#269
2019 Crystal Ball
Published:
Jan 05, 2019
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Happy New Year! With 2019 underway, tech prognosticators are again peering into the crystal ball to tell us what the future will bring. Who will be right, and what will define the narrative for 2019?
Despite a fair bit of macro anxiety, secular trends in technology continue to generate optimism and the FAANG club is set to add its newest member, Uber, 10 years after Facebook was let into the club. Cellular carriers around the world are gearing up to flip the switch on 5G in 2019, which could eventually bring lightning-fast downloads and enable a broader set of connected devices. Others are energized by the continued development of the AI and machine learning “stack,” making it increasingly possible for intelligent wizardry to change the game across a multitude of industries.
Moreover, adoption of Apple’s airpods and the Apple Watch have brought renewed interest in applications developed for wearable devices. And of course, the crypto community remains poised for the next wave of innovations – such as new scalability solutions, tokenized assets, and user adoption of decentralized applications.
Outside of the tech soothsayers “doom and gloom” appears to be weighing heavy on macro focused minds. Many are forecasting continued woes in the economy and/or stock market, driven by higher interest rates, trade wars, Brexit and wider political turmoil.
In start-up land, market dislocation can be the catalyst for driving technical and business models innovation. With all that data, what will the magical AI-powered, decentralized 2019 crystal ball reveal?
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2019 Crystal Ball
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