The 4th Screen (Apple’s iPhone, for example)

Media isn’t something we merely watch or interact with for fun. Media is something we consume. Our eyes eat it up, and our brains digest it. Throughout history, media has almost always been fed to the ravenous masses through screens. Movie screens, television screens, computer screens, and now, cell phone screens.

I’ve heard rumors online about an Apple iPhone (cell phone + iPod) for months now, but the New York Times mentioned it in an article today. I think we’re not surprised and are all expecting our desktop/laptop computers to continue shrinking until they are able to fit in our pockets, but proof of this impending phenomenon is evident in the growth of wireless information being delivered by wireless providers.

Cellular carriers reported $1 billion+ for each quarter of 2006 in revenues for wireless information transfer services. To put this in perspective, that puts the US about even with Europe, and about a year behind users in Asia where about 50% are connected to 3-G networks, next generation wireless networks. This trend can also be seen in initiatives by companies like Earthlink who are racing to be the first to create wireless halos around major metropolitan areas (including New Orleans).

More about the 4th screen

Think of Steve Jobs as a drug dealer…(that’s a little strong)…as a Lay’s potato chip dealer. He offers you one. You like it. It’s crisp and clean high technology, but palatable due to its ease of use. He’s got you hooked on his chip and now you’re ready for his next offering. It just so happens that this new taste is similar to the first one, but he attaches much more meaning to this one.

An iPhone is going to do a lot, and I don’t mean as a geeky gadget. It’s going to mean more to you because you’ll be able to control your life, work and play, everything, from a device that fits easily into the palm of your hand. The 4th screen is going to set off an arms race among established behemoths like Nokia and Motorolla, not to mention wake the sleeping mother of all behemoths, Google. But as huge as this stuff is, and as amazing as it’s going to be, I think we (consumers) are going to have more power and control than we ever had before.

It’s as if Jobs taught us how to open a door, and then let us open a door. Now he says open this door. You’ll open it the same way, and it looks the same all glossy and white, but this time instead of a door, it’s a floodgate. Prepare for the deluge, change is a’comin.