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When Can We Expect NanoPhones to Be Hitting the Maket (ItoPro, 6/1/09) |
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June 06, 2009 |
In the competitive market place of mobile phones, new technologies come out over night, change everything, and then become simply “ordinary” a week later.
The entire industry centres on a form of technological Darwinism, where only the strongest and most visible products survive. Despite this, is it possible to accurately make predictions about what the future holds for mobile phones?
In 2005, Nokia released its Communicator 888 concept phone. The device featured a liquid battery, was completely flexible and capable of morphing shape - showing what was potentially possible with nanotechnology.
But, has there been any progress since, and, if so, could nanotechnology become the next technology to revolutionise the mobile phone industry?
From dream to touchscreen
Not so long ago, touch screen phones were merely a pipe dream, now they account for 20 per cent of the entire mobile phone market – largely thanks to Apple’s groundbreaking iPhone, which illustrated profoundly the effect technology can have on an industry in a short period of time.
However, touch screen along with 3G capabilities, picture and video projectors, as well as social GPS are all small potatoes compared to what Nokia is supposedly cooking up.
The Finnish phone giant recently announced its plans to create a transformable mobile phone, by using nanotechnology to produce flexible electronic components that would allow the handset to morph between shapes, develop artificial intelligence, and even clean itself.
Known as Morph, the joint venture between Nokia and Cambridge University, seeks to build on the 888 concept, and eventually implement nanotechnology into mobile devices.
Dr. Bob Iannucci, chief technology officer (CTO), at Nokia said in a statement: "Nokia Research Centre is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices; the Morph concept shows what might be possible.”
http://www.itpro.co.uk/611182/nanotechnology-the-future-of-mobile-phones
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