The industry follows behaviour, not requirements

Last week at Management World Nice I was struck by the continued use of a surprising phrase.  While there was alot of talk about technology and business models and even  monetization, the unexpected phrase that I heard several times that caught my attention was 'Social Psychology'. 

The context for this was in discussions about the direction of the industry.  I heard people pronounce that we are no longer a technology led industry, we are a mass market lifestyle & fashion industry.  What we do is not driven by the art of the possible as much as it is driven by the way our customers want to live, love and interact.  The psychology of society is going to determine where our industry goes, what services we offer, how we price our offers and how we structure our infrastructure.  This is a bold statement for what is perhaps the most technology driven major industry on the planet.

Of course is should not be surprising that an industry expects to be led by its customers demands.  But this is a little bit different.  It's not as if we can ask our customer what they want.  They don't know!  And right up until the moment that they 'bless' the killer application they cannot tell you want they want - in fact they haven't a clue.  Facebook and Youtube and Twitter are classic examples.  No focus group in the world could lead you to divine and develop those services ten years ago.  However, it is possible - just possible - that students of social psychology might be able to point the way towards the next killer application. 

So while the buzz is all about clouds and 4G, each of the major industry players should also have make a small investment in listening to what the social psychologists are predicting. Not just the obvious stuff about how Facebook will grow, but the more subtle stuff about how the human race wants to live and the implications for communications of the next 10 years. 

The only thing I'm certain of is that in five years time we will be discussing an amazing killer applictaion that nobody leading the industry - and I mean nobody - has even thought of yet!