A Look Back at "Ten Amazingly Accurate Tech Predictions for 2009" - Page 2

Score: Robert Barga - 2, Evil Companies Out to Get Me - 1

4. Microsoft will start a phone company, the iPhone will keep growing, Android will stumble.

This one seems quite hard to grade, so I will simply say majority rules. Apple continued to increase its sales of the iPhone, and the amazing smartphone took a dominant share of the market. Microsoft released a new version of Windows Mobile, but they did not start their own company, or even try to buy one. Android, though a newcomer, continued to gain as a mobile operating system. Clearly, I missed on this prediction.

Score: Robert Barga - 2, Evil Companies Out to Get Me - 2

5. Google will release a full-fledged OS, un-beta Gmail, and stop supporting Chrome.

When I wrote this post, I was somewhat joking about the un-betaing of Gmail. I assumed that the popular mail program would be in testing mode forever, and that Google would never change that. Needless to say, Google did un-beta Gmail, helping out in this prediction. Additionally, Google announced the release of an OS that will compete directly with Linux. While Google is still supporting Chrome, I feel as though I did well on this prediction.

Score: Robert Barga - 3, Evil Companies Out to Get Me - 2

6. Microsoft will release Windows 7.

While it became common knowledge that there would be an October launch in January, when I wrote the article, Windows was still claiming a January 2010 launch date. Of course, Windows 7 launched on October 22, 2009, fulfilling my prediction.

Score: Robert Barga - 4, Evil Companies Out to Get Me - 2

7. The Resurrection of HD-DVD.

Okay, so I assumed that the bad economy would jump-start a dead format. Needless to say, I was way off the ball on this. Instead of jump-starting HD-DVDs, Blu-ray players dropped in price, and the sales of Blu-rays went through the roof. While sales of HD-DVDs might still be strong on eBay, I clearly missed the target here.

Score: Robert Barga - 4, Evil Companies Out to Get Me - 3

8. All three consoles will sell less, PS3 will be pulled.

I correctly predicted that Nintendo and Microsoft would cut their prices, but never expected Sony to be able to do the same. Instead, I predicted that they would pull out of the race and start working on their next model. Instead, Sony surprised me by dropping their price to $299 and starting to get more market share. Clearly, I was wrong on this one.

Article Author: Robert M. Barga

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