As Phones Shrink, Sales Will Grow
As popular as car telephones have become, the true potential--and mass popularity--of portable cellular phones will not be realized until later in the 1990s, says Freedonia Group Inc., a market research firm that has studied portable communications in America.
“The portable cellular phone is still in an early stage of development,” the firm says in a report on portable communications. “Sales are expected to increase more than 50% per annum over the next five years, aided by miniaturization and the emergence of the Personal Communications Network, a specialized cellular service geared to pocket-sized portable phones.”
By the end of the 1990s, the company predicts, worldwide portable-phone networks will greatly expand the capabilities of cellular telephones, thus increasing their appeal. “The consumer market for portable cellular phones is still largely untapped and will expand rapidly as prices come down,” the Freedonia Group concludes. By 2000, portable cellular phone sales are expected to climb to approximately $6 billion per year.
People Find Less Time to Take Time Off
If it seems like a long time since you’ve had more than a few days away from the office just to rest and relax, you’re probably right: Americans are taking shorter vacations and more weekend trips, according to the U.S. Travel Data Center. A recent study by the group showed that more than 55% of all vacation trips taken in 1989 lasted three nights or fewer--and nearly half of those mini-vacations were taken over a weekend.
This shortening of vacations is attributed at least in part to the growing number of dual-career families. “With more women in the work force, many couples face a time crunch and scheduling conflicts, which make it difficult to take the traditional two-week vacation,” the U.S. Travel Data Center notes. Other reasons cited for the increase in shorter vacations include a general limited availability of leisure time, as well as a slower growth in the number of households with children, which generally take longer trips.
Weekend travel has been the fastest-growing trend, and that growth is expected to continue. From 1984 to 1989, the number of weekend vacations in the United States climbed 28%. Most of these weekend vacations were taken by young people and married couples. More than 68% of all weekend leisure trips were taken by Americans under age 45, and more than half were taken by married couples.
3-D Glasses Shaping Up for Computer Use
Three-dimensional glasses--which have never really caught on at the movies--may have interesting future applications with computers. The glasses, combined with stereoscopic viewing software, provide the illusion of depth and can be used for the three-dimensional modeling of computer-generated images such as industrial parts, interior designs and clothing.
ModaCAD, a Los Angeles-based firm that designs computer software for clothing design and production, has created a computer program that uses 3-D glasses. The program models and renders organic shapes on the computer screen that simulate the qualities of any fabric or texture as it moves, stretches and wrinkles.
Using 3-D glasses, fabric and garment designs “appear to project right out from the computer screen,” says Linda Freedman, ModaCAD’s vice president of marketing. “The simulated images are so real that they can be used for advertising or story boards, and they can even be animated for prospective buyers before anything has actually been produced.”
Other uses of this ModaVision technology include building design, architectural detailing, machine-part design and entertainment applications such as animation and special-effects video production.
“The computer-generated images are photographic quality,” Freedman notes. “Therefore, sample making and prototyping costs are dramatically reduced--as is the development cycle.”
