The iPhone has changed the habits of my household. Even though only my wife and I each have one, it has become a key consumer product which my entire family uses. At work, it’s a phone, and on MRTs, we use it to serve the net, load up useful applications (or just game apps as well). It’s a lot easier to open up an app on a crowded MRT than it is to take a book or newspaper out and start reading. In fact, given the very heavy crowds I face during the morning rush hour and on return trips as well (The East West line is always packed), I often feel very embarrassed pulling out a book to read because I am afraid it will take up much needed “body” space in the press of bodies. Opening up a phone app on the other hand takes up far less space.
Once we reach home, we are swarmed by our two kids, and at this stage, they are old enough to play with some of the kids apps. So, nowadays, they are so excited to see us, and the first thing my son does when he sees us, is to ask for our iPhone…sigh. Even my mum in law likes the mahjong app which is on it as well, so we got an iPad (so that the screen is bigger), and she plays with that as well.
So, the iPhones are used so much that they have to be charged every day. And we continue to find new and interesting apps to use, or to play with. I now secretly double check the FSM app for the valuations and earnings growth of the various markets before I go on any TV interview so that I get the latest up to date values.
I think these new technologies sometimes bring people’s distances further though, if you allow yourself to get too caught up. Sometimes, my wife and I will be standing right next to each other, taking the MRT home, and we are both looking at our iPhones. Or we want to spend some time with our kids but they want to play with our iPhones instead!
In office as well, colleagues are so surprised when they find out I don’t have MSN, because they are so used to using that to communicate as well. Its just that for me, I want think human interaction is still the best, so if someone is only a few steps away, I would rather walk that few steps and talk to that person face to face than send MSN messages through the computer.
Technology is a great enabler, and I have no doubt that smart phones (including the iPhone) are changing our habits as we speak. So, Fundsupermart has to evolve with the times as well. It’s an exiting time for all of us, where we live in a great era where technologies can move so fast that gadgets and habits can change several times within a lifetime. The pager has already gone extinct, and who knows if the laptop is on its way out (with the iPad and similar gadgets) taking its place. The handphone has become much much more than just a phone now as well.
The same goes for companies and for people as well. Everyone has to keep on moving forward. To stand still is to risk being left behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment