It’s time to put on the Swami hat and predict just what we have in store for 2010 and beyond. Considering all of the movement in the gadget world in the past few months, I’m fairly sure most of this going to be accurate. Given the current status of some of these technologies, it’s hard to prognosticate very far out but there are a few things that have become apparent over the past year, especially the rise of Android and our expectations for the iPad.
Without further ado… the envelope please:
Apple TV -> 27-inch iMac -> Wall Mount for 27-inch iMac
It’s sad but true: Apple doesn’t care about Apple TV. All the real brain power is going to the desktop and laptop and probably onto the iPad. They’ve made it clear with the 27-inch iMac that they can make a high-resolution screen and powerful computer inside of a case the thickness of a college textbook. Who needs a TV, let alone an Apple TV?
The obvious conclusion here is that the 27-inch iMac becomes a real Apple TV. The Mac Mini already makes a great multi-media system and a quick update to FrontRow, now considered abandonware, may make it a great 10-foot interface.
iPhone 3GS -> iPhone 3GS++ -> The Return of His Noodly Majesty
I don’t even know what to say about this. All I can say is the iPhone 3GS++ had better be amazing and encourage the second coming of the FSM or else I may go Android.
Touchscreen Laptops/Desktops -> No Touchscreen Apps -> Nothing
Touchscreen devices are a way to show off Windows 7’s multi-touch capabilities but I haven’t had much luck using them or luck finding apps to run on them. Obviously folks like Sony and HP have been making bespoke media and recipe box applications but, as we all know, the world doesn’t run on dreams and rainbows. Tablets have a better chance of taking off than partially stationary devices like desktops and, to an extent, non-convertible laptops.
2D TV content -> Avatar -> 3D TV Content
You may not know it or want to accept it, but 3D TV is coming. After James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D hits the big screen and then the small screen, everything will be coming up 3D.
You’ll have to wear sad, sad glasses but many Blu-Ray disks will soon ship with 3D content on the disk and require you to wear those sad,sad glasses. Add in 3D content for gamers and you’ve got a movement. We’ll have to quietly accept this until we have true holographic systems.
I personally think this will ruin the process of watching movies and playing games with friends and family as everyone without glasses is left out.
iPod Touch -> iPad -> Countless imitators
The iPod Touch and iPhone will obviously evolve into something like a Tablet? But then what? Manufacturers have been trying to sell tablets for years and Apple will show them how its done. Once the iPad drops, expect countless-iPad-alikes until someone hits the low price and high feature sweet spot that Apple tends to ignore.
A few weak Android phones -> Droid -> Lots of Great Android Phones, Death of Symbian and WinMo
While I’m not as high on the Droid as others at CG/TC/MC, I’m actually quite interested in what Droid means for Android. The phone is strikingly well-made, the OS is solid and clean, and the keyboard is usable. This means that Android is ready for prime time and that Symbian and Windows Mobile had better watch out.
My name Momar Shackleford I have girlfriend her name it Michelle Zurawski she when to Michigan State Universy class 07 she is very good telemarketer now for very national credit repair company.
thanks, momar! Welcome to our support group for crazy people who can’t help posting random stuff to gadget websites.
Editing sometimes means ‘deleting’. You could so easily just delete Momar’s comment and let us all move on with our lives.
John’s way is funnier.
Momar’s gibberish is almost a fnord….
I so happy I post to share my success with the world on the wide web!
Momar, you might want to look up the definition of success. And when you create imaginary girlfriends, the college educated telemarketer is shooting a little low. But at least she is a girl.
Can a company be VERY national?
For example Starbuck it very national so you compare to Momar Food Mart it not very national it only exist in Arlington Va … Dan are you try to be funny or are you really very stupid?
We’ve missed you, Borat.
WTF???
Momar Shackelford… I love that name.
