Okay, so your humble editor is a huge fan of Futurama and couldn’t be happier knowing the crew is back for another season – but what’s that got to do with mobile application testing?

Glad you asked. On July 1st, 3010 2010, episode three of the new season – “Attack of the Killer App” – will deal with the future of the iPhone and other popular earth technology. Here’s the synopsis from theinfosphere.org:

“The story will deal with the future of technology such as iPhones and Twitter, with Mom controlling Twitter. Also, Fry posts an embarrassing video of Leela online. Also, somehow, a two-headed goat that throws up one end and exudes diarrhea on the other end gets involved in the story. There is some kind of contest, in which Mom controls Twitter and Bender hacks Facebook to control it. Fry and Leela take votes from citizens, asking who they think will win. Also, the crew goes to a planet that is a waste dump to eliminate e-waste. The children of the planet strip the ship and Bender for waste. Soon the crew discover that children do all of the work on the planet, except for whipping the children.”

You see? What could be more relevant to our daily mobile testing discussions?

Seriously though, Futurama is among the best at lampooning present trends in the future (or future trends in the present?) and I’m sure this episode will be no exception. So, in the writer’s eyes, what new features and functionality will be available on mobile devices 1000 years in the future? What types of applications will these devices run? Will the security/privacy issues associated with social media finally be resolved? Perhaps most important of all, will the head of Steve Jobs have fixed the iPhone reception problems by then?

I’ll be sure to write a follow-up post after the episode airs, but in the meantime, if you’re wondering what the real future has in store for mobile applications and devices, I urge you to read this GigaOm report from the distant past (April 2010).

I leave you with Hypnotoad: