In today’s smartphone market, Android reigns supreme, followed by Apple’s iOS. Android’s dominance is thanks to the fact that the platform is open-source which in turn allowed many manufacturers to get their hands on it to start building devices for the platform.
This is versus Microsoft’s Windows Phone where Microsoft charges manufacturers a licensing fee to use the platform, and in turn also controls the type of hardware that they use in order to maintain a consistent experience across the board. We’re not sure what might have contributed to Windows Phone’s slow adoption, but it seems that Microsoft’s former CEO, Steve Ballmer, admits that things could have been done differently.
Speaking at the Said Business School in Oxford, UK, Ballmer was quoted as saying, “We would have a stronger position in the phone market today if I could re-do the last 10 years.” Of course one can’t really do much about regrets and things that happened in the past, so Ballmer’s solution is to pick up on the next trend and catch that wave.
So what is the next trend? As it stands, it would seem as though wearable technology is the next trend. We have seen devices like the Oculus Rift gain a fair amount of traction, and we have also seen the launch of multiple smartwatches from a variety of manufacturers, such as Qualcomm, Samsung, Pebble, and so on.
In fact word on the street has it that companies like Apple and Google could even be hopping on board the smartwatch bandwagon as well later this year. Will wearable tech truly be the next trend, or might it be a fad or a phase, much like smartphones with glasses-free 3D displays?
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