What else she is good at? :P
Welcome Momar. You seem like a perfect fool. If your girlfriend has any sense, she’s probably already dumped you.
death of symbian, but we have maemo too look forward to which does provide more freedom then android from what I have read.
lol winmo providing freedom o ya, thats for true lol
i also expect this year will be the year when Nokia fights back. they have proven in the past that they can provide the best interfaces and are able to popularize phones more than anyone else
Nokia may very well turn things around, but their success comes from being their first. They are now the mobile establishment, pioneering the mobile space and riding the wave of the mobile phone’s popularity. They have no track record of turning things around, just of being in on a nascent industry that turned very big. Do they have enough elegance to compete with the iPhone? Perhaps.
No track record of turning around? You are aware you are talking about Nokia, are you? I don’t think you find any successful tech company coming even close to Nokia on that regard. Perhaps you should take a closer look on their history.
Yes, perfectly aware of Nokia. You are expecting Nokia to make a huge strategic leap in order to stay ahead of its competitors who are producing more popular smart phones. Nokia has never faced such an onslaught. Where, pray tell, is evidence that they can make such a massive turnaround?
See this, Morty. You dumbass.
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/11/03/no-tears-for-nokias-n-gage/
no no no you don’t get it. the new trend is solar-charged mobiles, wind-powered tv’s and energy-producing toilets
I would have thought toilets would have enough energy being produced especially on a sunday morning ;)
Won’t it be hard to have solar-charging mobiles that sit around most of the day in pockets that have no ready solar gain?
we have plenty of sun here. just leave the phone in a sunny window when you’re at home. i think it would work
Solar may be trendy but kinetic makes more sense… after all, the phone is on our hip and moving around all day (never understood why pedometers are not powered that way)
while I agree with you that Android in next few months will be more succesful than Windows Mobile please note 2 things:
a) in 2010 Microsoft is releasing Windows Mobile 7 with multitouch and compass and it will compete easily with anything
b) next month (in November) HTC is releasing HTC HD2 with multitouch and 4.3 inch display – although it is still powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 thanks to hacks by HTC it is very good
The HTC HD2 has served one purpose… making people speculate about (nay, crave) a similar Android version (i.e. Dragon). In short, nobody gives a sh!t about the HD2.
Windows Mobile 7… please… that’s just plain comical (pun intended.)
Apple TV — $229, plays movies.
Xbox360 Arcade — $199, plays movies and games.
PS3 – $299, plays movies, games, and surfs the net.
Apple TV plays commercial music and movies, YouTube, podcasts, and your own home movies and photos streamed directly from your Mac. All your content can be synced transparently between your Apple devices.
XBox360 plays commercial music and movies, and your own home movies and photos streamed directly from your PC. Why sync when you can stream?
But yeah, it doesn’t play YouTube unless you buy an aftermarket product. I don’t know about the podcasts, but probably not.
And unfortunately, the PS3 is less-than-ideal when it comes to AVI support (doesn’t work all the time) — though that’s understandable considering it’s a MSFT format afterall.
You can sync and stream on Apple TV, as well as receive your downloads in Apple TV, desktop and iPod format. The Apple ‘ecosystem’ that connects all your devices beats Microsoft’s efforts hands down.
Xbox360 Arcade — $199, plays movies, games AND RROD as a bonus. Here you go.
TVs have been wind powered since 1948. (commercial adverts) Toilets are indeed a source of energy, and solar powered mobiles are so passe – the newest trend will be implanted GPS and cell phones with web access.
You can trust a man called Hork.
I am guessing the iphone will get
- better camera, 8mp maybe
- better battery life
- 4g version
- wireless charge pad
- pro version with a slideout keyboard
apple might ditch the apple tv product but not do what you think and make it about imacs but create an actual tv with apple tv built in.
Apple will never, ever add a physical keyboard to the iPhone. They have sold the touch technology too hard to lose face.
New for 2010 – TV that fits in your pocket, runs on a single AAA battery and is audio only – oh shit, that’s a radio…
haha! lmfao
well done!
I wouldn’t say the iMac or 3D TV are gadgets and I see that your idea of ’some of the biggest gadgets’ only goes as far as Cupertino.
That said, as an Apple fanboy, I’m certain we have some exciting products coming next year from the big fruit, even beyond the fabled ‘touchpad’.
