as I see it...off the cuff:
Hardware Trends and Things-to-Watch 2015
- Apple Watch. While technically several years behind, the iWatch will sell millions. Apple once again schools the entire tech world by demonstrating marketing and branding mojo are vastly better than a superior tech product any day.
- Samsung bendable phone screens. 2015 will be the introduction. Several iterations will be required before this is real-world-usable.
- Big iPad. Expect a 12 or 13inch iPad. Effectively replaces mac air.
- Oculus Rift, Samsung VR, Sony Morpheus, and even Microsoft will introduce devices. Virtual Reality will be a huge player. It will take most of 2015 to build out hardware headset and get started on games. By 2016 vr cinema, live events, and virtual tourism will explode.
- Facebooks AdSense Competitor? Facebooks unwillingness, ineptitude, or fear of throwing down in AdSense territory- you make the call? (Why, Why wouldn't they launch an ad platform to be a direct competitor to AdSense? Why? Why?)
- Microsoft Windows 2015. Whatever. The platform wars are over, and OS HTML 5 has won ;-)
Top Industry Trends:
- The continued marginalization of Google. With a string of "also rans" Google is becoming a bit of a Rodney Dangerfield - a very rich Rodney Dangerfield. Poor management and execution have many questioning Larry Pages ability to run Google. However, I think Google will get the last laugh in Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality platforms with new iterations of 'glass' like devices and services (virtual tourism and Google Maps VR) in the next few years. VR tourism will be a massive space. The demos are life changing. It's like Wikipedia meets VR on your head and in your face. "no one can be told what the Matrix is..."
- Infotainment and mobile. Car manufacturers are getting in "tune" with the idea that the mobile phone will be the center of car infotainment. New offerings for car connectivity are "on" or "in the works" for next car season.
- Tablets : Thiner, lighter, and less expensive tablets will drive corporate adoption. Tablets will effectively start replacing paper in many offices. Many low end tablets have breached the $100 barrier and quality has continued to increase. Now that the market has saturated and infrastructure built, manufactures can focus on costs alone and not hardware features.
- Internet of Phones or Internet of Things. We are surround by an unprecedented number of devices. Mobile internet adoption continues on high pace. (well duh - but ya gotta put it on a list like this right?)
- Internet of Things: "device" and platform creation is at a staggering pace with ever hardware manufacturer proposing something. A mismash of protocols and standards ensures this field will be one obsolete device after another (at least until a big player like Apple or Google demands conformity to some standard). Landfills full of devices will emerge out of this standardless chaos.
