Mobile phone trends and market evolution

Mobile Phone Trends and iPhone Technology

When considering the ever-changing and highly competitive global landscape of business today, firms must stay at the cutting edge of their respective fields in order to sustain profitability in the long-term. With the current exponential growth and advancement of technology and the computerization of business and learning, consumers and investors have become much more connected to the businesses they patronize (Kurzweil). Accordingly, companies are faced with the continuous task of finding new ways to understand and subsequently accommodate the needs of those customers and shareholders, while simultaneously securing lucrative business models and job environments. Over the last number of decades creativity and innovation in business processes have proven to be particularly vital in achieving success. Thus, with the inelastic demand for technology coupled with recent surges in technological innovation, mobile phones and other handheld devices have been transformed into the lifeblood on the contemporary technological world. The Apple Corporation and its massively popular iPhone have embraced the comprehensiveness of this trend and have begun to explore new areas for their device's applicability. Citing the convergent nature of technology in the globalized world, Apple has taken an active approach in adapting its products to fit a wider array of consumer demands . Consequently, the world's most popular Smartphone has recently been delving into research areas including virtual shopping, healthcare, home entertainment and many more (iHealth Lab Inc.; Kantra; Stylesight). While helpful features like GPS systems, internet, messaging and bill-paying have already reshaped the handhled device industry, all of the aforeposed highly applicable and useful applications will ideally help to further sychronize the world's technological devices and smartphones into an user-firendly and convenient framework. The future of technology is inevitably linked to these revolutionary advancements.

One of the most intriguing possibilities facing the iPhone lies in its potential healthcare applicability. According to a recent report published by Xcube Laboratories, healthcare currently ranks ninth on the list of most popular applications, behind things like games, music and sports apps (Xcube Laboratories). This trend heeds the infancy of research in this area. That is, theoretically the iPhone is capable of saving lives through its potential in the healthcare field. Research is already in progress regarding the iPhone's use in blood pressure monitoring systems . The culmination of this research will allow patients to attach their iPhone to a blood pressure dock, take a reading and send the results directly to their doctor for analysis . Such a possibility would certainly be extremely convenient and cost-effective especially for those with mobility issues. Furthermore, researchers at Northwestern University are devising a way for iPhones to be used as blood sugar monitoring systems . Without question, this could be a life-changing solution for diabetic patients. Thus, with such revolutionary innovations in the works regarding healthcare, the possibilities seem endless. Presumably, the advancement of iPhone healthcare technology will increase doctor-patient communicative capacities and hopefully help keep patients out of the hospital for extended periods of time. Such extended hospital stays are quite common and often end with patients having to pay ghastly bills, while rarely being able to directly communicate with their doctors. Knowing the disadvantages and inefficiencies of the overpopulated hospital system, iPhone technology in this area may just help to curb this regrettable trend.

Yet another futuristic arena that iPhone researchers and retailers have ventured into is the world of virtual shopping. Things like virtual fitting rooms, manicures and makeovers have given shoppers a new level of involvement in the online shopping process . By allowing customers to readily view how clothes would look on their bodies, many shoppers have forgone long trips to malls and retail outlets, and instead have chosen to shop from the comfort of their own living rooms. This technological trend has helped retailers to significantly increase their customer bases, while also helping the environment by reducing the number of cars used to drive to shopping locations. Thus, while the comfort and convenience of a personal shopping environment is certainly advantageous to all customers, there are also several other complimentary advantages of this revolutionary technological trend.