Predictions for 2006

With the new year fast approaching, I thought it would be a good time for predictions. Not resolutions, but predictions. If you’d like to see some predictions from around the web, Alex Barnett has compiled a very interesting collection. Here are some of my predictions for the coming year, some specific and some more vague, in no particular order:

1. Canada will win both the World Juniors Hockey Championship, and the gold medal in hockey at the Olympics.
2. RIM will prevail in their legal troubles and will find success beyond the corporate market in 2006.
3. The Indianapolis Colts will win the Superbowl.
4. 2006 will finally be the year of Internet connected devices that make sense, are inexpensive, and are adopted widely. I am thinking of devices like digital cameras, little tablets for living room access, etc.
5. Toyota will overtake General Motors as the world’s largest automaker, and GM shares will continue to plummet.
6. Sony will launch the Playstation 3, but due to incredibly high prices, it will not match the success of it’s predecessor, nor the Xbox 360, except in Japan.
7. The Ottawa Senators will win the Stanley Cup (at least I hope so, if Edmonton can’t).
8. Windows Vista will RTM in September. Apple fans will claim too much is copied from OS X, and Linux fans will come out with roadmaps to copy all the functionality found in Vista.
9. We’ll see a new Halo game (Halo 3 maybe) for the Xbox 360 sometime around November.
10. iTunes and iPod will begin to lose their grip on the digital music market.
11. Apple will successfully launch their Intel based machines and their market share will reach 6%.
12. Michael Schumacher will win his 8th world drivers championship and then retire.
13. A major security/antivirus/antispyware company will launch a lawsuit against Microsoft over Windows Vista, Windows OneCare, or other competing products.
14. Movies, television shows, and other forms of video content will be sold in big numbers online in 2006, with almost every major content company taking part.
15. Someone is going to buy TiVo before the year is over.
16. The Liberals will once again win the upcoming Canadian election.
17. It’s not really my prediction, but I agree with John Battelle who thinks Google will stumble in 2006.
18. The Da Vinci Code will be in the top three movies at the boxoffice.
19. The United States will invade Iran.

And in my final prediction, I am going to disagree with Jason Calacanis, who made the following prediction on December 27th:

12. No podcasting company will have any significant success in 2006, but a number of podcasters will be offered great jobs at Sirius and XM Radio.

I am going to predict that at least one company will be successful in 2006, and I fully intend to have Paramagnus be that company!