We all know that the advent of the smart phone has changed our world irreversibly – with people being able to do things, and stay in touch with almost everyone on the fly ( without having to be tethered to a desk pc )

But if you look carefully you will see that the new breed of touch phone is changing the world in ways I think that even the inventors didn’t envision.

How ?

By using touch screens.

What ?

I didn’t notice it until recently, then once spotted I had a dripping tap moment and am seeing this everywhere now.

What are you seeing – who has a tap – what ? I’m lost.

People touching things – that what I saw.

It started with me showing a colleague an article on my kindle ( one of the older non-touch versions ) and they tried to swipe it to change the page.

I had to explain that it didn’t work on touch, and thought no more of it.

Then I passed a guy in the train station and saw something remarkable.

He touched the electronic timetable display, and not just touched, but gave it a little swipe – he expected it to behave the same way as his phone ( despite the fact that the display had probably been there before his phone had even been made )

Now I am seeing it everywhere – whenever there is a display someone tries to touch it – to swipe it – they want it to show them more – they want it to be like their phones.

(Unfortunately 99% of electronic displays don’t have this functionality yet)

But I bet they will soon.

Imagine the world tomorrow – every advert, every display, will let you touch it, swipe it to get some more info – a different colour, a price, a different set of data.

The touch phone has created a stir – but I don’t think the stirring is over with yet – soon the world will be touch sensitive.