There is no doubt that technology is the fastest evolving industry there is – period. If you realize for a moment that the world wide web itself has really only been in existence since the mid 1990′s, it is simply incredible where we are at today. I have even heard one person state that they are no longer an atheist because of the Internet. Why, you ask? Because if he could be THAT wrong about something like the Internet popping up so quickly, perhaps be could be wrong about the existence of God.
Whatever your stance – there is little doubt as to the speed. 2007 brought some interesting trends that are likely to make more of an impact in 2008. So, I will look into the crystal ball and give you my take on the whole thing. I am not going to make any wild predictions that we’re all going to be living on the Matrix in 18 months. No, these are things to look for because they’ll probably happen.
The big theme in 2008 is going to be OPENNESS. We’re going to see increasing consumer demand for open standards and for choice. We’re going to see increasing decentralization.
The Rise of Mobile
Mobile phone technology is going to be hot in 2008. The 2007 launch of the Iphone by Apple was notable for one thing in my view – innovation. I have chastised Apple for the stupid moves they made with the Iphone by locking it down to AT&T and being particularly unfriendly to any third-party innovation with the device. It is a real shame, too, because the design of the Iphone is fantastic. While I think Apple got it wrong in the business end of it, there is no doubt that the Iphone has triggered a tidal wave of innovation in the mobile arena.
We see Google launching the Android platform and the Open Handset Alliance. They came right out of the gates being super friendly to third-party developers. This is a very anti-Apple move and one that I really enjoy watching. 34 companies joined on right away, including some very notable names. Verizon was well-noted for staying out of the OHA, but they just recently announced that they will allow open access to their network. On the surface, this could mean that Google’s move is forcing Verizon to come in with the “me too” effort and finally not be so tightly controlled. We can only guess. Verizon does not have a track record of openness on their network, which has led to some skepticism on whether Verizon is really just trying to compete or is up to something a tad more sneaky.
Either way, watch the mobile arena in 2008. The Iphone is going to be released in its second version. Apple will also (finally) release a developer platform for the device. Android-powered phones are set to hit the market sometime in 2008. Emphasis will be on usability, which is going to make today’s Smart phones look like inept little bricks. All of this is going to make the mobile phone a much more important contender in the world of the internet. Web site owners are going to have to pay even more attention to whether their sites look OK and function on a mobile phone.
Open Social Networks
Social networks have been very popular for some time now. You’ve got those who live on social networks, those who have profiles and don’t do much with them, and those who simply don’t get what all the hype is about. For those, let me try to explain it this way:
Traditionally, the web is very disjointed and you basically just observe what is happening through the window of your web browser. It is hard to find people unless they conglomerate somewhere. In real life, we have friends. Those friends know people, and they know people, and so it goes. We meet new people by way of our other contacts or perhaps by way of groups we may participate in. Social networks are the effort to make the same real-world scenario work online.
Problem is that, in real life, there are no barriers to entry. If you are alive, you can know people. In the tech world, we’re dependent on technology, programming, etc. Each social network, be it Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn or another, use their own technology. In order to meet people on one network, you’d need to join that network. You could not connect with another network unless you join that network as well. Each network is an island to itself.
The OpenSocial platform, backed by Google, is an effort to centralize all these networks onto an open standard. This will, hopefully, allow people to connect across social networks. This more closely resembles real life. A number of networks have already signed onto OpenSocial, including LinkedIn and Myspace. Facebook has notably stayed outside of it, but perhaps they will get on board. Either way, look for social networking to become not only more prevalent in 2008, but more open as well.
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