IMO: Tech predicitions for 2010
And here is my last list. Although I had a few lists left in my draft, I decided not to finish them. I might do a short version, a la my “Top 9 Albums of 2009” (without any BS reasoning), but I have far too much Rum in me to write something with any form of length. And if this blog keeps around for the rest of the year, I can do a followup post next year.
Someone will release a ‘text-only’ phone plan
The last time someone called me on my iPhone I was curiously surprised that I had entirely forgotten what my ring tone was. To be honest, I have again since forgotten. This is partially because I am a giant loser, but partially because I have a texting plan. Going through my cell phone bills, I tend to use few more than 30 minutes on my phone, which is what most of my phone plan pays for.
As much as I wish and think (there are similar plans already in the States), I will still probably not be able to sign for it, as I think I just re-signed my contract when I got my iPhone.
Amazon Kindle will have a real competitor
Ever since the Amazon Kindle came out, there have been a myriad of apparent ‘Kindle-killers’, and like any other ‘-killer’ out there (be it the ‘Digg-killer‘, the ‘iPhone-killer‘ or the ‘PlayStation 3‘) they are all complete failures. But in the case of the Kindle, these deaths were oh-so-close; the CrunchPad was killed off with a lawsuit of sorts, and the Barns & Noble Nook missed the holiday mark by a series of shipping problems. The simplicity of the Kindle made it easy to sell, but it is also making it easy to top, and with the amount of companies trying to do so, someone has to get it right.
We will hear no news of any next-generation consoles
The PS3 was announced a year and a half before it was released, and that release was 6 years after that of the PS2. It has now been just over 3 years, and as much as some critics are looking for a new console release, if following the same release pattern as before, we cannot expect to hear anything for another year and a half.
That is, of course, not factoring in the announced console add-ons (Microsoft Natal/ PlayStation wand) and the general expandability of a HDD based console, which I am certain will hold back release even further.
Publishers will start bundling books with digital versions
Earlier this year, DVDs and Blu-ray releases started being packed with a second, digital version of the movie; either a transferable disc or an iTunes redeemer code. Personally, I have no interest in this, but I do acknowledge that some people do. Unless book publishers are ignoring absolutely everything, attaching a digital version of a book (the Kindle now works with EPUB format books) would work very well. As a fan of books, I would not want to only be able to read on an e-book reader, but as someone with a lot of books, being able to carry them all at once would be marvelous.
That being said, I still will not buy one until they put school textbooks onto it.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
LOL@ text only phone plan. I would NOT be surprised.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Would that not be awesome? I sometimes call people just because I say to myself, “hey, I pay for this shit”