The Supercomputer in Your Pocket

On a recent episode of The Charlie Rose Show, venture capitalist and Netscape founder Marc Andreessen commented that the term “smartphone” was a misnomer. “What you really have,” Andreessen quipped, “is a supercomputer in your pocket.”

That sentence set my head to spinning. Some quick research revealed that the average iPhone or high-end Android device of 2013 has roughly the same processing power of 1987’s ETA 10-E, one of the fastest computers in the world at that time, which had to be cooled with liquid nitrogen. Wow.

What if everyone in 1987 had an ETA 10-E in their pocket? What might the implications be?

In a recent opinion piece published in the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman observed “...virtually everyone everywhere has, or will have soon, access to a handheld computer/cellphone, which can be activated by voice or touch, connected via the cloud to infinite applications and storage, so they can work, invent, entertain, collaborate and learn for less money than ever before.”

Friedman believes that this technological development is largely fueling the “Jobless Recovery” because the rates of technological advance, training and productivity, which have been largely in sync with each other over the past 200 years, are now completely out of kilter. Friedman concludes “...you will need to develop skills that are complementary to technology rather than ones that can be easily replaced by it...”

These facts and analyses hold tremendous implications for entrepreneurs. Clearly the number of business opportunities opening up are almost limitless, but they will only be capitalized upon by those who invest the time, effort and money into developing their skills and leveraging the technology.

If your smartphone often makes you feel like an idiot - and you aren’t doing anything to get that situation turned around - you may soon find yourself one of the people who got run over by today’s technology. Here’s what I recommend you do to avoid that.

Buy A Pocket Supercomputer
This is no longer an option, a luxury or a frill. This is an absolute necessity for anyone, especially a business owner. Too expensive you say? My first Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy Precedent, can be purchased today for as little as $29.99 (reconditioned) and connected to a $45 per month unlimited voice, data and text plan at SmartTalk.com. Do it. Now.

Learn To Use Your Pocket Supercomputer
A Google search for “how to use my android phone” yielded 187,000 results. Ask people how they are using their phones in general and how the accomplish specific tasks like sending texts and emails, shooting videos, etc. The very best way to learn is by doing.

Put Your Pocket Supercomputer To Work Building Your Business
There are a wide variety of ways these devices can save you time, make you more effective, lower your costs and make you money. Start using Shoeboxed to capture every receipt and business card that comes into your hands. Simply shoot a photo with your phone and send it to Shoeboxed. They will hand-enter the data and integrate the expense information from the receipts into Quickbooks and put the contact information from the business cards into your database.

Shoot product stills and how-to videos. Show your clients the latest addition to your service offerings. Do video-calls with distant clients instead of traveling. Capture video client testimonials at that “Golden Moment” when they are glowingly telling you how wonderful you are.

Calculate The Number of Parsecs To The Nearest M-Class Planet
How the processing power of your average Motorola Razr would compare to the voice-activated computer available to Captain Kirk on the bridge of the starship Enterprise is anyone’s guess. But this much is clear; you can access the entirety of all the world’s accumulated knowledge right now, simply by asking your phone.

A musician friend recently asked me “What was the name of that guy who played electric guitar on all of Ricky Nelson’s records?” “I’ll find out for you,” I replied. “OL, let me know next time we see each other.” “No, I’m going to tell you right now,” I said, and verbally asked my Android phone that precise question. The instantaneous response? James Burton - along with his entire life story.

There is virtually no question that you can ask your phone for which it cannot deliver the correct response. If you want to learn how to be buoyed by the meteoric rise of technological power rather than crushed beneath it, put the supercomputer in your pocket to work. Ask, and ye shall receive.