Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age and die. The “clean phone” trend we forecast is still in technology’s womb. And those who recognize the firms giving birth to this multi-billion-dollar market segment will reap great financial benefits and personal satisfaction.
In trend forecasting, all things are connected. It’s Globalnomic®. To understand the market dynamics and growth potential of “clean phones” is to recognize the connection among “clean foods,” a term I coined in the Trends Journal in 1993.
Making the Connections
For most millennials, it’s ancient history. But for Baby Boomers and Gen X, when you went to the supermarket in the 1980s, the array of fruits and vegetables was limited. With lettuce, it was iceberg. Romaine, red leaf, Boston… forget about it.
If you wanted variety and yearned for organic, the only place you’d find it in those pre-Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods days was in small health-food stores in the low-rent section of town.
By the early 1990s, it began to change. The organic trend blossomed. Why? Despite claims by chemical companies such as DuPont that “used correctly, there should be negligible risk to human beings… chemicals that fight weeds, fungus and pests provide a major benefit in producing an abundant, affordable food supply…”, a wide spectrum of an educated society began to make the connection that devouring foods laced and produced with multiple combinations of chemical and pesticides posed high health risks.
As scientific evidence across the globe confirmed the spectrum of ill effects of processed, chemically laden foods, and large-scale food producers could no longer deny the evidence, as predicted, a robust, growing counter-trend parallel industry was born.
While still a minority of the total food market, the $43 billion organic/clean food sector has steadily grown, and many of the small startups back then are now owned by corporate giants who were losing market share due to pay-more-to-stay-healthy consumers.
“Clean Phones”
Just as my Trends Research Institute predicted the birth of the clean-food movement, we predict the rise of “clean phones” for essentially the same reason: A large market sector is ready to put its money where its health is.
The world is wireless. And the smartphone and its comparable cousins are now the source of numerous studies showing that radiation from the devices may be tied to brain cancer and other ailments. The health-risk list keeps growing.
In fact, initial findings of a study released in May by the federal National Toxicology Program found that radiation from radio-frequency exposure caused tumors in lab rats.
TRENDPOST: Therefore, as evidence grows and public awareness regarding health risks of chronic cellphone use increases, particularly among children, the same market segment that pays for clean food will swiftly gravitate to “clean phones.” Thus, safer cellphone devices that are effective and marketed with a “clean phone” theme and brand will corner a market with rich and growing potential.