On more than one occasion I have read research studies that suggested that most Americans would rather forget their wallet than their cell phone. With that in mind, one of the biggest ?threats? to the printing industry is the use of cell phones in business and travel applications.
Continental Airlines has started a test program that allows travelers to ?carry? their boarding passes on their cell phones.
Travelers carry their IDs and display a digital UPC code on their cell phone screen that can be scanned. Naturally, this single application could cease home printing of paper boarding passes that have collectively spilled rivers of ink and toner profits for printer companies.
The application could lead to the development of other ?on the go? applications that were previously made for paper.
Maps, travel instructions, calendars, reservations, and the actual exchange of documents from one phone to the other could save customers major costs in paper, ink, and the hassle of lugging all of those notes around.
Regardless, our use of paper will hardly decline despite these advancements in cell phone technology.
Paper is a heck of a good product ? it?s cheap, light, very transportable, can be reused (write on the back of a post it note) and doesn?t run out of batteries.
