We have entered Twenty-Ten. I like to consider it a new decade, not just a new year. It just gives us that much more to look forward to.
Here are my 5 predictions for big Internet, Mobile, or Technology changes we will see over the Twenty-Teens.
- Decline of the Browser – As mobile apps, desktop software, and even Operating Systems make more and better use of the Internet, I predict that browser use will slowly decline. It will take a while as companies will have to build their storefront in multiple locations (Yelp, an iPhone App, Twitter software, etc.). However, the browser will be used less and less as we access the information on the Internet through more and different platforms.
- Blanketed High Speed Data - The populated region of the U.S. will be fully blanketed in Wi-fi or 8G or whatever the data format of choice may be. No need to search for a signal any more. Everyone will be always online.
- Completely New Mobile Communications Devices- The mobile phone as we know it today will look a lot different. As bluetooth connects smaller devices, we’ll need fewer things in our phone. Our glasses and sunglasses will be displays and cameras. Our shoes will carry our GPS transmitter. Our earpieces may be embedded or connected inside the ear making today’s Jawbone’s look like a clunky 1990 cell phone looks to us today. And just think about the implant market…
- Location-Based Services 2.0 – Location based technology is in its infancy. Very soon, there will be no “checking in”. It will be very clear and accurate where you are and all of your friends, advertisers, and vendors will know this and know how to interact with you. We will usher in a whole new era of location-based technology, not just advertisers knowing what to show you. Imagine store thermostats and lights changing to your preferences, or power stations redirecting energy based on not just location updates but the second or third derivative of that: directional and acceleration movements across a city grid.
- The World Collapses - This has more sociological, economic, and political repercussions, but, just as technology made the world Flat, technology will eventually allow the world to collapse back on itself. In other words, we will reach a point where call centers and outsourcing eventually lose their appeal and economic incentive. This will come at us from different angles, but imagine calling a customer service number for AT&T and instead of being routed to the cheapest current customer service rep (currently in India), we are instead directed to the customer service rep with whom we share the least degrees of separation (a rep in Tuscon who went to school with your brother). In other words, while social networks are currently expanding our social reach, they will eventually hit limits (I’ll be honest, I cannot find any more people that I directly know on Facebook) and then technology and business processes will be reverse engineered to take advantage of those networks. Right now, technology is driving our networks. Eventually, once our networks are more concrete, they will drive business innovation to bring our world back closer again.
This guy, Simon, has some great predictions, including cyber-wars and open-source cars.
What are your big predictions for the next decade?
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