A WEEK IN TELCO IT: My Dad told me, “You should try everything in life once, except incest and Morris dancing.” I think he should have added something else to the list; making annual predictions. To my mind, it’s like tightrope walking, sooner or later it leads to spectacular falls and people mostly remember you when it all goes horribly wrong. So, 2020 is another year when I won’t be making high tech predictions, says editorial director, Jeremy Cowan.
I still have the utmost respect, however, for those who do venture onto the prediction high wire. I have even more for those who get things right, and ‘fess up when they don’t.
Step forward our friends at Juniper Research, the UK-based technology analysts who boast (in the nicest way) an impressive track record in this area. Not only have they made some interesting predictions, they’re even prepared to tell you how it went last year.
Personally, I think it’s madness!
Anyway, here is this year’s forecast in brief:
1. 5G – Last-mile fibre roll-outs to be replaced by 5G connectivity.
2. OTT TV – Advertising stakeholders to develop functional attribution ecosystem.
3. Mobility as a Service – Open data in transportation to drive MaaS beyond Europe.
4. Games – Subscription models to flourish in games market, but ‘live’ elements to diminish.
5. Netflix – To seek out new sources of revenue growth as competition rises.
6. Google – To expand RCS services in Europe.
7. Google – To leverage Fitbit health credentials to mount challenge to Apple Watch.
8. Huawei – The ban will result in a more uneven 5G network growth.
9. Robotics – Consumer robots to launch using subscription models.
10. Voice Assistants – Security concerns to come to a head, causing trouble for smart homes.
You can find out more about all of these by registering at the Juniper Research website (https://www.juniperresearch.com/).
And how did they do in 2019? Well, they’ve scored themselves as Wrong, Right, or Very Right:
1. Adversarial Machine Learning Becomes Key for Security & Fraud Prevention – Wrong
2. AI (Artificial Intelligence) to Enhance Edge Computing Power in IoT Systems – Very right
3. Banking-as-a-Service Economy Emerges – Right
4. RCS (Rich Communication Services) Messaging to Contest Chatbots & OTT (Over-The-Top) Business Platforms – Very right
5. Robotic Process Automation Ramps Up – Right
6. Voice Assistants Become a Service-Led Market – Wrong
7. Automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to Disrupt Established Business Models – Right
8. Blockchain Moves Into the Food Chain – Very right
9. Loot Boxes to be Banned Across Europe & North America – Very right
10. Chatbots to Play Central Role in Insurance Claims Process – Very right
The author is Jeremy Cowan,
editorial director & publisher
of VanillaPlus.
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