It would be foolish to draw linear conclusions about the future from the past. Learning from the past and shaping the future accordingly is a proven recipe for success. There are various bases for this. One basis is the realization that customer needs are very stable over time. The stagecoach essentially fulfilled the same customer needs as the smartphone does today. Even if the technical solution is very different. These customer needs are drivers of innovation. Today’s products look the way they do because they are able to fulfill these customer needs better than other (extinct) products. If you know the drivers of innovation, you can already get a good idea of the future. Last but not least, there are laws of evolution for products, technologies, business models and other systems. These laws are similar to biological evolution and also help to predict future developments.