Jacqueline Dubois tore open the small box from Google LastMile, placed the even smaller black box on the table in front of her, paired it with her tablet, and ran through the short set-up procedure, recording the framework for her movements and facial expressions.

Jacqueline scanned through her contact list, selected Monique Lafleur, a client from Geneva, and spoke the magic words “Beam me up, Larry!” A holographic image of Monique appeared above the black box.

Holograms were nothing new when Google’s Starline launched their latest product evolution a couple of months ago, but this time they had cracked the last hurdle: Mobility! Google had cut the cord (literally) and you could now have a hologram meeting at the pub, in the park, on the yacht, or in the office… wherever you were, without any cumbersome or fixed equipment.

A technical marvel in itself, the launch of Starline’s latest iteration was mostly felt outside the tech sphere. Airlines, conference centers, and business hotels lost trillions of dollars in value overnight. Pundits on CNN, Fox, and BBC compared it to the covid pandemic lockdowns in 2020 that crashed the airline industry.

Thomas Brown, CEO of Airlines United, showed his frustration when he commented: “We realized back then [the Covid-19 pandemic] that we were in the ‘connecting people business’, and still we missed this new technology and its impact on our business model.”

While Google’s Starline soars, the mobile phone networks cash in on increased data usage, and the hotels and airlines are once again trying to redefine their purpose. One can only wonder what else is brewing in the corporate R&D departments, and which sector will be disrupted next.

Get in touch (with or without holograms)

As the boundaries between physical and digital continue to blur, Futureworld helps organizations navigate the resulting complex landscape of emerging technologies and their potential impacts. Specializing in identifying disruptive innovations that can reshape entire sectors, our team of futurists and insights leaders works with clients to anticipate these game-changing developments and create new business opportunities. For more information on how emerging technologies might impact your industry or to explore potential business model innovations, please contact Futureworld Principal Matt Lawlor or Mindbullets editor Doug Vining.