Survey reveals what people want from tomorrow's gadgets

Paul Boughton
Cambridge Consultants has published the results of its recent online survey aimed at discovering attitudes towards past, present and future technological development; the survey was conducted as part of the company's 50th anniversary celebrations. Based on data supplied by over 1000 respondents, the research revealed that two out of three people believe that small, fast-growing companies will be responsible for the most influential technologies in the future. This put them way ahead of large, multinational companies.
 
The survey also revealed that being small is not necessarily important in terms of gadgets - reducing the size of devices was a priority for less than two per cent of respondents. Making gadgets faster was also a surprisingly low priority for consumers, with less than five per cent indicating that it was of high importance. Instead, gadget users would prefer to see technology products capable of solving new problems (with over one-third of votes) and become easier to use (27 per cent).
 
Dr Brian Moon, CEO of Cambridge Consultants, comments: "In the last few years we have seen the most successful products fully exploit both form and function. Indeed, as the insides of gadgets continue to increase in complexity, paradoxically the exteriors become ever simpler. There clearly also remains a strong demand for new and inventive technologies - something that Cambridge Consultants prides itself in developing."
 
Other findings showed that almost two-thirds of respondents consider the internet to be the most life-changing invention of the past 50 years. Moon adds: "The internet, although seen by many as a maturing technology, is actually still in its infancy and we have only really scratched the surface on what it can do. The next phase will see the convergence of objects, devices and systems with the internet – a blurring of the lines between online and offline worlds."
 
For more information, visit www.cambridgeconsultants.com

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