---
title: "What Devices Will You Carry in 10 Years Time?"
date: 2011-08-22
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2011"
    url: "/tag/2011.md"
---

# What Devices Will You Carry in 10 Years Time?

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20111027233901im_/http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/bladerunner_vidphon.jpg)Futurist and author [Kevin Kelly posits](https://web.archive.org/web/20111027233901/http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/07/your_two_things.php) that in 10 years time, each of us will carry 2 computing devices on us: “one general purpose combination device, and one specialized device (per your major interests and style).” He also predicts that we will ***wear*** on average 10 computing things: “We’ll have devices built into belts, wristbands, necklaces, clothes, or more immediately into glasses or worn on our ears, etc.”

The general purpose combination device will be a close relation to today’s smartphone. As for the “specialized device,” I’m a writer by trade and so it will likely be a tablet-like thing for me. Or a very light and portable Netbook device – maybe I’ll be able to fold it up, so I can take it anywhere. What will your 2 things be? Speculate in the comments!

Note that while 10 years in the technology world can be a long time, form factors don’t evolve as fast as you may think. So while touchscreen smartphones and their app ecosystems didn’t arrive [until 2007 with the iPhone](https://web.archive.org/web/20111027233901/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_macworld07_keynote.php), today’s smartphone doesn’t look *that* much different to the 2001 models. Below to the left is an Ericsson T39 phone from 2001 (I worked for Ericsson at the time and had a similar model), compared to a 2011 iPhone 4 on the right. Sure the latter is sleeker and more functional, but the form factor is still a rectangle of about the same proportions.

In terms of functionality, Kelly writes that the 2021 era smartphone-like device will be a “wallet, purse, camera, phone, navigator, watch, swiss army knife combo.”

He thinks that the larger, specialized device will be dependent on your vocation:

> “Some jobs want a small text based device (programmers), others may want a large screen (filmmakers), others a very blinding bright display (contractor), or others a flexible collapsible device (salesperson).”

What devices do you think you’ll carry around with you in 10 years time?

*Image credit: [TheSt.LouisKid](https://web.archive.org/web/20111027233901/http://www.therpf.com/f9/thank-you-kurtyboy-blade-runner-119097/)*

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_devices_will_you_carry_in_10_years_time.php))*