I thought I would give it a week before jumping on to make my 2012 predictions for marketing, social, and startups. There have been plenty of posts on predictions but I have tried to avoid them. What I have gotten from the few that I have read is:
- google+ and how it is changing the way we search
- facebook, the timeline, and more legal stuff around privacy
- Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
- Is this the year bubble 2.0 bursts?
Of course there is alot more being discussed and I won't be talking about any of those things. My prediction of 2012 is that this will be remembered as the year that the web breaks out of the computer and into our every day lives. More than just mobile and tablets. I had an idea the other day after coming home a little later than usual and what I had in the crockpot had been slightly over cooked. "What if I could control my crockpot with an app so that I didn't over cook my food?" And the iCrockPot was born! (The name is TBD). I believe the internet will be integrated to more and more devices which will give manufacturers better feedback on problems with their products, allow for product updates, and more. The crockpot is something only to be sold at The Sharper Image, but more internet enabled products will be on store shelves soon.
Did you see they are putting internet in cars now? This is big stuff and it didn't make the front page of yahoo. Even the commercials from
Toyota and Chevy have barely bragged about the in-car internet. The new Camry has apps. This is Pandora's time to shine. Replace my FM dial with a Pandora app in my dash and I am willing to pay for their service. Will anyone pay $30+ a month for internet? This will be the year that more car makers add internet to their vehicles and consumers will decide if they want it.
QR Codes decline in volume, increase in Quality: This is a hopeful prediction. 2011 was a take-off year for QR Codes. By the end of the year they were on everything. But still. . . no one is scanning. I don't see anyone scanning at least. For me, I scan when I see an exceptional ad or want to find out what is on the other end of that code. Most of the time, it is still disappointing content. Because QR codes are easy and free to make, anyone can throw them on an ad or poster. But this is a gift an a curse. Where is the Microsoft Tag or that one shaped like an L with circles? Those didn't take off because they were proprietary. QR Code proliferation happened because they cost little to nothing to add on to your marketing campaign. If QR Codes required some skill to create, fewer would be on the streets, but I think the quality of the landing page would be much greater. Let's hope this is the year for some great QR Code campaigns.
Square goes mainstream: It is already uncool to look at
Square like a foreign object when it is handed to you at checkout. I have had once for over a year, but never had a use for it. Being sold in the Apple store was a big boost and their Christmas promotion made it a great add on to the many iPhones that were gifted). I have seen several store front windows promoting Square among their accepted payment methods. In the last week I have paid with Square twice. (Shout out to Paul at
Zeroz in Columbus, Ohio. He took payment for my awesome new wallet with Square.
Da Levee on High Street also used Square for my etouffee) Even though many small businesses are ditching their expensive POS systems for an iPod Touch and
Square, a big name retailer will be necessary to push Square into the mainstream, but this could be their year.
iTV: Will consumers pay more for a TV from
Apple? Probably. But with LCD and LED TV's priced so low you should put one in your bathroom, this TV better seriously improve my viewing experience and the way I interact with content. I have an Apple TV and I don't use it because Apple video content is basically pay-per-view with a YouTube and
Netflix player. Once I dropped my Netflix subscription, I stopped using it all together. iTV still interests me and I think this will be the year that we see Apple take its place in the living room.
Cable providers evolve or die: Hulu,
Netflix,
Crackle,
Apple TV,
Roku,
YouTube (now that it has channels), JustinTV, and the list can go on. With every viewer that chooses to view their entertainment online, cable is one customer closer extinction. Why do I still have cable? Probably because I want something to watch in any room and sometimes it is nice to just veg out and be entertained without the need to choose. With my internet media, sometimes I need the freedom from choice. That is why the new YouTube channels interest me so much.
Apps for the enterprise: Big money apps made for the enterprise will start to play a bigger role in the way we work. Since the advent of the App Store, there have been apps design for business. Scan business cards, manage your calendar, bump contacts, and more. But these are bought by me for me. I predict that businesses will play a greater role in the content of the phones their employees use for work, starting with apps that they want you to use. So delete Angry Birds from your company iPhone and make room for the next wave of apps for business.
My New Years Resolution is to blog more. So here's to the start of a great 2012!
