Last week I realised I was following Google maps accurately on a walking route in a shopping centre – underground – in central London. It reminded me that the technologies we’ve written about and promoted for our clients are still making it to deployment on a daily basis, but without the fanfare or fuss ‘technology’ used to receive.

That’s just progress, right? And things still need to happen to make everyday interactions and tasks smoother and easier.

Locating me or identifying my direction of travel isn’t really all that hard. So consider what’s coming next. Making the broader network aware of me, my precise location, my gender and maybe my point of origin…which presents dozens of interesting commercial possibilities that I’m only just starting to appreciate.

Marketing offers by SMS is obvious, but digital signage that reaches out to me as I pass by, as an individual or as part of a group of supporters or fans, to inform or influence our decisions? Or buildings that react to my presence and just let me in or a mass transit system that intelligently guides my passage to the best exit. Cashless transactions that pre-empt my commitment and appear inertia-free with zero overt security. These things will all be delivered, in live systems, somewhere in the world, tomorrow.

Next week’s roll-out will probably impact you, and the cool part is that you won’t even notice.

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