Eye phone or a smart idea for smartphone companies, may be the next market disruptor | Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Smartphones as well as laptops and tablets are 21st century essentials. According to Statista, currently 3.5 billion people globally own smartphones. That works out to nearly 45% of the world’s population, which is 7.8 billion. The percentage of smartphone users will go up substantially every year.Now, look at another statistic. Vision Council of America estimates that over 4 billion people in the world use either glasses or contact lenses. That’s more than 51% of the global population.There’s no data on how many smartphone users wear glasses or use contacts. But it’s likely to be a very substantial number.Now consider three facts.1. Vision problems typically are more common as a person ages.2. Purchasing power typically also goes up as a person grows older or working.3. Researchers studying what is called the digital eye syndrome (vision problems associated with prolonged exposure to digital screens) have noted that people with eyeglasses or contact lenses are likely to suffer more while looking at digital screens for extended periods of time.All these data and facts are telling smartphone companies one thing — there’s a huge market for devices with screens that adapt to an eyeglass or contact lens user’s vision problems. And super premium pricing is no issue because, as we noted, older people who have vision problems are also typically those who have more purchasing power.Think about it. A corporate executive with, say, nearsightedness who can’t work without his phone or laptop would gladly pay a fairly steep premium for a device that allows him to take off his glasses while using his device. The sheer relief and convenience is impossible to overestimate.In the Indian pricing context, a CEO with vision issues who pays around one lakh rupees for a top-end, feature-rich Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max or a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra would pay a 20-30% premium without batting an eyelid for a model that allows him to take off his eyeglasses while working.The same holds globally. And don’t underestimate the potential market from smartphone-addicted, eyeglass/contact lens wearing teenagers with affluent parents – they, and their parents, would be only too happy to pay those premiums too.Apple, Samsung and other top-of-the-line smartphone makers should therefore definitely consider adding these vision-correcting smartphones to their product portfolio. The first company out with such a product will likely be able to charge high premiums.Toplines, bottomlines and market capitalisation will all spike. That’s the nature of disruptive innovation. It disproportionately rewards first movers. So, even if, say, a competitor hits the market with a similar product in a quarter, the first mover will still make a lot of money and add a lot of heft to its m-cap. The good news for Apples, Samsungs and their likes is that at least one version of base level technology for such devices has already been tested. And the even better news is that according to research in this technology, vision-correcting devices may need nothing more than a smart accessory that can be fitted onto an existing smartphone.As Live Science reports (https://bit.ly/3jOqBOL) on an MIT Technology Media Lab project: A “vision-correcting display is a thin, transparent material that fits on top of the screen of a smartphone or other device. It works in conjunction with a software program to correct the viewer’s focal distance — the range at which the eye can bring objects into focus.” Focal distance is the problem for people with vision issues like nearsightedness or farsightedness.University of California, Berkley researchers also developed a similar technology. The basic way this technology works is this:1. The vision-correcting screen cover has tiny pinholes that adjust lights coming from the screen.2. An algorithm is fed with data on an individual’s specific vision impairment.3. That algorithm then adjusts, as Live Science reports, “the intensity of each direction of light that emanates from a single pixel of an image on the device's screen”.4. It’s this adjustment that allows a vision-impaired person to keep away his eyeglasses and still see clear images on the smartphone screen.Obviously, when smartphone makers sell vision-correcting devices they will have to be programmed with each user’s specific vision data. But that’s hardly an insurmountable problem. The programming can be done at a retail level or even by consumers themselves. Right now, apps that can adjust screen light or font size or other display particulars in a few quick clicks are all that vision-impaired people can fall back on when using digital devices. For them, a device that adjusts to their own vision needs and allows them to say goodbye to their glasses will be a boon. And the company that gives this product to them will have a smash hit. The new Eye Phone — that may well be the next market disruptor.