In our annual trends and predictions, we identified Bitcoin as being a hot, ongoing topic in 2014. We said:
Bitcoin and
cashless payments will continue to generate interest. We’ve seen a rise
in interest in bitcoins, and it appears bitcoins may be on the edge of going
mainstream. We don’t think that will happen in 2014 but we do think the topic
will get discussed.
But more retailers are evaluating whether or not to accept Bitcoins for payment, and already there's been a lot of coverage about bitcoins: such as:
And those are just within two hours of when I was writing this post.
We still don't think most consumers will pay with Bitcoins in 2014 but more retailers will announce they accept it for payment in 2014 -- as a way to highlight their being on the cutting-edge.
Meanwhile, we also saw another story prediction get validation. In our list of ongoing tech trends we identified cognitive computing, led by IBM Watson, to score coverage. Here's a recent Wall St. Journal article: "IBM Struggles to Turn Watson Computer Into Big Business;Revenue Is Far From Company's Ambitious Targets."
Last week, we posted top tech trends. Today, we're posting our list of top ongoing tech trends, representing trends that started before 2014.
- The battle of
tablets: After several years of breathless media coverage, the battle for
tablet supremacy began when Apple, recognizing a vulnerability in its product line,
launched the iPad Mini. Last year, we said it was a two-horse race between
iPads and the Kindle Fire but expect a third player to gain traction – enter
the Samsung Galaxy. This story has just begu
- Mobile everything
will be important, including mobile search and mobile recommendations. We’ll see the later perhaps playing out with
shopper-specific recommendations while walking in retail stores – positioned as
your own personal shopper.
- Crowdsourcing
will continue to be a source of investors and a marketing boost. But that
will primarily be for consumer-oriented products, not B2B technology.
- Virtual
startups in otherwise unlikely fields. We’ve already seen the growth of
virtual biotechs, and we see that continuing. We expect to see virtual enterprise application developers, who
rely on outsourcer providers to do the heavy lifting. We don’t necessarily expect to see
a lot of coverage of this trend, just that this is how startups will structure
themselves. There’s a financial benefit to being virtual, including the hope
for greater efficiencies but with that come other challenges, like credibility
with customers and keeping every consultant, vendor and partner on the same page.
- 3D
printers are still not yet ready for prime time. They will continue to make
inroads, and to generate some coverage, but this is not (yet) a device for
every household. It’s too expensive and
too complicated.
- Big data: The media will continue to cover big data as it continues to go mainstream…until
big data is supplanted by the next data trend.
- Consumerization of
enterprise apps: Mobile and BYOD forces require enterprise apps to be intuitive and easy
to use. Ugly interfaces will no longer close sales.
- Second screens: Increasingly
people watch television programs with their tablets, too, so they can comment
real-time on what they’re watching. Helping customers express themselves and
buy while they’re watching TV is going to be an important from a marketing
perspective in the coming years.
- Cognitive and context computing: IBM Watson represents cognitive computing, which "combines natural language processing, machine learning, and hypothesis
generation and evaluation," (according to IBM) and it didn't just beat Jeopardy champions in 2011. IBM Watson (and cognitive computing) is kicking off a new wave in computing. (Yes, we know, we've heard that before.) Fortune did a cover story in Sept. 2013 reporting on IBM's Massive Bet on Watson. Contextual computing is not vastly different. Fast Company breathlessly reported that contextual computing -- including Google's latest search algorithm, will bring "Machines that understand you and everything you care about, anticipate
your behavior and emotions, absorb your social graph, interpret your
intentions, and make life, um, 'easier.'" We expect both cognitive and context computing will get more attention in 2014, even though we're in the early stages. Implications: IBM Watson's ability to provide students (and the rest of us) with almost instant access to historical data means that educators must rethink curriculum. Less important, now, are specific dates of historical events; what's now important is understanding the substantive issues surround the Treaty of Ghent, for example -- issues that sometimes get scant attention in the need to emphasize dates. We see that happening in business, too.
Let us know if you agree or disagree. Check back tomorrow for additional predictions or click here for Part I, Part II or Part III.
