Build A Better Mousetrap

You can see the future of Marketing by standing in line at the grocery store.

At least I did today. While waiting to buy some yogurt and bananas, I watched a toddler point, push, prod and try to manipulate the screen where your items are displayed to you as they’re swiped across the bar code reader. While smudging the screen, the child was saying, "iPhone…iPad!" The mother – looking more than a little embarrassed – said, "she thinks it’s her Dad’s iPad… kids today."

Kids today. Adults tomorrow.

They’re not going to use a mouse. They’re probably not going to use a keyboard the way we use one. They’re probably going to have minimal text-based like communication (the way we have). I used to laugh at the line that a young person thinks that a screen without a mouse is broken. Imagine, we’re at that exact moment in time when a young person who can’t interact with a screen by touching it will assume that the screen is broken.

This is a big, big deal.

For the most part, we humans have a hard time seeing the big changes and how this affects the rest of humanity going forward. While I won’t point to a specific device (iPhone or iPad), it’s safe to say that this will become the standard going forward. Look no further than how Apple is positioning the trackpad on the new MacBook Air. They’re talking about it as if it’s like touching a screen instead of comparing it to a mouse.

These are big, big changes. Can you feel them? A two-year-old can.