Each new year the internet is awash with articles heralding the next big ‘something’ set to revolutionise the three big W’s. We predict what's set to explode in popularity in 2008.
Internet porn. Outlook email. Google. Flickr. Youtube. Facebook. These all have something in common: they didn’t do anything radically new, they just did it better than anyone else. They are all showcases for usability.
Internet porn brought instant gratification without the humiliation. Outlook allowed for simple and instant written communication at the click of the reply button. Google created simple access to anything on the web, now including location, image and video. Flickr enabled digital image sharing. YouTube brought online video to the masses with a simple basic video player now used widely across the internet. Facebook took the confusing world of web 2.0 and user generated content and moulded a near flawless, uncomplicated hub for anyone; just don't get me started on the applications.
What will be big in 2008?
With all this in mind and the results of the Christmas eat-athon all too apparent on the IAB waistbands, we ask what else will be big in 2008? Well, let's look at the pattern. The websites and web applications that have proved most successful are not necessarily built on an original idea, but instead an increased focus on usability makes the emerging technology accessible to the masses.
Written, audio, video and social content is available online and thanks to search engines we have the ability to find it all (yes, including porn!) Desktop computers allow you to access everything and laptops have freed us from our desks but there's still a gaping hole in our lives. The ability to access the internet any goddamn place we want is still fairly limited, the next frontier that needs fixing, therefore is mobile internet. The solution quite frankly appears do be in my hand - I'm writing this article on my iPhone.
iPhone doesn’t really bring anything new to the party - Microsoft smart phones have offered similar tools for years - the iPhone just does them better. It is instantly usable, even the contracts are simple despite appearing to be initially restrictive. For the internet connoisseur the barriers no longer exist for mobile internet because iPhone contracts come with unlimited mobile internet including the simplest method of connecting to WiFi networks. The technology is beautiful, conversion perfected. Enough of my techie love affair, the point is that one website may not be big in 2008; instead mobile friendly versions of existing websites are likely to be the big winners by the end of the year.
The iPhone is not just a leader in the mobile market, as one of the first devices to fully execute touch-screen technology, Microsoft and a host of others have also been working on their own versions of touch-screen technology.
Another area that is likely to take hold in 2008 – depending on how quickly companies can improve upon their solutions – is high quality internet TV. BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 all launched their own internet TV players in 2007. They work nicely, but there’s no consistency. With talk of a single integrated player between the terrestrial channels the UK may finally have a usable offering for internet TV.
Putting the infrastructure in place for the next giant leap
Although not as obviously exciting as talking up the new Facebook, YouTube or MySpace, the most important internet advancements in 2008 will perhaps not be immediately obvious. An increased focus on the infrastructure of the internet is underway that will ultimately usher in the next generation of internet use. As loath as I am to get too hung up on what web point-whatever we are up, a Times Online article before Christmas discussed the early stages of web 3.0, the pattern the development of online has so far adhered to and what we can expect next.
I won’t spoil the article as it’s definitely worth a read but in a nut shell it outlines how the development of the internet moves in ten year cycles, alternating from a focus on back and front end. It says that; “Web 1.0 was a back-end decade, focusing on the web's basic platform, its link structure and navigation system. Web 2.0 was front end, with a heavy focus on users and usability, clean-looking sites, and people making connections with one another. In Web 3.0, the emphasis will revert to the back end, with a renewal of the web's key index - the essential data that is catalogued by search engines like Google.” As we move to the end of the web 2.0 decade, it’s what’s happening behind the scenes that is most exciting.
In the immediate future the focus on infrastructure will make the technology we rely upon even more efficient, convenient and widely available. I have already mentioned how being able to access the internet on the move will be an important feature of 2008, improvements in WiFi coverage, therefore, will be a key feature of the year.
Ultra-thin laptops and ‘open platforms’
Hand in hand with this will be developments in laptops to make them even more portable. The improvements in flash based hard-drives, negating the need for bulky moving parts mean that laptops thinner than a Posh Spice will hit the virtual shelves. Intel and Apple are apparently both gearing up for imminent announcements along these lines.
The user’s wishes and requirements will continue to be at the forefront of online developments. At the tail end of last year the idea of ‘open platforms’ was a recurrent theme. The same Times Online article that discussed the next generation of the internet also mentioned ‘open platforms’; the name given to a device or website that can host any applications the user desires. The example the Times gives, appropriately for this apple-loving article, is the iPhone. ‘Open platforms’ would allow you to upload any features you want on your phone, whether it be sports updates or an email service, without Apple being involved beyond enabling the device.
Once 2008 really gets going in earnest it will quickly become clear what the main talking points will be come the end of the year. As early as February last year we were already earmarking Facebook as the one to watch, exciting isn’t it?
