NEW, NEWER, NEWEST!

As we all experience from time to time; time passes by very fast!

The last weeks I talked a lot about the Social Aspects of Digital Media, however, this week I want to talk about the technologies that are changing very fast. In addition to these blogs I have to write for the course Business Information Technologies, we have to write a paper about the information systems within a company. Writing this paper made me think about the technologies of the past and how fast everything is changing at this moment. This feeling got even stronger when I visited Maastricht last Friday the 25^th of March. It was the day that Nintendo launched its new Nintendo 3DS and Apple launched the new iPad 2.  People were even waiting in line in front of the Apple store!

Can you still remember the first mobile phone you got? I will never forget that ‘beautiful’ turquois colored Swing telephone or endless playing snake on that Nokia 3310. Do you still know how you felt when you played your first game at that very ‘cool’ grey Gameboy? I definitely do!

Nowadays, technologies are changing very fast; without a Smartphone with an internet connection you are nowhere. In addition, when I received my Blackberry last August I was very happy, however, this hype already passed. Now, everybody wants to have an iPad and the competitor brands like Samsung and HTC do not know how fast they also have to bring such tablet on the market.

Look at the following examples; they illustrate what I mean with these changing technologies.

GAMEBOY/NINTENDO

MOBILE PHONES

PRINTERS

However, it is nice to see that all these technologies and systems become better and more advanced. No one can imagine anymore how it would be without sending emails, checking Facebook, sending Tweets and surf the internet via their mobile phone. Today’s society heavily depends on technologies, especially their mobile phone; without it people feel naked. Worse of all; it is true, when I forget my mobile phone at home, I will immediately return backwards to get it.

Although the systems become more advanced and the designs look a lot better than in the past, is the quality of these new systems still as good as they were? Or due to the fast developments the quality is actually decreased? The new Nintendo 3DS has been launched about one week ago and there are already users complaining about the system. Users experience a so called ‘black screen of death’. Furthermore, Nintendo warned that children under the age of six should not play with the new Nintendo 3DS because it could be harmful for their eyes. However, to me this seems conflicting because such a game computer is meant for children to play with, right? In addition, three days after the launch of the iPad 2 in America somebody claimed to have hacked the system.

Moreover, the amount of competitors in the different markets has been increased over the years. There are more and more competitors who want to offer customers the best products, but even more important the newest products with the latest technologies. Nobody wants to stay ‘behind’. But are these devices checked on flaws enough before they go on the market? Is there enough time to evaluate? Or is the competition faster and faster and does this has a negative effect on the quality?

The last example illustrated above is a new 3D printer, which seems very cool. As the video shows, the printer can produce physical objects within several minutes. At this moment it takes quit some minutes to produce a certain object. Most likely in the future within only two minutes you could have for example a new pair of shoes. Now, you might think; “A new pair of shoes within only two minutes, that sounds really good”.  However, if this printer can produce a new pair of shoes, how fast could someone like Kaddafi produce new weapons?!

In sum, I think that the increased competitors in the market puts serious pressure on the different developers of computer systems, mobile phones, tablets (like the iPad and the Galaxy Tab), game computer, et cetera. Furthermore, I think that this could have consequences to the eventual quality of a system. The market is moving very fast, this leads to less time for pre-testing and evaluation of new systems. Moreover, it puts more pressure on developers to produce new systems within limited time. I think this is an important reason why many users of for example mobile phone devices experience problems and why they not always work how they should work.

How do you experience the latest technologies?

Talk to you next week!