change of business activity. Now computer programmers have gone from performing client software to creating applications of smart mobile devices. The constant innovation is part of their goals, and mobiles applications are the daily bread. From kids who download apps to take funny photos or educational games, to dictionary applications, or to transport or distribution enterprises which have their own handset app to provide their services. These small programs are becoming unnumbered and the paradigm and purpose of computing professionals. The companies do not have possibilities in e-commerce if they don’t adapt their pages to phones and tablets.
In computer careers now learning how to make applications to a handset is basic. In careers like business administration, economics or communication; part of the new curriculum is based on the potential of RRSS as work tools, communication media or business utility of mobiles applications. In fact, most demanded masters refer this topic to.
Going beyond the applications, now there is more variety of operating systems for smart mobile devices, and they are more famous than the PC operating systems: Symbian, BlackeBerry, Windows Mobile, Android or iOs from Apple.
The companies that demand to the workers, above all in charge of control, to have their own social profile are many. Facilities departments and Spending departments of large companies have as a service the management of smart mobile devices to much of its workforce; either because there is a need of simple or internal communication through special social networking sites or through their own platforms. The calls still work, but even suppliers and dealers are contacted through WhatsApp. Today companies create blogs with content by departments or by internal campaigns, and workers can access to them by their mobiles.
The boundary between work and personal
Smartphones and their applications are always in professional life, in entertainment and in the everyday of the people. Whether it's Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or Twitter; we are in the era of the share, where the collaboration with third-party and transparency in communication are strengthens, and smart mobile devices are the means. As a pointed issue, the younger generations are living dunks in that virtual world (where their windows to the world are their mobiles), disconnected from the rest. Now the ubiquitous and sharing are conceptions that don’t have barriers, reaching large loss of privacy concept. Candid shots, prying picture or any video message are becoming more common because they have greater distribution. The sharing of a photo or a video today is so easy, from the handsets or tablets, you can raise or spend a picture immediately, and then the thing is to wait for a viral effect. However, it is a danger to the image rights.
The difficulty of parental control today
The interactions of teens with their friends are so different from the ways of previous generations. Young users now care much more their digital images, and the numbers of idle shares uploaded by their mobiles, are becoming more graphics.
The handset becomes the means of a group identity and creates bonds of belonging. It is not only the medium in which they communicate themselves, but also to learn and have fun through these complete artifacts, the smartphones. Today, voice calls are used for communication with parents and the text is reserved to communication with friends. The voice becomes a symbol of control, and the text becomes a symbol of equality and proximity.
The ambitions and the happiness of the young consumers today are the achievement or the purchasing of the devices with more agile screens, latest models and labels: iPhone, iPad, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, Huawei and many others. Most of time consumer’s choices are depending of the operating system of these devices. Smartphones withdrawals by parents are the worst punishment for teenagers. And for adults is the panic exemplified.
All in one. Creating dependency
The users carry their agenda, their picture and video camera, their music and music player, their TV, and their computer, their social life, and Internet connection with them anytime, anywhere and, all built-in these technologies. It is normal that a common person depends of these electronics devices, in such that a few years ago has emerged a new kind of psychological disorder, the Nomophobia. This no-mobile-phone phobia, is an irrational fear of leaving home without the handset.
The present and the future
Now we just have to wait for the plain development of m-commerce and new technological advances. For now we know that the next screens will be curved, flexible or transparent; that the companies are working in wearable and flexible technology like mobile phones in glasses, bracelets or rings. The trends point towards developing a technology greener and a more compact. We can only wait to see how these changes affect society.