In this post, a technological prediction list is presented for 2010:
- The Tablet: From Android tablets, to one tablet. These machines will become superior e-reader for digital books, newspapers, and magazines, and a portable Web TV.
- Geo: The combination of GPS chips in mobile phones, social networks, and increasingly innovative mobile apps means that geolocation is the new trend. Twitter recently launched its own Geo API the GeoAPI.
- Realtime Search: Following realtime search startups such as Collecta, OneRiot, and Topsy these will continue to improve the web search experience. Realtime search will become a form of navigation, especially on Twitter and Facebook.
- Chrome OS: The Chrome OS is Google’s most direct attack on Windows.
- HTML5: The Web is built on HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and the next version which has been taking form for a while is HTML5. Already browsers such as Firefox and Google’s Chrome (the browser, not the OS) are HTML5-friendly. Once HTML5 becomes more widespread across the Web, it will reduce the need for Flash or Silverlight plug-ins to view videos, animations, or other rich applications. They will all just be Web-native. HTML5 also supports offline data storage, drag-and-drop, and other features which can make Web apps act more like desktop apps.
- Mobile Video: With video cameras integrated into the latest iPhone 3GS and other Web phones, live video streaming apps are becoming more commonplace—both streaming from phones and to them. As mobile data networks beef up their 3G bandwidth and even start to tiptoe into true broadband with 4G.
- Augmented Reality: AR adds a layer of data to reality by placing everything from photos to Tweets to business listings directly on top of the live live image captured by the camera. Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera, Layar, GraffitiGeo and even Yelp are examples of augmented reality apps.
- Mobile Transactions: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s latest startup Square turns the iPhone into a credit card reader. Verifone has its competing product, as does Mophie. The idea is that any mobile phone can become a point of sale, and those mobile transactions can tie into back-end accounting, CRM, and other enterprise systems.
- Android: Android is Google’s answer to the iPhone, There are already more than 10,000 apps on Android, next year there will be even more. And other devices running on the mobile OS are launching as well.
- Social CRM: Salesforce.com is set to launch Chatter, it’s realtime stream of enterprise data which interfaces with Twitter and Facebook and turn them into business tools. Startups like Yammer and Bantam Live are also making business more social.
Please feel free to add a comment to this post, thank you.
