THE MOBILE WAVE

Entrepreneur and technology expert Saylor investigates the stunning new world of smartphones and tablets and likes what he sees.

These new mobile technologies are game-changers, writes the author in this paean to the “disruptive technology” wrought by the little devices that herald not just an information and communication revolution, but a vast rearranging of the social and commercial landscape. With its affordability, worldwide distribution and 24/7 availability, mobile computing has already profoundly affected publishing, entertainment, social interactions, medical care, education, financial transactions, and advertising and marketing. Saylor’s passion for speed, efficiency and the betterment of the human condition through the ability to immediately address health and education concerns is incandescent and well-framed. Still, what is being lost as we so intimately commune with our devices, heads bowed, oblivious to our surroundings? The author addresses issues of privacy, monopoly control and the spread of misinformation, but he is less concerned with the loss of human-to-human interaction and the consequences of super efficiency. An electronic university education feels like a diminished substitute for being in the presence of a great professor; Amazon will never replace poking through a bookstore; and there is something disconcerting with the sentence, “Between 2003 and 2007, more than 2,700 record stores vanished, freeing up real estate and capital that could be used for other things.”

Saylor makes a strong case for the wonder and value of mobile computing, though it leaves a chill in the air.