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6 | www.travelweekly-asia.com TECHNOLOGY 2015: YEAR OF SMARTPHONES AND MOBILE TABLETS By Corinne Wan Two articles caught my eye while trawling through news sites recently, and both were about the Apple iPhone. The fi rst, "Smuggler caught with 94 iPhones strapped to his body", detailed how a man caught at Hong Kong airport trying to smuggle the much desired phone into China was betrayed by his strange way of walking. Which brings me to the point that we have become so obsessed with mobile gadgets that they have affected the way we live, play and work. An interesting report by Mashable, a news website for the Connected Generation - titled "Mobile 2015: 15 Mobile Trends to Watch in 2015" - showed how deep mobile devices are entrenched in our lives. These devices have reached such a huge number that Steve French, global vice president at Amdocs' OpenMarket, was quoted as saying they had, "surpassed the global human population, with nearly 90% of consumers owning a mobile phone and 30% a tablet." In addition to this proliferation, demographics will also infl uence the mobile space in 2015 (and beyond). "Millennials are changing the mobile landscape. The group is projected to have a purchasing power of US$2.45 trillion by 2015 and prefers mobile as their number-one way to be reached and interact." added French. Tolga Onuk, CEO of Thunderbolt Studios, predicted in the report that "2015 is, more than anything else, the year the smartphones and mobile tablets will be used more than all other devices in the market." The Mashable piece, which was sponsored by Mastercard, listed 15 trends that will shape mobile in 2015. I reproduced some of the trends below. You can read the full report at http://mashable. com/2015/01/02/mobile- trends-2015/ • Mobile payments will grow as a local phenomenon with the mainstream adoption of Apple Pay and similar apps. • The mobile-payment race will enter its global stretch. Nataly Kelly, vice president of marketing The group (millennials) is projected to have a purchasing power of US$2.45 trillion by 2015 and prefers mobile as their number-one way to be reached and interact. Photo: iStock. In the second from Forbes, "Hong Kong's Severe iPhone 6 Obsession", the writer said it was still near impossible to buy an iPhone 6 or the Plus version almost four months into its launch. The only way was through "luck" – waiting for the iPhone 6 online reservation page to open at 8am, and hoping for a chance to get one of the day's rationed iPhones. BROUGHT TO YOU BY: