Mobile Predictions for 2010

The year 2010 is both right around the corner and light years away. As 2008 nears an end, the reality is that 2010 is little more than a year away, but with the leaps and bounds technology has taken in the past years, who knows what we can expect from the mobile industry when the second decade of the 21st century begins? Here are some of my favorite predictions:

• GPS as a standard feature – I have no doubt that this is a valid prediction for 2010. I don’t consider myself a geographically or directionally challenged individual, but there is something comforting about turn-by-turn directions. Before I had my own GPS-enabled devices, I spent months calling my friends and family riding shotgun “Tom Tom” in hopes that they’d know what to do when I was in an unfamiliar area. GPS on our cell phones lets us truly be mobile on our mobile, and who doesn’t want that?

• Touchscreens will be the norm – As a loyal user of a touchscreen phone, I can see the appeal of this prediction. Particularly with some of the recent news about the swipe technology, which will reportedly make touchscreen typing even easier, I don’t think touchscreens will lose their popularity. On the other hand, there is something to be said about a QWERTY, so I think only time will tell if this prediction will come true.

• 3D holograms will enter the market – That’s right. I’m predicting that 3D projections from cell phones will take off and be embedded in many devices. The degree of technical advancement differs depending on who you might ask. It might be a pico-projector, a miniature version of a media projector you might find in your conference room or home theater, or you may be able to impose a 3-D version of yourself into a room to give a speech when you’re three states over. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

We can make educated guesses all we want about what we’ll find in 2010, but an educated guess is still a guess, and it’s unlikely we’ll see a slowdown in the mobile market in the coming years. I can’t wait to see which predictions come true! To see more predictions like these, click here.