Trends 2010 And Beyond

Gee! A brand new decade beckons, just as we're getting ready to show the decade of Gmail and the iPod out of the door! If you've followed technology as long as I have, you'll agree that this decade has been one of the most fascinating and innovative decades since …  well, since the last one, which saw the birth of the common man's Internet, Google and Microsoft Windows. That's the beauty of the age we live in - just when the thought we had the ride of our lives, the ride was just getting started!
 
Now while we bid adieu to the decade past, it's time to look forward and soothsay a bit, right? Only this time, we extend the time honoured ritual to look far out and into the future of tech into the next decade. But first, here's how I see 2010 playing out:
 
2010… 
The Apple Tablet: Like many (every?) Apple product, this has been debated and hyped beyond need, with many often referring to its seemingly-magical capabilities! Yet, far as I see it, I don't see Apple releasing the i-whatever until very late in 2010, simply because this is a market that's not easy to get right. They've long stayed away from the netbook market, and unless they can fix the problem of text input in a path-breaking manner, I see them taking the time to do it right. Until then, Apple will nevertheless continue to play along with the most cleverly throughout shadow marketing campaign ever. Once it does launch, it could deliver a serious kick in the collective behinds of 2009's darling device - the ebook readers.
 
Smartphones a.k.a the death of the feature-phone: I recently alluded to the fact that with smartphones growing at the phenomenal pace that they are, and with featurephones often becoming reduced to one-trick ponies, mainstream users will care less about whether that they're buying a phone which was previously deemed a smartphone, as long as it is affordable and can get them on the web. Speaking of which, 3G may finally land on our shores (yes, 4G is already being discussed worldwide), and 2010 will see platforms (Android, iPhone, Symbian) to be more critical to purchase decisions than pure hardware features.
 
Chrome OS and the Cloud: Google's recent announcement of the Chrome OS, an operating system that works out of a browser, shows the way forward. The cloud, your entire life residing online, is here to stay. Who knows, they may well even release a Google branded PC for mainstream users with nothing but a browser installed! Everything else - your applications, your storage - is all on the web.
 
All-in-Ones - the PC's last chance?: Despite all the talk about the cloud, the PC will survive in 2010, with innovation driven by the all-in-one segment like the HP Touchsmart and the Apple iMacs. Multi-touch displays, fuelled by support in Windows 7, will drive a more engaging PC experience once more applications jump on board.
 
Mini-SLR Cameras: If you've put off an SLR camera purchase due to the sheer bulk of what you'll have to carry, try a mini-SLR next year. With the same high-quality large-sized sensors as conventional digital SLRs, these will almost have the footprint of  the compacts you've carried around this year.
 
Blu-ray?: Blu-ray may well be 'the' high definition standard format for now, but along the way, most of us figured out that downloading movies at home, now even available in high-definition, was just plain easier. It does not help that Blu-ray movies cost the earth, and the players still retail at stratospheric levels. Blu-ray desperately needs 2010 to see the launch of economy players and a moderation of movie title prices, if it wants to steer clear of inevitable oblivion.