Yahoo’s Mayer: 2014 ‘Tipping Point’ for Technology

DAVOS, Switzerland - The rapid adoption of smartphones and the applications that run on those devices will make 2014 a “tipping point” that radically changes the way people worldwide work and live, said Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, Ms. Mayer said technology advances are fundamentally changing the way that people connect with the world, ranging from how they conduct their daily errands to their willingness to lend their cars to strangers.

“It makes connecting and trusting people easier,” Ms. Mayer said.

Ms. Mayer said that 2014 would be a crossover year for the Internet search company, with Yahoo expecting more traffic from its users on mobile phones and tablets instead of traditional personal computers for the first time.

Marc R. Benioff, chairman and chief executive of salesforce.com, said he expected businesses and their customers to connect in very different ways as devices, ranging from automobiles to electric toothbrushes, share data.

He noted that he recently received a phone call from Michael Dell, the founder of the computer maker Dell, to check on whether he was ill because Mr. Dell noticed that he hadn’t been working out for several days. The two executives share fitness data through a device they wear on their wrists.

Businesses will have to adapt to a more customer-focused, readily available model or their customers will go to other providers, he said.

Rapidly changing technology will require businesses to be more nimble and to be willing to take risks, said Randall L. Stephenson, the chairman and chief executive of the telecommunications company AT&T.

“If you’re not disruptive, you don’t live,” Mr. Stephenson said.

Against that backdrop, the technology leaders said that world governments would have to do more to be transparent about their use of data and adapt laws to this changing world.

“I think everybody recognizes the Internet plays a role in protecting us,” said Gavin Patterson, chief executive of the British telecommunications company BT. “I don’t think legislation is keeping up with the technology. It’s just too murky at the moment and needs to be transparent.”