[raleur]

Here's a list of 20 trend predictions for next year:
http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blo...-for-2013.html

A mixed bag, some seem to me more likely than others. What do you think? Feasible? Likely? Wishful thinking?

[ort888]

Spent about 10 seconds clicking through the first few slides.

Technology doesn't move that fast.

My prediction? 2013 will look a lot like 2012.

Things will get a little faster, a little cheaper and a little smaller.

[Salty]

The future is going to be in cloud based user accounts. Originally I imagined your smart phone being the centre of your device world, IE everything would run off that. But with the advent of progressively faster and faster internet connections I think you're going to start seeing one universal login. Currently Apple's approach is iCloud a bit more closed than is necessary for a universal login, which is not a good strategy considering by their own admission Apple is only focused on doing a few things well.

I think at this point the only company to root for in this space would be Facebook. Facebook has always been focused on representing -you- to the world and connecting you. It's become the internet place where you go to find out or connect with somebody. It's already replaced email and IM for hordes of people, and it's made photo sharing, thought sharing and micro-blogging much more common place. Of course there's the problem that most people have nothing worth saying, but that's beside the point.

Ideally what we'll want to see is Apple partnering with Facebook in a meaningful way. Facebook has a lot of the upsides of Google but without being a ravenous back stabbing douche of a company Zuck seems a lot more trustworthy and principled than anyone in charge at Google.

Device wise I think we're going to see a 5 inch iPhone, they've already got two screen sizes. The fact is some people just want a big device and having something to fit their needs is good for Apple. My guess is that may even be what the iPhone 5S ends up being which is why they might be moving up the release schedule. Wouldn't be surprised if they start doing the iPhone 5S with a faster processor than the 5, and then in the fall give the same processor to the iPhone 6 in a smaller size.

[gradient]

Isn't Facebook due for a decline in social networking market share sometime soon, though? I wouldn't really know, as I intentionally stay clear of that sort of thing in favour of relative anonymity, but it sure seems like their bubble has got to burst sometime in the not too distant future. I'm biased, mind you, in that I really do despise most aspects of social networking - I'm a very private person by nature.

[Waragainstsleep]

While social network is driven in part by trend (like Myspace going out of fashion), Facebook isn't likely to decline until something significantly better to come along. Right now there is no viable alternative and its going to take something very compelling to drag people away from Facebook because of how many of their friends are already on it.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

While social network is driven in part by trend (like Myspace going out of fashion), Facebook isn't likely to decline until something significantly better to come along. Right now there is no viable alternative and its going to take something very compelling to drag people away from Facebook because of how many of their friends are already on it.

Plus there's the marketing/data mining trend that everyone wants to conquer. All that data about all those people is worth money.