How often do you take a selfie and what do you do with it? Post it to social media and wait for the likes to flood in, no doubt. Well, a new report commissioned by Sony Mobile looks at the future of the humble selfie and its potential future applications.
Based on futurologist predictions and an international OnePoll survey of 6,500 smartphone owners from the UK, France, Germany and Spain, the survey predicts the top 10 ways of smartphones:
- Dating: Taking a selfie with your date to find out what they really think
- Medical: Selfie or video calls rather than face to face appointments with a GP
- Banking: Selfies as an alternative to passwords
- Leisure: Around half of thrill-seekers would like to try a ‘selfiecoaster’ – a roller coaster that puts you in control of capturing your experience on the ride
- Fitness: selfies that work with AI to capture body monitoring e.g. testing heart rates and even suggesting how to improve on technique and how accurately a move is being performed
- Fashion: taking a 3D body image for made-to-measure clothes
- Retail: using your smartphone camera to try on different outfits suited to your body shape, at the touch of a button
- Social currency: paying for entry to the cinema or a tourist attraction through a selfie
- Robots: Using your smartphone to control drones or robots to take selfies from other or extreme locations
- Home: Using selfies to secure and access our homes and cars.
The survey also found that over a third of customers would feel more secure if banks were to use selfies as a security measure rather than traditional passwords. More than a quarter also stated that they would prefer to see their GP via a selfie or video call than a face-to-face appointment.
Sony commissioned the report as part of a marketing campaign for their Xperia XZ model which offers superior quality photos. The results of the study achieved coverage on Amateur Photographer Magazine, the Express and the MailOnline amongst other online publications.
