It seems nearly impossible to believe, but the laptop is on pace to become the next dinosaur. How does that affect you? We all currently wrestle with expensive (and long term) free-to-guest TV agreements, aging pay-per-view agreements, guest networks, bandwidth, and on and on. The hassle, the pain, and the guest complaints even when it works can cause even the best hotels to suffer. With 4G in full swing, the continuing consolidation of an all-in-one device is in full swing, which will free us of all the media and connectivity burdens.
Already we are seeing the development of phones with computing power. Look no further than the Droid X or the iPhone 4 for phones that have nearly all the capability of a laptop in a much smaller package. I personally carry the Motorola Droid 2 World (same as Droid X but works worldwide) and now barely crack my laptop out of the office.
With 4G, the phones now have the bandwidth to match their process power.
Whether it be communication or entertainment, companies are riding the wave of new bandwidth and developing the content specific for the phone. For example, Warner Bros announced the launch of movie apps. The first two to roll out will be Dark Knight and Inception. It may seem insignificant but the technology development behind this announcement along with Paramount’s efforts with Window’s 7 signal a significant shift in delivery of content. Radio, TV, movies, social media, internet access, GPS, and Angry Birds all available in our pocket (except for my friend Mike in NYC who still carries a phone from the 1990s just to see how long it will work, it’s a great conversation piece).
For hotels, it emphasizes the change in the hotel room. Our TVs become really large monitors as all guests bring in their content, in room phones become non-existent, and we exit the technology services industry. In short, evolution back to what we were originally, a good bed, clean bathroom, and quite place to ping, nudge, IM, google, and tweet.