] ] Tech outlook for 2015
et me make a few educated guesses as to what I expect in 2015 in the arena of everyday technology. I’ll do this on a company-by-company basis. I have left out Samsung in the following, even though I love the company’s Galaxy Note 4 device. I just don’t see much juice in the company’s high tech offering in 2015. I hope I will be pleasantly surprised as the year rolls by. Concerning BlackBerry, I see continuing struggles generating revenues, even if profits go up. The company may not come out of the woods in 2015!
Microsoft
With Nadella at the helms, I expect a phenomenally aggressive Microsoft (MS) in 2015. I think MS will try to show off what it’s made of. After all, real tech aficionados know that Microsoft is the real deal as far as tech innovation is concerned (I know there’s Apple) – even if the company had apparently slacked off during the initial wave of strong activities in the tech areas that are currently dominant: data (information), smartphone/tablet devices, mobility, and cloud computing. The company that weaned us from main frames and minicomputers, and giving us Windows and democratizing the use of the computer across age and education groups worldwide will definitely try to set itself apart from tech companies that piggyback on derivatives from the real McCoy. Microsoft will rigorously and incessantly try to beat Google at its own game in a few aspects of critical technologies that Google leads.
To this end, we’ll see more openness at Microsoft in 2015, as an attempt to give Google a run for the benefits it gets from keeping selectively open software tools
Windows 7 will be replaced with Windows 10 in 2015, as Windows 8, which was launched on 26 October 2012, failed to live up to expectations. (The number 9 is skipped in the product-naming convention.) Microsoft will bring back in Windows 10, some of the customer-tested capabilities in Windows 7 – the Start button, Mouse, etc., together with carefully embedded modern touch screen capabilities. Assortments of new PCs and laptops running Windows 10 will surface in 2015; giving you a decision to make: upgrade from Windows 7 or buy a new PC/laptop.
The disruptive laptop HP Stream 11 (Stream) currently running Windows 8.1 (but may switch to Windows 10 later in 2015) and costing a meager $200 is an example of Microsoft’s aim at Google; in this case, the Chromebooks, which cost around three hundred dollars. Chromebooks are laptop computers running the Google’s Chrome OS, which are intended solely as a convenient way for you to access the Internet, so that you can work with your data (movies, videos, pictures, etc.) that are stored on the cloud.
Apple
Apple will continue to try to get us to adopt its Apple Pay platform, which is being touted as a secure alternative to credit cards. I predict very slow adoption, nevertheless. The Apple Watch wearable will also come of age in 2015, although I am also skeptical of mass adoption. Note that Apple Watch is basically the first new product from Apple after the death of Steve Jobs. New versions of iPhone and iPad will probably be launched in 2015, with a new version of iOS to boot. Those Health and Fitness apps by Apple (and others – Microsoft, Google, etc.) will probably not make a dent, from the standpoint of a company’s bottom line. Apple has already started to form partnerships with automobile companies such as BMW and Volvo, for the adoption of Apple’s CarPlay software, which is a version of iOS on car dashboards, for functionalities such as phone, messaging, music, and navigation. In this connection, Audi, Dodge, and Ford will be trying out Android Auto, which promises similar capabilities as CarPlay. May be we will start seeing some of these auto-biased deployments in 2015.
I expect social media saturation to begin in 2015, sending Facebook back to the drawing board on what to do for a living. The company may need to squeeze more dough out of its $19 billion WhatsApp. Without an OS of its own, Facebook’s options may be limited, although the options are always there for any deep-pocket enterprise to acquire other companies for the purpose of upping the tech portfolio. Facebook has got your data, but about anything Facebook does with that data will inherently be to your disadvantage. So, springing from social media into other areas will require innovation on the part of Facebook.
Google is obviously an innovative company; with many rods in the fire as far as tech products are concerned. I do not think that Chromebooks will rule, since it’s almost useless without Internet connection. Microsoft is going to disrupt Chromebooks with the likes of HP Stream 11 laptop. Google Glass may just be another silly product from Google that not many people will want.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is a (Chinese) tech company to watch in 2015. The company produces high quality phones at unbelievably low prices. These products are potentially very disruptive. If they make it to the Western world, many big companies in the West may bleed from revenue loss. In the U.S. you will be able to buy your phones cash, instead of being drawn into contracts or financing. We also need to watch out for how things will play out for Xiaomi in the legal arena. The company is believed by some to have little respect for intellectual property (IP); a factor that could limit the market space for the company. Xiaomi might suffer heavy damages, if found guilty from IP-infringement lawsuits, leading, for example, to restrictions on the sales of its products in certain geographical regions of the world.