Predictions for 2009?
By Paul Miller 
posted January 1st 2009 12:14PM
posted January 1st 2009 12:14PM
See also: predictions for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Tim: The economic downturn boosts bargain-hunting HD DVD adoption rates so high that Toshiba resurrects the format.
Chris: A3000 fever sweeps the globe, leaving Motorola with a commanding 37 percent market share.
Darren: ASUS expands Eee line to the ultraportable and traditional notebook market, calls them Eeee and Eeeee, respectively.
Joe: slotMusic will single handedly save the music industry.
Paul: Microsoft will make up for Zune's continued lack of Xbox integration with totally ingenious new methods of locking up the player.
Don: Activision releases Guitar Hero: Air Guitar, Harmonix spends millions trying to play catch-up.
Laura: Tiny iPhone, giant iPod.
Ross: Asimo becomes self-aware, sets off on magical journey to find his true calling
Josh: Steve Jobs lives.
What's your take?
I think that if a computer became self-aware it would freak out and crash, and that probably explains why you get random BSOD's (you can use that if you want ATI support departement..)
PSP 3000 super sale on 2nd quarter
then after 3 months PSP 2 launch on November or December.
Windows 7 is launch but Vista will still be widely used.
X-Box portable will be announced but launch will be delayed
more and more people will shift to laptops away from desktops
"Vista will still be widely used" still, widely? hahah, you must be a character from balmer's imagination.
I predict that the phrase "Well, I for one welcome our new self-aware robotic overlords!" will be used over and over and over again.
Beats human overloards no doubt.
You know engadget just uses 'over the counter' bloging software, and if that lacks an editing function for comments they'll have to wait until it's added by others I'm guessing.
I could be wrong though.
a working business model for Social Networking
This year will be the year of the Plastic Logic electronic-text reader ( if the price of this 2009 will be acceptable), I think that will be a beginning of a real revolution about the books (real books) and the future way to learn and read. Have a look at it:
http://www.plasticlogic.com/ and http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=50x8h7fF4DU
RIM reveals slightly disappointing Storm sales figures, but claws back into second place worldwide in smartphone sales, thanks in part to surprisingly strong Pearl Flip sales.
Apple reveals the new Mac Mini, and unveils the gorgeous iPhone Nano (to the delight of gadget enthusiasts everywhere, and the chagrin of Apple haters). The iMac also receives a minor update, however, still no refresh for the Mac Pro. Later, Apple reveals the confusingly named "iTouch", a 7-inch ultraportable tablet computer which lacks a physical keyboard and resembles a supersized iPod Touch. It relies on a 64 GB SSD for storage, lacks an internal optical drive, and has a single, nearly inaccessible USB port. It is powered by a 1.6 GHz dual-core Atom processor, and runs on a special version of OS X which has an interface clearly inspired by the iPhone/iPod Touch. It draws mixed reviews, with some complaining that the screen is so glossy, they are nearly blinded by the glare. Apple fanboys flock to Apple stores to get their hands on the new device, leading to the trampling death of one person.
Palm unveils its hotly anticipated new OS, which ends up being a Linux-based, open-source platform. G1 sales take off.
Motorola introduces the fabled "iPhone Nano killer", which quickly takes the title for "no. 2-selling mobile phone", behind the iPhone.
A Texas man sues Microsoft for nearly five million dollars, citing emotional and property damage, after his Xbox 360 scratches his copy of Halo 3, suffers a "Red Ring of Death", and finally catches fire, burning down his $250,000 house and killing his pet canary.
My mom indeed starts reading her emails on her computer and stops calling me so I can read em to her on the phone :)
You can do it mom, follow the damn step by step paper I made for you !
Family eh, whadda you gonna do, sigh.
Social networking sites abandoned after users realize how annoying people can be.
not until they all forget how to make money off annoying people.
French Sarkozy's government gets ass kicked.
Socialists come up with the global licence stuff they tried to make real in 2005, and French get unlimited instant access to the most hugest music/movies/TVshows database of the world through a P2P system.
All of this for around $30/month/family (and yes this was an actual project but not good enough for our minister in charge apparently)
Eventually if this doesn't happen (who knows ? ;) ) the Majors could realize the 80's are over and Broadband internet acces is now available for everyone and change their business model from a CD-based to a real content-based. (dream on dream on...)
http://www.sony.jp/walkman/
Sony adopts:
1) FLAC http://flac.sourceforge.net
2) Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com
3) removable batteries
4) removable storage
...in nearly all their non-phone Walkman range.
