Several years ago, when Tamagotchi became popular, I thought it was a good way to teach a kid how to take care of a pet without an actual risk of hurting or killing one. Back at that time I had no idea that the meaning of this toy was much deeper…

Today our coffee maker in the office asked for decalcification. My colleague mentioned: “It’s almost like Tamagotchi.” That was a bolt from the blue!

I wouldn’t probably even notice this comment if I wasn’t just in the middle of the Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. But Steve’s angle of view of this world made me think of my colleague’s comment differently.

When Tamagotchi was quickly attacking toy shops around the world, some people saw it as a bad thing, some saw it, like me, as an educative toy teaching children how to take care of pets.

Do you see the analogy in how people look at the rise of mobile devices like iPad or iPhone, or tablets and smart phones in general?

But the true sense of Tamagotchi, no matter if intentional or incidental, was in preparing children for the future.

The future which, in the late ninetees, was maybe foreseen by the brightest talents like Steve Jobs, but not many more yet.

The future which now is becoming apparent and cannot be ignored any more.

The future where every single electronic device behaves like the Tamagotchi.

The future where killing your Tamagotchi may be as serious as killing your pet, or even friend…

We cannot avoid this future. We can only be better or worse prepared for it.

Are you already making your solutions and apps behave like Tamagotchi?

Or not yet?

Tamagotchi: “I’m hungry! Feed me with some data…”

;-)