This is the catchup post from September to present, opinions are as follows....
Facebook seems to be the biggest story these days, with a fictional $50 billion valuation, a movie (also fictional) and seemingly everyone putting their privacy at risk by routing their entire lives through a service controlled by one company. Facebook is one of the biggest threats to the Internet as we know it. I for one do not believe this can continue. We need an facebook alternative, like
Diaspora! I think Diaspora is a good start, but what I'd really like to see is a completely serverless peer to peer social networking application that cannot be controlled by any entity in the way it is designed.
Diaspora Update: later the same day that I posted this, I have been informed that Diaspora is essentially serverless, I stand corrected, and I support it even more now :) Although it remains to be seen how well this actually works since it's not generally available yet.
Apparently nobody predicted how successful the Apple iPad would be, but I'm not surprised. Yes, it's just a big iPod touch, but what's wrong with that? The quality of the user interface and ease of use makes this tablet something anyone can use, and that is really all that matters to the majority of the population. The small percentage of power users that want to fiddle with complicated superior tablets that are technically a hundred times better can go ahead and do that, but they shouldn't expect the average person to have any interest in that type of experience. The iPad and it's successors will continue to dominate throughout 2011.
Does it matter that Steve Jobs has left and may not return to Apple? Not right away... even if his influence is the key factor to Apple's success, I think it would be many years before their current dominance could be threatened. None the less, my greatest fear is that the immensely awesome Macbook line is somehow ruined by business decisions and I end up with a hybrid iPadBook. Despite my high praises of the iPad as a tablet, I feel it in no way can replace an actual portable computer with keyboard and a fully capable operating system. I'm using a Macbook Air 11" now and find it to be the best computer I've ever had, period. (Sorry Amiga, you've finally lost top spot on my all time list)
In the mobile world, Windows 7 phones? Meh... I have not even bothered to try one. I just don't care and I long ago lost all interest in their "mobile" operating systems. Again, the iPhone will be a major player... Android will continue to increase and alot of users will actually realize they are using an android phone now instead of the branded name of their carrier/manufacturer. Nokia... what are you doing!? Research in Motion is desperately trying to seem "cool", but it's just not happening and their Playbook was not a good play at all. The big battle will be iPhone vs Android for 2011. In Canada, where I live.. more and more people will be abandoning their traditional land lines for a mobile only existence, augmented by Skype, Google Voice or something else that let's them make ultra-cheap long distance calls. I recently determined that I'd save about $500/year by doing this myself, and most likely cut down on telemarketing calls, missed calls resulting in my having to listen to voicemails on an archaic 1970's voicemail system. Biggest obstacle to cutting your landline involve safety... 911 calls, security systems use them, and if you local teleco doesn't offer DSL only service (mine does fortunately).
Startup investor/incubator
AngelPad continues to do it's thing for 2011... I sent them a couple good disruptive applications which were rejected of course. Scanning the list of winners this round reveals nothing disruptive, just more clever ideas. I guess the next facebook probably won't emerge through this method anyway, but it was worth a try.
