Buttons? Where we're going, we don't need buttons

Guest Blog Post: Nathaniel Fisher is a North Carolina-based, creative tech fanatic who co-started StickyLife.com. As a self-proclaimed process improvement specialist, he enjoys finding solutions to complex issues. He currently follows Tesla, Apple, Hyperloop, and SpaceX and is on the look-out for other forward-thinking, high-tech companies and solutions.

Most can recall a not too distant past when Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone to the world for the first time. Many thought a phone without buttons would never succeed. Fast forward to the present as we all think back to those naysayers and laugh. It is nearly as funny as pitching bottled water as a great product idea. In the moment it might seem impossible and somewhat foolish to take such a risk but both have proven to be profitable business decisions. 

A few days ago, as I sat in my comfy chair, flipping through recent copies of Wired and Esqurie magazines, I noticed the same advertisement for the Chevy Volt in each of the magazines. In that moment, I had an epiphany. Stay with me on this one... Steve Jobs brought a phone without buttons to market and crushed the competition. Many competitors soon followed and now the majority of cell phones have no buttons. Elon Musk is bringing the Tesla Model 3 to market and it, too, will have no buttons. It also won't have dials or other gadgets that could become faulty, worn or damaged. This new, innovative vehicle will be button-less and only contain a flat panel display to control all functions of the car.  

Now let us go back to those magazine advertisements for the Chevy Volt, which is currently available for purchase. The ad featured an interior view of the dashboard where I took witness to buttons, dials and other gadgets galore. One has to wonder, will Chevy do the same thing to the Bolt, their upcoming, all-electric vehicle that is supposedly going to be in direct competition with Tesla's Model 3? After a quick Google search for interior pictures of the Chevy Bolt I was not surprised... You guessed it.  More buttons.

Don't get me wrong, the ad for the Volt was nice but it didn't look like the future automobile that we've all been promised for decades. It looked familiar; like something already on the streets. I am bored with the same old stuff and ready for something new, exciting and innovative.  I want something different.  What do you want?

I've one more question.  Will Elon Musk do to the auto industry what Steve Jobs did to the cell phone market? I suspect he will and that the Tesla Model 3 will bury the Chevy Bolt in a pile of buttons.