Move over iPhone--the Paper Smartphone is coming.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped my Android phone.  Even with insurance that I pay 7.50 a month for and a phone that is 18 months old (which is really old in technology years), T-Mobile wants to charge me $150 to replace because the glass on the screen is cracked (but still in place).  So for $150, I get the pleasure of purchasing really old technology (I can't apply the $150 to new technology unless I sign another 2-year contract).  Isn't that a nice way to treat customers--rip customers off when you can, however many ways that you can!  I can't wait to no longer be their customer.

The new paper smartphone will change this picture in the years ahead.  The paper smart phone is having its  big debut at the Associating of Computing Machinery's Computer Human Interaction 2011 conference in Vancouver, I relish at the idea that there is no glass to break on this phone!  Yes, I know the paper phone is not available yet, but it's good to know that there is a real working prototype and this technology will come to the market soon.

The paper phone is made out of a thin film which makes it very lightweight, like paper in a plastic wrapper.  It does everything a smart phone currently does-- make phone calls, send text messages, play music, and more. To operate it, users will "bend it" versus "touch it."

If you stick the paper phone in your pants pocket, it will bend with your clothing and not break.  And there are no worries at all if you drop it on the floor.  No broken glass!

Best of all, light, flexible computers like this are coming, too.  I can visualize all of the virtual teams, virtual leaders, and other road warriers that will celebrate no more broken back from carrying computers and other technologies through airports, trains, and other distant places.  I am already getting my checkbook out to pay for the paper mobile phone and the paper computer the day they are available for sale!

Read the article and watch two great videos (particularly Sony's) at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1383903/PaperPhone-The-smartphone-paper-shape-pocket.html

Respectfully submitted

Jaclyn Kostner, Ph.D., the Distance Doctor

Expert in communication, collaboration, and community when people are NOT face-to-face. 

Visit our website at http://www.distance.com/.