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2013 is the eye of the storm. Mobile phones stagnated - Mobile phones now have desktop class processors in them. The line between phone, and laptop is becomin
by swalsh 13y ago
2013 is the eye of the storm.
Mobile phones stagnated - Mobile phones now have desktop class processors in them. The line between phone, and laptop is becoming simply a matter of form factor. Something big might wiggle through, and 2013 is when the technology got there.
Wearables were a letdown - We finally have the technology, we're just looking for the right mix of form and application. There's a lot of potential there, we just haven't found it yet. However the roots have been planted.
Former giants let down - They're learning their place. IBM has no business making mobile phones, they cater to guys who need to do a lot of database stuff quickly. Microsoft has no business making consumer products, now that the line between producer and consumer is very clear. They're good at making a platform that enabled business customers to quickly develop apps. Apple is mobile. I have this theory, a company can only do one section of a market well, or everything poorly. Whatever the result, they have finally embraced open source tech like HTML 5, Angular JS, bootstrap etc. Microsoft is no longer holding back the web. With a "sane" platform, we got some more rope to hang ourselves with.
Social media became profitable - great, now the platform can pay for itself.
The rest is interesting, but not proof of a year of stagnation.
- simonh 13y agoAgree completely, there was incremental movement on the outside, but powerful forces are at work beneath the surface. The iPhone 5s was widely derided as an incremental product, but it forced every other smartphone and mobile processor designer in the industry to throw out their entire technical roadmap for the next few years and start again from scratch. It also introduced the first consumer application of a biometric sensor that actually feels like it's part of our future here today. Google Glass is highly controversial, but setting it's consumer acceptance issues aside, the potential for the technology in a whole host of industrial/business applications is stunning. Ditto for commercial drone technology like that demonstrated by Amazon. I can understand a non-tech journalist looking at all this and not getting excited, but for a tech journalist to completely miss the implications of these developments is just lazy.