The Post Mobile Era: Keynote with Robert Scoble at #BIAKNEXT

Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) studies the future — that’s literally his job description as a futurist at Rackspace. In this keynote for the BIA/Kelsey NEXT conference in Los Angeles, he’s going to share what’s on his radar as the major disruptors and game changers headed our way.

Beacon Technology

Straight away, he’s talking beacons. Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is wielding beacon technology to great success. Scoble reports that soon, the technology could develop so that when a fan enters the stadium, the giant screen lights up and welcomes him or her to the arena. He then imagines said fan will flash a selfie with his name lit up behind him. This is the future of digital marketing.

Beacons, he says, are little radios that cost less than $10. With such a low cost, he predicts their presence will explode before we know it.

Tapingo and the Internet of Things

More is coming up than beacons, though. Scoble wants to talk about Tapingo, an app that is disrupting the way students at Santa Clara University get their morning coffee fix. Seventy percent of transactions at the university are conducted with Tapingo. It lets users order coffee with a few taps — the app tells the students when they can pick up their order, and they just walk in and grab it. This technology also lets a person pass Tapingo dollars back and forth with other users, thereby creating a new economy, as well.

“The Internet of things has changed the way we interact with things,” Scoble says.

Today’s soda machines are even different. The back end lets the soda machine proprietor know what inventory needs to be replaced in real time — no more going around and checking them and then heading back to a warehouse. Data and intel save businesses like this millions of dollars over time, Scoble says. Not to mention, you can even use Apple Pay at the savvy machines.

What else is Scoble excited about?

• Magic Leap
• Snapchat glasses
• ODG night vision goggles
• Virtual malls
• Amazon Echo
• Mercedes Benz self-driving car
• Oculus Rift

“I don’t care how freaked out you are by this stuff. You’re going to use it,” he said.

What happens when you can’t get in an arena without enabling beacons? What happens when certain app functionality doesn’t work? Before long, everyone will be using it, regardless of initial hesitation. Beacons and other technology are designed to make your life easier and/or better, so we, as users, end up handing over our data.

“We live in a convenience-based economy. Uber was just one of the big guns — every industry is going to be changed by data. If you don’t disrupt your industry, someone else will,” Scoble says.

What future technology are YOU paying attention to in this post-mobile era?

Kristi Kellogg is a journalist, news hound, professional copywriter, and social (media) butterfly. Currently, she is a senior SEO content writer for Conde Nast. Her articles appear in newspapers, magazines, across the Internet and in books such as "Content Marketing Strategies for Professionals" and "The Media Relations Guidebook." Formerly, she was the social media editor at Bruce Clay Inc.

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