Intelligent Business Elementary Unit 15.1.

The phone of the future

Experts talk about big changes for the telephone

It is easy to imagine what mobile phones will look like in a year or two – they'll probably be smaller. But what will they look like ten or fifteen years from now? Perhaps they'll be so small that we won't be able to see them. Maybe we'll have phones in jewellery such as rings, and fashion items like sunglasses.

People in Japan can already use mobile phones to buy things in shops. In some countries it is also possible to use a phone as a train ticket and office pass. So, what new functions will phones have in the future? One thing that is certain is that phones will do more of the things that PCs do today. Some people also think that we'll use phones as house keys, passports, computer games, maps and video recorders. The phone will be our “remote control for life”. In a decade's time, many phones will have enough memory to video all of a person's life.

Companies are developing phones built into glasses. This will be useful when looking for directions – a map will appear inside the glass of the lens. Maybe we’ll be able to use our phone to label people at a party or conference. We'll never forget a name again.

Some experts think that in the future we'll use our voice instead of our fingers to put data into a phone. Stuart Wolf, a professor at the University of Virginia, predicts that in 20 years’ time people will use their thoughts to communicate with each other. We won't need phones at all!

Intelligent Business Elementary Unit 15.2.

A new place to advertise

Companies put advertisements into video games

Young men who play video games usually watch less television than before – and that means that they don't watch so many advertisements. What can advertisers do to reach this group? The obvious answer is to put advertisements into video games.

An advantage for advertisers these days is that they can update advertisements with new information. They are called dynamic adverts because advertisers can change the information regularly, and this is possible because most PCs (and other computer games equipment) are connected to the internet.

Dynamic adverts are good for companies whose products change quickly, for example mobile phones and clothes. It is also a good way to promote films. Another idea is to update the music used in games. Music companies can use this to promote a pop group's new song. Companies spent $26m on dynamic adverts in computer games last year, and this year it will be more.

All this is good news for the companies that design and publish video games, too. Today's games can cost as much as $20m to develop. The selling prices are usually around $60 in the USA and £45 ($90) in the UK. So, extra money from advertising could help to pay for the development of new computer games.

This style of advertising can help both global and local businesses. Global companies can reach difficult markets. Local companies can promote local events, such as concerts. The idea is also popular with many players who think it makes the games look more realistic.

In the future, dynamic adverts will be in many video games and – at the moment – the advertisers and the players like the idea.