Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: 2009 Predictions

- Nothing big will happen. Really. I feel like, in these troubled economic times (drink that eggnog), with companies slashing payrolls and R&D budgets, can anyone really afford to develop and, more importantly, market anything anymore? I think until the market improves, 2009 will be the year of the status quo.

Having said that, I predict Molly will throw away her iPhone in a rage and get a blackberry instead.

Also, Molly will have another baby. Two is the right number.

Expect less green tech in 2009 and more convergence. With all that has been hitting the fan in the past 10 years, the tech world needs to take a break and figure out how this stuff is going to work together. Let's hope it does not take long.

I predict some group in Hollywood will strike. (Are craft service people unionized?) This will lead to Joss Whedon creating Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Podcast. It will be brilliant. Tell your friends. However, we will never see Dollhouse.

I predict more old movies coming out on blu-ray with crummy transfers that are only enjoyed by people who are half-blind from various and sundry diseases. However, the dropping prices of discs ($19.99 for new releases, please) and cheaper profile 2.0 players will lead to increased adoption of the format. Oh, and Apple will announce computers with blue lasers. This may or may not have something to do with blu-ray.

I predict an AppleTV Take 3 with Netflix and maybe even Hulu support.

I predict some TV manufacturer will announce the biggest TV ever and then add that it is not available for retail. They just did it for the LOLs.

I predict we will not see Windows 7 until 2010. The more often Microsoft tells you it is coming out in 2009, the more likely it will be 2010.

I predict iTunes doesn't go subscription-based. It is more likely that the Amazon Kindle 2.0 will be subscription-based.

I predict Sony will announce that they have no plans to drop the price of the PS3. It will then drop in price.

I predict J.D. Salinger will come out of retirement and write the much-anticipated sequel to The Catcher in the Rye: The Children of the Corn. Everyone will get the joke but J.D.

Oh, and there will also be a new version of the classic board game Monopoly with some theme tacked onto it.

1.Blue ray will not over take DVD.
2.The T-mobile G1 will be upgraded and fix a lot of issues people hated with phone orginally.

3.Windows 7 will be recived well but people will complain that they dont like the new task bar.
4. The new Palm os will be recived well but will not be alot to convert people back to palm.
5. windows mobile will get a complete face lift and will be more user friendly.
6. Hulu and Netflix will have an explosion in usages.
7. Microsoft will either buy yahoo but not at $33 a share or will have a partnership agreement.
8. Sony's PS3 will still not turn a profit unitl late in the third or possible four quarter.
9. Microsoft will announce a Touch screen zune.

1) Windows Mobile 7 with Zune will be branded as Kumo. In this ecosystem their will be "Kumo Search", "Kumo Mail", "Kumo Maps", etc. AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!!!

2) Netbooks and UMPCs will merge into a single platform, ranging in price from $300 - $600. AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!!!!

3)Apple will release the Cut & Paste feature for the iPhone and will crown it King of the Universe and make all of us it's peasant subjects. AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!!!(for the mac faithful)

4) Windows 7, Zune, and Xbox will finally be unified seemlessly. AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!!


5)AMD will turn a modest profit. AND IT WILL BE MODESTLY AWESOME!!!

iPhone: 32GB. Turn by Turn nav (paid app) will be released.

iPod: Touch will replace Classic in some fashion, either by adding a 120GB (or so) disk version, or by expanding flash to 100GB+ by EOY.

Netbooks: Apple WILL release a netbook, which will be seen as game changing, though it will sell for a somewhat ridiculous for netbooks $699 price point. 10-11" screen. Perhaps a non-Atom processor. Also, Sony will release a netbook as well, again somewhat high-end for a netbook. Aside from Apple, most attempts to increase the average price of netbooks will fail.

Macbooks: No touchscreens.

SSDs: Will continue to get faster over the year, and by year end we can see the end for hard disks in many applications, so lets say netbooks and laptops at least. Power savings and performance will come with Windows 7.

Windows 7: Will arrive by summer and be seen as a reasonable success. Big hits: netbook support, and DirectX 11 which will enable encoder offloads to graphics cards, which will see significant support by EOY.

Apple TV: Apple will add Blue Ray to its Apple TV, though no DVR capabilities. Software will otherwise be largely unchanged. Boxee will be a significant hit.

Android: A large number of Android phones will be released and the platform will be a bonafide hit by EOY. Motorola in particular will have a significant hit with one model.

Car Tech: Will be seen as a major driver of new sales, often more important than other features, at least in high end models. There will be attempts to make some of the tech (like the GPS) upgradable. Somebody will finally crowd-source traffic, by distributing a free application for both Android and iPhone using built-in GPS to track live traffic flow.

Twitter: Will be seen as not that important by EOY.

Social Networking: Another bubble collapses.

Microsoft will buy (some of) Yahoo!

Hulu/ABC/CBS web show support will migrate to all of the major boxes, including XBox, Apple TV, etc.

VOD availability over the internet will become more common place and the dates will move closer to DVD release dates. Prices will be higher though.

BluRay will be a moderate success, as prices continue to fall and Profile 2.0 models drop below $200. Attempts to add new features to prop prices up will be largely unsuccessful.

There will still be no one-box-to-rule-them-all to get your internet video to your TV. No box will do everything.

SlingPlayer will be a failure, and removed from the market by EOY.

AppleTV will be seen as a moderate success by EOY.