While writing my last article an old adage came to mind, "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door". That adage seems to be back in vogue when I look at the innovation coming through for business technology and the daily needs to stay connected. The other thought that came to mind was an old quote supposedly attributed to Charles Duell, commissioner of the US patent office in 1899, who said, "everything that can be invented has been invented".
So would he have been right if he had said that today? Maybe, for when was the last time you found something completely new to use? I wanted to use the iPad as an example but it was just a better mouse trap when compared to previous tablet PCs. Sure there is plenty of amazing stuff about and every day it gets more amazing but is any of it a brand new invention?
From consumer electronic extravaganzas like the Las Vegas conference to the latest motor show, through to home ware and building exhibitions we find advancements on products or reinventions to keep them top of mind for consumers. Everything we need today seems to exist and it's hard to remember the last time I was amazed at a new product that took the world by storm.
TV was around, along with the car, vacuum cleaners, HiFi equipment and a sundry of other every day products when I came into this world. I admit the last 50 years have been the most progressively productive for advancements of ideas but milestones today have more to do with innovation of a previous idea than a new product. Science fiction movies of today struggle to amaze us with a look into the future because it seems like it's all been invented already?
The Sony Walkman, the mobile phone, the MP3 player, the world wide web and of course the computer to take it all in, were all startling inventions but it's been a while between drinks. Is that because pencil thin 3D TV is just an extension of what we already have ( wow isn't that taking off, not ) or that going faster and broader through the Internet really ends up with access to more stuff we already have? They are just two examples of what people are passing off as new inventions today, when the reality skews more to innovation than invention.
The issue with all of the above is, I don't really know what I want invented. I haven't got a clue as to what I am missing in my life until someone with a brilliant new invention shows me what I'm missing. Like the MP3 player / iPod, which showed me I always wanted to carry around my entire music collection and then allowed me to do it in style. Like the computer which opened up the world via the WWW, true inventions become the milestones from which all others are measured.
So no matter what Mr Dyson does with the vacuum cleaner or what Mr Jobs does with the phone, they will only be building on the blocks of inventions that came before and building the better mouse trap.
Maybe I just need to be satisfied with progress via innovation because it sure is nice to have the latest models, so iPhone 4 move along, I see the next one over the horizon. That'll keep em happy for a while.
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