It’s Only a Matter of Time

By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Just as “clocks” were incorporated into every imaginable electronic instrument a few years ago, so too are more sophisticated electronics being incorporated into daily use electronics, like your phone.

The telling of time has become so accessible to us today that many of us have stopped wearing wrist watches. In many cases, the once utilitarian watch has been relegated to little more than a piece of jewelry. Our phones keep perfect time and even change time zones automatically as we travel. Separate timepieces have been marginalized.

Other items long considered a stand alone item have become marginalized as well.  One such item would be a camera. Just a decade or so ago 24 hour Photomats were all the rage. Today, electronic cameras come in all versions, even on a keychain. The simplest among them take excellent snapshots, such as the ones currently “incorporated” into our smart phones, and we are in charge of developing our pictures. We still love to take pictures but Photomat is extinct.

Over the past summer I took a long weekend and visited an area of Florida. While there I had the use of a small runabout sans GPS. I found an app for that! (an app is an online application that can be downloaded to your device … in case you aren’t keeping up with the lingo.)

For a download fee less than $50 I was able to download a full set of charts that mapped out all of the waterways I would ever visit. It turned my iPhone into one of the most complete GPS’s on the water you could want. Tide info, direction, speed, waypoints, everything you might desire of a GPS was there on my tiny little screen. I had to remind myself that as small as this screen was, it was not short on information.

Which brings me to the iPad, its 9.7” screen, and the subject of electronic redundancy. Why would I buy a $3000 GPS when a $600 iPad loaded with a $50 app could do everything most GPS’s could do? And when I was finished using it on the boat, I could take it with me. I use the iPad for many multiple uses in daily life. I use it to read books, correspond in e-mail or social sites, create presentations, listen to my tunes, etc. Oh yea! Tunes, did I mention satellite radio? There’s an app for that too!

We’re living in one of the most exciting times anyone could have imagined a decade ago. We’re also beginning a re-education of simple economics in our lives. People still want to have fun. They just don’t want to spend as much doing it. So, just keep your iPad dry, eliminate as much electronic redundancy as you can, and enjoy the extra money. Build smart. Boat smart. Wait until you see my next concept boat.