The second point is probably the main one. If I or one of the other hundred or thousand people who claim to have forecasts for the future were actually in receipt of certain knowledge we wouldn't be posting the predictions in a blog, we'd be buying and selling shares with every penny we had to our names.
Still, it does seem appropriate as we approach the end of the year to make some predictions. So this is just for fun, right? Don't go buying shares off the back of my opinions. But if you do and I'm right, well you know where to find me. Cash or cheques are fine by me.
My top six predictions for 2013
1. Apple will still be here
No, really. Sure it's going to be one heck of a year for Apple, but they'll survive. iOS 7 will be launched in January - it'll actually be iOS 5 in essence but probably will have Apple Maps included and working. It'll also have most of the 'enhancements' included in iOS6 reverted to how they were until iOS 6 was released. By March there will be rumours of a new iPhone - look I never said this was going to be an innovative look into the future - but the phone won't arrive until August. Maybe it'll have thought control? Apple haven't got that many more new ways to go. Stock price will rise and fall. Probably in that order.
2. Amazon will still be here
No, really. 2013 will be a bit of a disappointing year for Amazon because they had intended to rule the world by the end of this year, but will be two countries short of the full set. To be fair, North Korea and Iran have always been a bit difficult to anticipate. The Kindle will still be the best selling dedicated eReader - that's the good news. The bad news, for various reasons, is that dedicated eReaders will be in general decline having peaked at Christmas 2012. The Kindle Fire will be the new entry level device for reading eBooks by September or December - I must dust this crystal ball before moving on to number 3. However, one of the big players - maybe Amazon, possibly Apple, probably Google will launch a tablet that can be read in sunlight. Stock price will rise and rise, probably in that order.
3. Google will still be here
But I guess you knew that. Google+ will be clinging on, but really it won't make any impact during 2013. Google will do one of two things this year. They will either use their formidable financial muscle to buy Facebook and rebrand it FB Google+ or they will save some money and develop a time machine, go back a few years and buy Facebook. Or maybe they'll go back even further and create Facebook. Their family of tablets will fight like hell all year for market share, but really that battle is between Apple and Amazon for the majority of the year. There will be at least two new releases of the Android OS, both with stupid names that should be unforgettable but will just blend in with the older names. Their share price will be quoted in scientific notation. Greece will buy one share in January with the intention of selling it before the end of December and sorting out the deficit in one move. They will probably have some change to spread around as well.
4. Facebook will still be here
It's a close call, but it will manage to hang on one more year. It will be a challenging year for FB, but not terminally so. The challenge won't come from another social network but from a public that becomes jaded with the whole social network paradigm. Either Facebook or Get Me out of Here - I'm a Celebrity will look like it will fail just after 2013 is over. Facebook will announce, probably in the autumn, that they are introducing a thought controlled version to use with the 3D holographic tablets Apple will announce in the late summer. Did I forget to mention Apple will announce the i3DPad in item 1? Well, they will, but it won't exist until 2014 so that's for another almanac. Stock price will fall until they unfriend the bankers.
5. Twitter will still be here
But nobody will understand why. So nothing new there. Twitter will continue to innovate and may stretch the letter count up to 141 characters by the end of the year, but this will bring enormous bugs in its wake. Twitter will end up in court defending account holders who have inadvertently defamed British politicians - like that's an easy task - but nobody will understand why they do this. Stephen Fry will threaten to leave Twitter again and the share price will tumble. Stephen Fry will eventually relent and share price will tumble further.
6. Microsoft will still be here
No kidding. More importantly the Surface Tablet will see version 2, Windows 8 will see Service Pack 2 by mid year and some confidence, obviously misplaced, will return to Microsoft. The Surface will be pushed as the serious tablet for business use, will be tied strongly to Microsoft Exchange and will have the full suite of MS security built in to instil business confidence. Consequently it will run like a dog with one leg, will install service updates virtually every time it is switched on and will reboot without warning most days, generally when in the middle of a critical transaction. MS Exchange users won't even notice. Share price will change, up or down, probably both, possibly simultaneously.
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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
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