Obvious Diversion

I did pretty well with my tech predictions for 2006, so I figured I’d have some fun and take a guess at both Macworld tomorrow and the year ahead.

1. Blu-ray will officially take the lead over HD-DVD. How? Every PS3 sold supports Blu-ray. Every Xbox 360 requires an additional purchase to support HD-DVD and, quite frankly, only a small percentage of the installed base will bother to do so. Add to the fact that Dell, HP and Apple will ship systems with Blu-ray drives this year and you have the beginning of the end for HD-DVD.
2. Nintendo will become #1 in the games industry again in next-gen units, portable units and cash raked in.. This is a multi-year prediction from last year and I certainly stick by it.
3. iTV will be released with the greatest killer app: a full hookup to Youtube in partnership with Google.
4. The killer app for Apple’s phone will be built-in GPS. The phone knows exactly where you are, so it can serve you context-sensitive information such as where the nearest bar is or how far away your friends are.
5. Mac OS 10.5 will make heavy use of integrated cameras for fun and security. iPhoto will love it. New displays will go right along with that.
6. The Finder will finally be replaced in OS 10.5 with a brand new search-centric app. Good riddance.
7. A full line of 802.11n compatible Airport devices will be released.
8. Steve Jobs will announce his retirement. He got lucky in his fight against cancer a few years ago and it’s been enough years since that the prudent thing to do is to announce a graceful exit.