Eric Schmidt (CEO/Google) and Jared Cohen (Director of Google Ideas) recently spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations. Their discussion centered on disruptive technologies with the smart phone highlighted as a prime candidate for the newest disruptive technology. This hour long discussion while very interesting is mostly about the role of technology in emerging markets and Third World nations. However, the first part is worth taking a look at.
A couple of highlights are that Google expects there to be 1 billion new smart phone users over the next couple years. This growth they feel will lead to mobile becoming the dominant platform for computing. Statements like this continues to reinforce the need for libraries and academia to get serious about mobile computing. One thought I had is how this trend will influence our international students who may view a handheld as their primary computing device.
Another fun tidbit is that 15% of Google queries each day are unique. Not sure what that means but it is interesting.
Here is the video:
