Wireless communications: 2020

There are no shortages of predictions as to what the mobile phone, or communicator device, will be capable of in the future. Many of these center around the phone becoming a “personal butler” or “remote control on life,” and guiding an individual through an increasingly frenetic and complex world with ease and intelligence. However, we have had these predictions with us for over a decade: indeed the ability to dial home and turn on the air conditioning was postulated by AT&T in the 1960s. Is now the time that they really will emerge, or will wireless communications twenty years from now look much like it does today? The predictions reported in this paper are based on a more detailed book published in 2007 [1].