Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.
“Life,” as Ferris Bueller so eloquently put it, “moves pretty fast.” But we ain't seen nothin' yet.
At least that's Rick Richardson's view.
For the past 16 years, Richardson — a CPA, technology futurist and CEO of Richardson Media and Technologies — has offered predictions about our technological future as part of the Illinois CPA Society's annual Midwest Accounting and Finance Showcase. Sometimes he's right (as when, in 2004, he predicted we would be able to store several gigabytes of data on a quarter-sized device within a decade), and sometimes he's wrong (as when, in 2006, he predicted that one-fourth of all software used on the Internet would be free and ad-supported by 2009).
But he's always entertaining, and this year's predictions were no exception.
Here are Rick's forecasts for 2009, taken verbatim from his Showcase presentation:
Within the next four years, the mouse (and maybe even the keyboard) will be replaced by touchscreen technologies.
A computer in the kitchen will become a standard appliance by 2012.
Mobile Internet device shipments will grow 50 percent a year through 2012 to more than 500 million devices.
Nokia's share of the smartphone market could fall from 40 percent today to 20 percent by 2013.
By 2011, online digital music sales will exceed traditional analog / physical sales.
By 2012, Blu-ray Disc sales will be greater than DVD sales at over $9 billion.
Online video sales in the U.S. will reach $5 billion by 2012.
By 2012, Internet advertising in the U.S. will grow eight times faster than the overall advertising market, surpassing newspapers, cable TV and broadcast TV, and second only to direct marketing.
The explosive growth of video-over-IP is likely to cause Internet service providers to push for Internet metering in an attempt to limit use of the Web by businesses and consumers who tend to be heavy video users.
By 2013, half of the world's homes (636 million households) will have digital television.
By 2011, dual-mode cell phones will surpass PCs as the largest category of Wi-Fi devices.
Globally, 2.1 billion wireless broadband customers will generate $800 billion in revenue by 2015.
And if those predictions aren't forward-thinking enough for you, Rick threw in three of what he called “far-out forecasts”:
Within five years, everyone will have a virtual assistant to whom they delegate a lot of the menial tasks of their business and personal life.
Within six years, we will have a new Internet, possibly a parallel network, with less freedom but more safety and control.
Within 10 years, televisions will be fitted into contact lenses. A digital tattoo fitted to the viewer would pick up on the feelings of the characters and create impulses causing the viewer to feel the same as the character on screen.
Crazy? Heck, it's no more crazy than millions of people freely choosing to communicate in 140-character snippets.
We'll see if he's right in a few years. Stay tuned.
Dive deeper at the 2009 Tech Conference
The MACPA's 2009 Tech Conference, slated for Dec. 7 at the Sheraton Columbia Hotel, will take a look of its own at the future of technology and tie it directly to the CPA profession.
Designed for CPAs with an interest in IT and security — and for those who consult with and advise corporate clients about their technology needs — the conference also provides a great opportunity to network with your peers and keep up with the latest changes in technology.