Nicholas Carr on 2006
Catching up on RSS feed, so I missed by a few days Nicholas Carr's Predictions for 2006:
1. A free online game, supported by advertising and product placement, becomes widely popular, threatening the traditional business model of the gaming industry.
2. The culture wars slam into the internet, as a group of influential evangelicals launch a boycott of Google, demanding that it "stop distributing pornography" through its search engine.
3. Disney announces it will begin selling classic animated movies as $5.99 downloads through Apple's iTunes Store. The must-have gift for Christmas 2006 is Apple's Special Disney Edition iPod, which comes preloaded with exclusive versions of Snow White, Fantasia and the Lion King.
4. Amateur podcasting is revealed to be a fad, as audience interest evaporates.
5. Hitachi, Fujitsu or Lenovo buys Sun Microsystems.
These all seem reasonable-- and #5 would be downright important-- with the exception of the special edition iPod. As the father of two avid yet discerning Disney consumers (i.e., a 6-year old and a 3 year-old), I can confidently predict that the iPod will be loaded with Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. There may also be a girl's version with Disney Princess-related movies-- Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Cinderella, and Mulan.
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