For the next decade, at least, the key to the consumer’s heart will be less in the technology itself than in the masking of technology to make it more user-friendly.
Predictor: Seaman, Barrett
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Time, reporter Barrett Seaman writes about future technologies: ”The process of home shopping, now a three-part cable-TV, 800-number and credit-card transaction, is poised to move to a higher level of interactivity. Next: interactive-TV programs and in-store kiosks known as ‘electronic mirrors’ with holographic images that enable buyers to see what clothes look like on them without really trying anything on. Computer catalogs of homes will someday include virtual-reality ‘tours’ of each room in a house. Not all of this will take commercial root. The marketplace, for example, will weed out even technically feasible devices if they prove to complicated for the average consumer to use. For the next decade, at least, the key to the consumer’s heart will be less in the technology itself than in the masking of technology to make it more user-friendly.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: Shopping
Name of publication: Time
Title, headline, chapter name: The Future is Already Here
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000001899061&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney