Final Prediction #10: Apple will buy Dish Network

2016predictionsA third of the people who read this column don’t live in the USA so maybe this prediction isn’t interesting to them, but I think Apple will buy Dish Network, the American direct satellite TV broadcaster. It’s the only acquisition that will give Apple the kind of entry point they want into the TV business, allowing Cupertino to create overnight an over-the-top (OTT) Internet streaming video service — effectively an Internet cable system.

Buying Dish would be a bold move for Apple because all the benefits Cupertino seeks aren’t obviously available. True, Dish has 14 million U.S. subscribers (I am one of those) who get 100+ channels of TV from the sky. True, Dish […]

By |January 22nd, 2024|2016, Business, entertainment, Internet, Media, Predictions, strategy|56 Comments
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Prediction #9: Intel starts to become irrelevant

2016predictionsI know I promised that my next 2024 prediction would be Apple’s big acquisition, and I will publish that prediction soon as my #10, but right now I just have to say what a perilous position Intel is in. The company truly risks becoming irrelevant, which is an odd thing to say about a huge, rich outfit that would appear from the outside to pretty much dominate its industry — an industry the company created. Intel won’t go away, I just think there is a very good chance they’ll no longer matter.

We’re approaching the end of the closed, proprietary, single source technology era. ARM processors are freely licensed, more open, and much […]

By |January 21st, 2024|2016, cloud computing, Companies, Predictions, strategy|45 Comments
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Lost Prediction #4 — My Steve Jobs movie returns to Netflix

2016predictionsAt least one reader pointed out that I somehow missed 2024 Prediction #4, so let me throw something in right here. Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview will shortly return to Netflix worldwide!

Our movie was on Netflix in the USA and Canada for a couple of years (it’s still streaming on Netflix in the UK) but the North American deal ended sometime in November when rights reverted from Magnolia Pictures back to John Gau Productions. The film had already disappeared from iTunes and Amazon, etc., but we hadn’t noticed because, well, Magnolia didn’t bother to mention it and we’re only pretending to be movie producers.

You don’t work directly with these streaming outfits if your body […]

By |January 19th, 2024|2016, Companies, entertainment, Media, Movies, People, Predictions, Television|26 Comments
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Prediction #8: Apple WILL NOT buy Time Warner

2016predictionsIf my last prediction about the Internet of Things becoming a security nightmare seemed a no-brainer to half of my readers, as some commenters suggested, this prediction that Apple won’t buy Time Warner will probably be a no-brainer for the other half, simply because it is always easier to say an acquisition or merger won’t happen than that it will. But I think there is something to be learned from why I don’t think this acquisition will take place — something that says a lot about Apple as a company.

That this topic comes up at all is because, as frequently happens these days, activist investors are trying to bully Time Warner into selling all […]

By |January 15th, 2024|2016, Business, Companies, entertainment, Media, strategy, Television|61 Comments
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Prediction #7: Internet of Things becomes a security nightmare

2016predictionsJust because IBM suffered a marketing hiccup doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about doing 2024 predictions. This one is simple — a confluence of anti-hacking paranoia combined with the Internet of Things (IoT), which will lead to any number of really, really bad events in 2024.

Remember how the CIA or the NSA or whatever agency it was hacked a few years ago the Iranian nuclear centrifuges making enriched uranium? The centrifuges updated their software over the Internet, loading doctored code that eventually caused the machines to overspeed and shake themselves to pieces, putting the Iranian nuclear program months or years behind.

Now imagine much the same thing happening to your Internet-connected thermostat, baby […]

By |January 13th, 2024|2016, Gadgets, Privacy and Security|63 Comments
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