The 27-inch iMac, which is now 16:9, is the only model that is compatible with Apple’s new wall attachment, so we don’t need your ‘prognostication’ to tell us that Apple are interested in pushing their top-end iMac as TV.
Since Apple Computer Inc became Apple Inc in 2007, the corporation has moved further and further into the entertainment and media sectors and I think it is inevitable that Apple creates an HD TV or forms partnerships with the likes of Samsung to add Apple TV functionality as standard on a revenue-share basis.
Apple TV as it stands is a basket case, little more, to my mind, than a Mac Mini designed to push the iTunes Stores in a more domestic and stealthy way than on a Mac or PC. Apple needs to urgently address that unit to make it more compelling.
Playing YouTube video on a TV through Apple TV is interesting, but what about adding something like Miro into the mix so that Apple TV can access the wealth of other online video?
I would go to geek heaven if Apple release a Freeview-compatible unit that allows me to watch free-to-air digital terrestrial TV. In the UK and Europe, at least, digital terrestrial is very popular, particularly as the analogue signal is turned off. Apple could bring elegance to the currently available TV boxes.
What’s the state of play with digital terrestrial TV in the United States: anyone?
Apple were criticised for not including Blueray into the latest iMac, especially given how hard Apple have pushed the HD aspects of their ‘gorgeous’ new display. The HD films and TV shows in the iTunes Store are not considered ‘true’ HD, so I think we’re likely to see new content next year that substantially increases the quality of the content.
Apple’s new ‘HD+’ content (as I would call it) would be available on-demand and be streamed to the iMac as we currently experience with the Apple TV. Who wants to wait for a multi-GB HD movie to download before viewing it?
It is possible that Apple will also release an external Blueray drive. Unlike many critics, I do not think Apple are overly concerned that Blueray functionality would take revenues away from their iTunes Store. Quality is important, but the store is instantaneous in a way that ordering or renting a Blueray disc is not.
The only holdback to Apple Blueray, to my mind, is Steve Jobs’s dislike for DRM, which is required by Blueray. After campaigning to remove DRM on music in the iTunes Store, it would hurt Apple culturally if they reintroduced DRM as standard to facilitate Blueray. That is why an optional, external Blueray player via the iMac’s DisplayPort is more likely. You want Blueray on your iMac? OK, we’ll help, but you download the Blueray DRM update by your own volition.
I wonder if anyone read this.
Perhaps I should have left a small reply like yours that offers nothing whatsoever to the conversation?
considering the many, many, MANY times that the ipad/slate/itablet has been supposedly “about to be released” or “secretly in the making”, why is it that we think this time will be any different? every time i hear this rumor, i get excited because there is some sort of proof attached to it, but then the months go by, a few apple expos pass, and no device. 5 years now. i’m beginning to wonder whether it is all just hype or whether Apple really does have something in the works.
You’re right to an extent, Sebastian. Rumours about a ‘touchpad’ have been rife for years.
However, the particular details gleaned from the more recent rumours do seem substantially more plausible. Together with the rise of the netbook, it is likely, despite Apple’s position in the premium computer market, that the corporation will attempt to bring an elegant alternative to the ultra-portable market.
Specific information from multiple sources about the form factor, supposed leaks from manufacturers, Steve Jobs’s own admissions of exciting things ahead, talks with content providers, Apple’s warning of upcoming increases to its shipping budget, and, in the last few days, an increase in visits by Apple engineers to manufacturing bases in Asia, despite the recent release of the new iMacs and MacBook, all point to a substantial new product rather than revisions of existing products.
There is enough detail to make the ‘touchpad’ very plausible. Having tracked many Apple rumours closely for several years, and remaining sceptical, my feeling is that these rumours have the weight of reality behind them.
What’s next for some of the biggest gadgets of 2009?
That would be colour changing iphone 4GS,how nicely it would match in orange with your orange socks John.
All along, the MacBook Air has been, essentially, a way-overpriced dilettante iPod with a lid. I’d *like* to see Apple do right by it: add an SD reader, a USB, ethernet, CD. Give it a decent price. Now, THAT’d be a *gadget*!
