Motorola CTO on What’s Next

Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Motorola, had some interesting things to say at Fortune iMeme last week in San Francisco on the “Tapping Technology’s Global Opportunity” panel with John Chambers. Here were her very insightful pre-conference Q&A responses:

Padmasree Warrior
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Motorola, Inc.

“1) For you personally, what technology has taken the most unexpected turn in your lifetime?

For me personally, the technology that has taken the most unexpected turn in my lifetime is what I refer to as “the device formerly known as the cell phone.” I still remember many predictions that by 2000 there would only be about a million cell phone users. Boy, were they ever wrong!

Today there are about 2.9 billion mobile device users, i.e., roughly half the planet uses this technology for so much more than a phone call. Today people call people, not places! Today a new language called text speak is practiced across the globe with the characters “< 3" meaning "love" the world over. This new speech crosses language and cultural boundaries, bringing us closer. Today's mobile phone retailing at less than $40 has more processing power than the spaceship that first put man on the moon; and the 13-year-old using it may well know more than the 1969 Apollo engineers!

The mobile device of the future will be your persona. It will carry your mail and keep your calendar, it will be your wallet and the jewel you wear, it will be your camera and television, it will remind you when you forget, it will entertain you with music and games, it will help you get there from here, it will show things that you may miss, it will understand and talk to you, it will allow you to share your experiences and your worlds - and all this as easy as a simple phone call.

The first call from atop Mount Everest, the farmer in India earning a livelihood using SMS, the lifesaving weather information for fishermen in Africa via the mobile, the videos and TV shows that people watch in Korea and Japan on their commute -- no one ever expected any of this on the mobile device. It is the first computer for many people, and it is the platform for the next internet.

2) What, for you, has been the most surprising infectious idea of the past year?

The most surprising and infectious idea in the past year has been the ability to time-, place- and device-shift media. Think of how viewing habits have changed with DVR's that allow people to take control of program schedules. People are now creating their own video programs and sharing them online for others to watch. We are now moving TV and video content from the living room to the mobile device. This shift is revolutionizing the video and broadcast industry.

Media and entertainment will change dramatically compared to the past five years. A significant amount of content creation will be spontaneous generation in addition to planned production. Content distribution will include "persona-cast" and not just broadcast. Content presentation will shift to multiple screens from one screen. Content delivery will move beyond the living room to time-, device-, place-shift. Content consumption will become more participatory rather than remain passive.

It is no longer about "always on;" the future is about "always on-demand." There is a third screen enabling this - on the mobile!

3) What really drives innovation in technology?

Innovation is hard work. It takes remarkable thought leaders with vision, passion and energy to drive ideas into reality. It is about letting a few geeks and gadflies change the game. There are no rules in the ethos of innovation - that has been my mantra for the past several years.

I passionately believe that innovation is birthed from the union of technical IQ, business IQ and entrepreneurial IQ. It is nurtured by a handful of persistent individuals debating a seemingly stray idea, and asking why it may or may not work. It grows with tweaking and twiddling, unglamorous and fast-paced iterations called experimentation.

Innovation happens by bringing together diverse thought: sociologists, technologists, marketers, and well, sometimes even those lawyers! Agile, small groups working towards a defining vision may be not always in perfect harmony, but always moving in the right direction.

Innovation in technology is driven by people solving real problems. It is catalyzed by people with provocative ideas to create an impact on the marketplace. Often they swim upstream against the tide of conventional thinking, having a strong passion for their vision. Cultivating an environment that encourages and protects such people is imperative in fostering innovation in technology. I often ask five questions to stimulate innovation: what relevant problem does this solve, what are the competing alternatives, what differentiates this solution, what are the barriers to entry, and what is the business opportunity?"

Padmasree maintains a blog at http://blogs.motorola.com/author/padmasree-warrior/