During the 2025 IFA Kick Off presentation interesting topics came up concerning the future of consumer interaction with technology.
First, are robots the future? Yes. The two categories of robotic technology are industrial and service. The former will be used for everything from building, heavy lifting in warehouse or space exploration. While the latter will be in households, offices. The household aspect of human and robot relationship is profund. Will robot become household artificial companions? What will be the rules for these interactions? Should society consider science fiction author Isaac Asimov’s rules:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Brands once stood by their durability. Companies once proudly promoted reliability, free service. The business model based on customer satisfaction. As businesses moved production to cheaper countries, leaders decided to skimp on quality by using lower priced components.
Circular
Electronic waste, the problem gets bigger as products become obsolete and buyers want the newest gadgets. What do users do with older phones and tablets? Tech products clog landfills around the world. Should companies be regulated to extend product life cycles? How would this affect quarterly profits?
Circular Economy proponents want to make tech repair easier. It is a nice sound bite on a stage, yet the reality is a wide gulf to jump.
Once upon a time neighborhoods had local repair shops for TV’s, white goods, cameras and watches. Over the past forty years those locales and service skills vanished, replaced by the easy access of buying a new product online, delivered to the door within in 48 hours. From the writer’s first-hand experience after trying to repair some beloved photography equipment, I was told “throw it away”.
Secondly, the standard wait for repairing a washer is two weeks if the part is available.
Smartphones almost killed compact cameras, but in a reverse, cheap point and shoot digital cameras have become popular online with buyers. Priced from 40 to 100 euros, these fit in the pocket gismos are now cool.
IFA 2025 starts September 5.