For the past year, I've been thinking only about "What comes after smartphones?"

I was heading to Disneyland with my family. Holding my two-year-old child in both arms on a packed train, my wife, also holding bags in both hands, asked, "Do you know what the weather's like today?"

I tried to check the weather app on my phone. "Was it the right pocket? Or the left?" I shifted the child from arm to arm while fumbling deep inside my jeans for my phone. I nearly dropped my commuter pass case, which was in the same pocket, but finally pulled it out. Then, clumsily, I tried to enter the passcode with one hand... (etc.).

"All I want is to know the weather, so what on earth am I doing?" I thought to myself. "Wouldn't it be so convenient if I could just know the weather without moving my hands at a time like this!"

A device that surpasses smartphones will emerge within five years?!

The iPhone launched in January 2007. In just a few months, it will be exactly ten years since smartphones were born. It's truly astonishing how much the world has changed in just ten years, and smartphones aren't going anywhere anytime soon. But on the other hand, perhaps within the next five years, a world-changing device surpassing the smartphone might emerge (considering the accelerating pace of technological evolution, this doesn't seem at all far-fetched).

Indeed, the two leading companies driving smartphones seem to have already begun challenging the "next" phase. Google developed "Google Glass" (around 2012~), while Apple created the "Apple Watch" (on sale since April 2015). However, Glass is currently suspended from general release, and the Watch still hasn't achieved the explosive adoption seen with the iPod or iPhone.

So, what kind of device will come next? This question has been on my mind for over a year now.

My first thought was that it must not take away the functions of the "hands" and "eyes," which are also inconvenient aspects of smartphones. For that, it must be a wearable device. And if it's wearable, I came up with the hypothesis that a device meeting the following three conditions would be the one worthy of taking on the role of "the next thing after smartphones."

Wigs, rings, contact lenses... What can you wear 24/7, 365 days a year?

 

Here are the three hypotheses I believe are necessary conditions for the "next generation after smartphones":

Being closer to the "face" is preferable because sensory organs (capable of inputting/outputting information) are concentrated in that area.

Furthermore, the mechanism processing this information is the "brain," and in the future, direct communication with the brain might become possible (e.g., communication via brainwaves or approaches based solely on visualizing images within the brain).

To put it more bluntly, devices will likely eventually go beyond wearables or implants. They'll become tiny "nanobots," about the size of a red blood cell, entering the body to cure diseases. This has led to extreme (?) discussions like "humans transcending death" (if you're interested, check out books like Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology).

I digressed a bit, but considering this hypothesis, it's debatable whether glasses are smaller than smartphones, and whether watches are closer to the face or brain than smartphones. On the other hand, both can be worn longer, but for times like sleeping, smartphones might be more convenient since you can place them by your pillow.

Ultimately, I want to find something that perfectly addresses all three hypotheses. So I mapped out as comprehensively as possible various possibilities: "wig," "necklace," "ring," "false nails," "earrings," "dentures," "contact lenses"...

 

As I thought this through, the three hypotheses I presented earlier transformed in my mind as follows.

While still closer to imaginative play and at the hypothesis level, one day I realized that with current technology, there exists an intermediate solution. That is the wearable transformation of hearing.

The next big thing after smartphones isn't wearables—it's "hearables"!

So, what exactly is wearable audio?

I had long been aware of how artificial intelligence had advanced "voice recognition" (meaning text input via voice is now possible), so I immediately thought, "Voice-based input and output of information would be ideal."

Also, the only wearables I use daily are a ring and earbuds. "That's it! What if I speak into the ring (input) and listen through the earbuds (output)?" I had a flash of inspiration.

I immediately shared this idea with my junior colleague, Mr. Yada, only to receive his mercilessly harsh critique: "That's so lame! No one would ever do that!"

That night, feeling dejected while bathing my child, I suddenly realized: "Wait, maybe I don't even need a ring. If the sound could be picked up directly from the earbuds..."

Then it hit me: "Hearing aids pick up voices, amplify them inside the device, and output them as easier-to-hear sounds. Wait... that means they handle both input and output! Amazing!" I couldn't help but shout "Eureka!" in the bath.

Earbuds (hearing aids) that go into the "hole" of the ear are right in the middle between wearables and implants.

It felt so connected to the brain that I wondered, "Could you see the brain deep inside that dark ear canal?" And of course, it doesn't take up your hands or eyes (I also imagined putting something in the nostrils or eye sockets, but that feels pretty unpleasant, right?).

The next day, when I mentioned it to Yada-kun, his reaction wasn't negative this time—it was more like, "Yeah, you're right."

A few days later, an article titled "Hearing Aids, Made Smart" appeared in the Nikkei newspaper. I learned that hearing aids, linked to smartphones, were gaining convenient features and evolving to be small enough to fit in the ear canal. Needless to say, I proudly showed Yada-kun the article. ※Nikkei Shimbun, September 17, 2015, Evening Edition; digital version here (Source: "NIKKEI STYLE").

Later, someone told me that wearable hearing devices are called "hearables" (Hear+Wearable) in Europe and America. "Hearables" began to gain traction both domestically and internationally, but that's a story for another time.