South Africa, Aug. 11 -- Think back to life before smartphones. We carried cash and bank cards in our wallets, printed boarding passes before heading to the airport and kept concert tickets somewhere safe until the big night. We took cameras on holiday, printed photographs when we got home and relied on physical maps to find our way around unfamiliar places. Our wallets, pockets and bags carried much of what we needed to move through the day.

Then almost 20 years ago, Steve Jobs got on a stage in San Francisco and changed the world forever with the launch of the first iPhone.

Today, our phones help us navigate almost every part of our day. We use them to bank, pay for coffee, book flights, order groceries, unlock our cars and book docto...