Sony realises that the FLAC and Ogg Vorbis support won't cost them a cent in additional royalties, and it will let them offer technically superior formats and help them compete with competition from Sandisk, Cowon and iRiver, who all offer this, not to mention Apple (who doesn't).
Sir Howard Stringer gets up on the podium and says "The Walkman is back. Suitable for long outings without relying on a single embedded battery plus removable storage to let the user decide how much they want (similar to our Walkman phones). We also have FLAC for those that value no quality losses over their CDs, while getting all the tagging benefits we have come to expect with MP3 and AAC. Ogg Vorbis is growing in popularity versus MP3 and is supported in all of our new 2009 range. Some of our competitors have been very fast with support, and we feel it's time we put our weight behind these technically brilliant formats, appealing to our early adopters and quickly drifting down into mainstream, maintaining Walkman as a premium, unique brand in the eyes of our customers".
Crowd cheers.
*tekdroid wakes from dream*
Guitar Hero will finally start offering new artist music as downloadable expansion packs instead of individual released games.
I mean yeah Guitar Hero Aerosmith was nice and Metallica sounds awesome, but are you telling me that I have to keep shelling out $50 when ever Activision sign another group for an exclusive title when it would be so much easier to offer an downloadable expansion to the game I already own?
See you at Pyramid Rock!
In the Year Two Thousaaaaaaaaaand.
Microsoft re-releases the Seinfeld and Gates commercials as a TV series.
RIM will go out of business or will be purchased by another company.
-
Apple will come out with its own surface computer.
-
The economy will appear to be getting out of a recession but will return downward, stocks will be even cheaper. Global recession will become even bleaker.
-
Microsoft will produce Windows 7 and it will be accepted as a true worthy update from Win XP. (I am running the bata now and I must say it’s quite stable).
-
Apple will suffer at the hands of competitors whose phones will be accepted as better (some already are) in every way, from hardware to software, thanks to Android, Windows Mobile 7 and the nVideo Tegra platform.
-
Windows Mobile 7 will shine and a new version of Mobile IE will try but fall short of Opera mobile.
-
War in the Middle East (ok that’s too easy) more specific, Israel attack Iran’s nuclear sites.
-
Tegra will bring windows mobile back to life.
-
Microsoft will purchase Yahoo!!
-
Google may turn of Apple (Android vs iPhone)
-
Mac OS-X will suffer many glitches as it reaches more ppl and will be seen as no better, in later years it will retreat back to its old day of pleasing its own fan boys.
-
Engadget will keep attacking and slandering any phone that look like the iPhone even if the phone is better as it must remain true to its master. (nothing new there)
-
The Meizu M8 will reach the U.S. via. The internet and I will own one.
-
Apple iPhone Mini will fail.
CREATIVE ZII CHANGES OUR LIFE AS WE KNOW IT :))))
- Android will be the precursor for other Linux OS phones.
OpenMoko will get looked at more this year.
- Apple will have a series of product flops this year (Great Marketing - Bad product.)
I.E. Apple Nano Phone
- Blueray will come down in price for the masses to purchase.
- Sony will drop the price down for the PS3 by mid-summer.
- Rumors of a new XBOX console design with Blueray capabilities.
- Windows 7 is the new XP move over Vista
- Apple will start testing a new applications to compete with Google.
The Illuminati will finally reveal themselves to be....
The worlds greatest, longest-running underground ad-campaign. The product? A fat-free cheesecake that doesn't let you down in the flavor department, like so many before it.
1. Windows 7 finally stops people taking about Vista
2. Everyone talks about Palm again
3. No one cares about WiMax as cell networks packages become less expensive
4. Iphone can finally cut and paste
5. Blue Ray is a standard equipment and Wall Mart sell them under $50 by the end of the year.
6. No one really wants to by a Wii anymore
7. Everyone still goes to Engadget to read whats up.:)
Check out SkratchBoard's 5 predictions in the mobile market for 2009. They have some interesting thoughts.
http://www.skratchboard.com/?p=181
HD-DVD comeback sounds very plausible if the Studios back. To have the format of the consumer return would be excellent and much needed.
After its first format victory, Sony releases 10 new proprietary formats.
The SSC will finally succeed in creating the black hole we all secretly know it's capable of.
Sharing my tech predictions and ideas for 2009 and beyond
http://beerpla.net/2009/01/10/artems-top-10-tech-predictions-and-ideas-for-2009-and-beyond/.