TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Horace Dediu:

Just like David’s sling, these technologies are not powerful in and of themselves, but rather, the way they are used makes them unpredictably sinister. The context of using capacitive touch on a handheld device rather than on a table-top makes it disruptive. Coupling it with high-speed mobile networks and powerful but efficient microprocessors made it into a force.

That is now ancient history. The consequences and repercussions are still being felt and weighed, but the smart money should be focusing on the next shift. From the time frame in the diagram above, it’s clear that the cycle time between “Revolutionary User Interfaces” is shrinking. It’s been five years since multi-touch. Is the next “RUI” already here? Is Siri the next RUI?

On the last episode of the Critical Path, Horace argues that it is, but also that Apple shouldn’t merely think of it as a sustaining technology—that is, a new technological advantage that will strengthen their current lead, rather than provide the next disruption in the industry.

I suggest you listen to the episode, if only because it’s a very powerful way of analyzing industries.