The MacBook Air can in no way be claimed as a ‘dilettante iPod with a lid’, which is just flippant grandstanding with no appreciation of the facts.
It has a 1280-by-800 resolution LED-backlit display, full-size backlit keyboard, a ‘unibody’ casing made out of a single sheet of aluminium, a 120GB SSD hard drive, an NVIDA graphics processor, and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
Powerful iPod indeed.
Thanks for your explanation. I guess I hadn’t read the specs. I thought a unibody MBP 13″ could be fetched, better equipped, for far less.
You are paying a premium for the MacBook Air’s ultra-portability.
“iPod Touch -> iPad -> Countless imitators”
Besides the jokes, Mr Biggs could you tell us any details on crunchpad’s future?Will we see it coming?
Apple will demand a lot for the rumored ipad.
Archos released the archos 9 tablet, a french company released a 10,6″ atom based tablet ( both with resistive screensand not that good ). We need something fresh with a reasonable price, capacitative screen and an open platform.Will crunchpad ever be released?The microsoft concept with the two folding screens,like a book, was really sweet.
Handheld Gadgets are going to converge and it is going to change the market dynamics for everyone. More here – http://wp.me/pw0hs-7j
Tushneem Dharmagadda, how right you are! One day in the future we will all be Borg and everyone will have 100% connectivity 24×7x365. Won’t that be simply lovely? **OR** all this gadgetry will consume our waking hours and freedom of even your own thoughts will be destroyed FOREVER!!!
Bwah-Ha-Ha-Ha! Foolish earthers, soon we will come back to Roswell and take your planet while you dither around with all this technology. It’s an advanced game of, “how do you keep a monkey busy”, and you have all taken the bait!
Enjoy it while it lasts – you will make some tasty ham!
are you the dolphins?
No, we are not aquatic. We are advanced human/cybernetic symbiotic beings – But thanks for all the fish… again.
42.
Darwinian Recipes:
Really compelling recipe-augmented reality or even kitchen management is missing only one reasonably-priced component, the USB digital scale. Once you have this widely-available item, you can cook any recipe with impromptu variations (sensed by the scale and camera), and then decide after eating dinner whether the mutated recipe is fitter than the original — SAVE CHANGES!
a) It won’t be called the “iPad”.
Apple doesn’t own the trademark for “iPad”.
b) It won’t be called the “iSlate”.
Apple doesn’t own the trademark for “iSlate”.
c) It won’t be called the “iTablet”.
Apple doesn’t own the trademark for “iTablet”.
I agree. I’m glad most of the tech journalists and bloggers are not working for Apple’s marketing department!
Awful, awful names. iPad? Yuck.
iTouchbig?
iStroke?
iNeed to get away from prefacing everything with ‘i’
Touch Book?
I think the Droid will be a success
My sources at taco bell tell me that the iphone 3gs+ will hit the market early 2010.
What the new with it ..? with more speed, less battery life and yes with only one application running ..
SAME SHAPE ..
Next year Apple is changing – no more i – now it will be my, (or your as the case may be). myPhone, yourPhone, myBook, yourBook, etcetera. This will allow individuals to assert ownership rights to their technology. That i crap is just plain stupid. I know it was meant to be stylish, but it just screams iSuck.
Tell Jobs to retire and go free market instead of all this protectionist proprietary bullshit.
Yeah, that’s right. I said it. What are you going to do about it, fanBOY????
Man up – forget the Mac, buy a PC and deal with it.
anyone here like soccer?
Hells no.
100gb iPhone/ipods
None of this is going to matter when the economy finally tanks. Everything will be worthless and we won’t even be able to afford bread.
This is coming and if you are too blind to see it, I feel for you. Prepare yourself now or reap the whirlwind buddy.
Not to mention, we’re all going to die.
On fire.
With RATS.
The two free Starbucks apps for the iPhone are great but stay away from the Steve Jobs liver-flavored Frappuccino now in beta.
Yeah, Chris, I know what you mean. That liver thing is so overdone. Personally I prefer the Yak pancreas or the haggis Frappucino.
If you want a real treat, try the lung latte – sweet!