10 HOT CONSUMER TRENDS 2030 -THE INTERNET OF SENSES

You are sitting in your kitchen.

As you think about having an Arabian Nights dinner party, the room starts to change. Arabic music plays softly, the plain kitchen tiles take on bright patterns and the smell of fragrant lamb stew hits your nostrils. You turn your gaze to the table, which is now covered with a rustic woven cotton cloth, flowers, lit candles and exotically decorated plates which you touch and rearrange.

Avatars of your friends appear in the chairs, with calendar access so you simply think: “create invitation”. While the calendars are populated, your table fills up with ingredients from a digital store letting you check their freshness and taste test a new yogurt sauce. Since two guests are vegetarian, you also taste a plant-based stew before placing your order. Welcome to the world of the “Internet of Senses.”

5G – MATERIALIZING DREAMS WITH THE INTERNET OF SENSES

Today, technology interacts primarily with two senses – sight and sound. At Ericsson Research, our vision is that advanced technology will enable a full Internet of Senses by 2025, and include the ability to digitally communicate thoughts by 2030. We live in a screen-based 4G world where smartphones are integral to our lives, but people aren't expecting this to be the case for much longer. Half the world's smartphone users predict that by 2025 we will all be wearing lightweight, fashionable AR glasses. Consumers also predict wearables that can instantly translate languages, allow us to control our sound environment and experience smell, taste, textures and temperature digitally. As consumers step further into this sensory digital world, they will require hyperfast connectivity, imperceptible edge computing-based lag and advanced automation.

CONSUMERS EXPECT AN INTERNET OF SENSES