The Steve Jobs Generation

Yesterday’s vote by MPs to allow the use of electronic equipment in the chamber during debates represents not only a welcome move by the House of Commons into the 21st century (and the real world), but also a sign of the irrepressible march of mobile technology.

As it becomes increasingly clear that resistance to advances in the technology and availability of smart phones and other hand-held devices is futile, the mother of all Parliaments has finally laid down her own law – after months of uncertainty and misinterpretation.

Understandably, the vote was not a formality – many Members argued that to turn the current, discreetly underhand use of such devices into a free-for-all would have a negative impact on the atmosphere and quality of debates, through distractions, outside influences and ill-gotten information. The curse of Twitter strikes again on the Sage’s pages.

In the end, in classic Parliamentary parlance, the resolution reached was that devices may be used “in a way that does not impair decorum”.

The House of Commons, though, is by no means the only employer finding itself powerless against the irresistible force of technological proliferation. But it is not that firms should do more to restrict personal technology – to do so merely drives its use ‘underground’ and deters talented potential young recruits.

Rather, they should embrace these new tools of interaction, education and empowerment. The iron grip of IT departments on employees is loosening; digital dictatorships are becoming data democracies.

Such liberalisation of technology does have its drawbacks – and its dangers. Legal injunctions have been breached on Twitter, Facebook has fought an endless (and, frankly, tedious) battle against privacy hawks, and BlackBerry Messenger was partly blamed for the sporadic and unpredictable outbursts of violence and looting in London and elsewhere earlier this year.

But above all it plays to the modern man or woman’s growing sense of personal freedom and entitlement – the right to know, to understand, and to react to what goes on around them. The abuses of this empowerment are far outweighed by its legitimate uses.

Which is just as well – the explosion in the market for personal IT has been spectacular. The global technology firms at the heart of the boom face a constant challenge in keeping up with consumers’ demands, which can change as instantly as the delivery of knowledge that they desire.

That is, except for one company – an empire that has not followed its customers’ tastes, but defined them, and in doing so led much of today’s ‘information generation’ into something of a trance… and a money-spinning one, at that.

It’s likely that many of those who queued overnight for the latest – and umpteenth – revision of its flagship product (as if stocks would run out if they didn’t put their hands in their pockets quickly enough) didn’t fully appreciate just how this one was different from the last one… or how it was meaningfully better (if at all) than its much cheaper but less fashionable rivals.

But Apple’s decade-long strategy of telling people what they want, then telling them they need it, then giving it to them, has been so overwhelmingly successful that the draw is magnetic. Its mastermind may no longer be with us, but his influence – his legacy – lives on.