As ever on the Tame Geek website, we firstly look back at the year that was then take a view out on the year to come.

Specifics

  • The new iPhones will be announced on the week commencing the 9th of September. We may get some new camera tech that brings 3D depth sensing to the rear cameras. Expect minor physical changes.
  • The same event will give us a hardware bump for the Apple Watch. Nothing major, just faster and more better.
  • The new Apple operating systems will be announced at the WWDC happening sometime near the week commencing the 3rd of June. We also may see the newly designed Mac Pro at this event.
  • Expect a Pixel 4 from Google with a smaller notch towards the end of the year.

General

When we start casting our eyes out towards the trends for 2019, there’s one technology that will really start the see a lot of progress. That is Augmented Reality. Since 2017, it’s been the preserve of the ‘techie’ amongst us and that’s fine, as that’s where big shifts start. As companies are now finding it easier to create content and experiences are more practical than gimmick, we will see more of this technology impact on our digital lives. This may sound odd, given that Blippar went in to administration just before Christmas, but it highlights that technology cannot be base on proprietary platforms and must start with experiences, rather than the ‘shiny box’ of tech.

The other reason for this push will be the platforms (ecosystem owners) getting customers ready for their hardware launches in 2020. That will be the year, where real, purchasable AR glasses will be launched by people like Apple and Google. I think I’ve figured out how they will do it, and you can read that here. After using technology like the Magic Leap, it’s very easy to see the potential of this technology, when the form factor is right. And let’s be honest, 2020 or (20/20) is a great year to launch a vision base product.

In other markets that the Tame Geek follows, we can see that film wise, we may get a $2.5 billion box office for Avengers: Endgame as well as some huge results for Captain Marvel. Personally I’m also really looking forward to the next Lego Movie, as I’m a huge fan of their work!

The car industry in Europe will continue to take a pounding over diesel but will begin to get some momentum back with the sales of hybrids and pure electric vehicles. With Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar, Hyundai, Nissan and BMW all in the mix with pure electric cars, expect queues at charging places to become more common.

As for Brexit and Trump? I’m not going to even make any guesses! Let’s just keep an eye on 2019.