2018 saw a huge boost in Technology and in the Computer Industry. Some trends which were there earlier started to catch up rapidly and many new ones also emerged. These technological trends will get even bigger in 2019. Let us have a look at those emerging trends and what to expect out of them this year.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are nothing unheard of. Still whenever the topic of future technologies comes into discussion, suddenly these two become mandatory topics, well sort of. These two trends are no longer in their research phase. They have already started their industrial journey from 2018 and are growing rapidly.
In 2019, AI and ML are going to reach a larger audience, and by audience I am not referring to only developers and programmers, this includes the common public as well. How ? You may ask ! Well, AI and ML are going to be used in mobile applications and web applications / websites extensively. This certainly means better business on the end of the developers and marketers but it can also benefit the consumer or app user by providing a better experience.
These are not all that we are going to see in 2019. There is much more to come in this field ranging from robotics, voice assistants and even usage in healthcare. For a more detailed read you can refer to my article about Artificial Intelligence here.
Big Data Analytics
If ML and AI are going to be on the forefront of the computer industry, then there should be something to drive these two technologies forward. This is where Data Analytics or Big Data comes into play.
The advancements in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are only possible due to extraction, processing and analyzing the huge amount of data that is being generated every day. This must be taken into account that we are talking about data generated from every domain and field and not just any particular industry.
The fact that almost every device that is connected to the internet generates data just adds up to the bulk even more. This can include the web, mobile phones and IoT devices as well. Even then we can dive even deeper into a specific industry, like the stock market. The data generated from the stock market interactions make it even more demanding and urgent to analyze them and make proper future predictions.
Not only that. The market of big data is also growing every year. You can take a look at the statics below:
As per this data, the Big Data market is going to be worth 95 billion US dollars by 2026. You can visit this Forbes post for more insight. If you want to dig a bit deeper into the statistics you can visit Statista.
These predictions are just for the next 8 years. Just imagine the growth that we will be encountering in the next 20 or may be 50 years!
Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality often shortened as AR and VR respectively are also catching up pretty quickly.
The two sound very much similar but are different from each other in many aspects. VR is most commonly experienced through VR headsets which often simulate real world or virtual environments which the user can experience through almost life-like sight and vision. VR based video games are some of the most common examples that can be cited here.
On the other hand AR simulates virtual objects in the real world environment. Today, AR is most commonly used in healthcare, navigation, construction, etc. There are many more examples as well. For a more detailed read you can refer this Wareable article here.
AR and VR are really going to change the way we experience things. They are just gonna be pushed for almost anything that needs to be tested and may pose hazards for human beings. Video games, movies, air craft testing, medical are some of the most common examples. May be the most profound effect of AR and VR will be seen in the education industry in the future. These two technologies will make learning a fully immersive and life like experience.
Obviously they will have equal impact in other areas as well. It just remains to be seen how far these technologies can be taken and how fast can the ideas be implemented ?
Cybersecurity
Most of the people who follow tech regularly will be familiar with cybersecurity. Still for a formal introduction, what is cybersecurity ?
Cybersecurity is the protection of computer systems and its data from unauthorized access, attack and damage. Well, most of us may think, we have been doing this for years, what is going to change in 2019 ? Actually, a lot of things are going to change in this domain. It can even be said that most of the changes have been observable since 2018.
By now most of us are aware about the growth of AI in the computer industry. Now AI is being used for cybersecurity as well. Obviously more growth is yet to be seen. But how exactly AI will help in this field ?
AI can detect breaches in computer networks far better and faster than traditional methods. Many new tech startups are focusing on this area and investors are pouring their money into these as well. This should not come as a surprise. After all, security is for everyone, be it small startups or big and existing organisations.
So, does this mean that we are all safe from things like cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare. To a certain extent for sure. If security standards are getting a boost, so are the attacking methods of these so called cyber attackers. It is predicted that hackers and cyber attackers too are going to use AI for their own purpose. This makes it even more demanding to raise the stakes. In a very simple (and yet complicated) scenario this can be literally called as AI vs. AI.
So, is it really here ? The thing that everyone is afraid of, that we will be using Artificial Intelligence for warfare. May be the cyberwarfare is just the starting and soon we will be using them in real battlefields. The thought can be daunting but may be we are heading towards that. We can only hope that this battle remains in the cyber world only.
Anyway, looks like we will be having some drastic changes the way cybersecurity is handled in 2019. If you really want to get into the topic you can read the article - 60 Cybersecurity Predictions For 2019.
Web And Mobile
Web Development has always been one of the fastest growing technologies and like every year in 2019 also there will be a bunch new of new frameworks, design elements and new tools as well. The following are some of the progressive trends in web:
Single Page Applications (SPA)
Single Page Applications are becoming very common with each passing year. This is because in SPAs the content is fetched only once from the server side and rest of the session goes on however the user interacts with the web page.
With new frameworks and libraries like Vue, React and Angular, we will be experiencing a huge growth in SPAs this year and also in the future.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
Many of us have heard about PWAs recently, but what are PWAs actually ? Progressive Web Apps are actually web pages but they behave like native applications and also try to give the user experience as a native application would.
PWAs provide the same experience on large and small (mobile) screens alike. They are really fast and can even work pretty well with inconsistent internet connection. Users are also able to install these onto their home screens. The best way to experience them is trying out one.
UI And Designs
UI and designs for the web are becoming better each year. Web developers are moving towards simple and reusable design components which are aesthetically more pleasing and also user friendly.
Material UI is the best example of simple and yet efficient design technique. You can find almost any taste for your website's design and color from this simple website. Every web developer should give this a try at least once.
Moving on further, we have the Mobile platform. Most of the people who are interacting with any form of technology nowadays is through a smartphone. In short, this platform cannot be ignored. So, let us have a look at the trends to watch out for in 2019:
Instant Apps
Instant Apps are becoming common as they need not be installed on the user's phone and still work like native apps. The best thing about these is that the user does not need to download them and hence, they do not consume any phone memory.
Surely, native apps have their own advantages which cannot be replaced but what if you just want to try out an application ? In that case instant apps can come really handy. And due to increasing support from Google we will be seeing a huge growth in this area.
AR
In 2019, smart phones and AR will go hand in hand. This is not a new thing in the mobile arena but full usage of AR for mobiles is yet to be seen.
Even now, virtual icons on mobile screens for navigation and maps are pretty common. Pokemon Go is one of the best examples of AR technology for mobile platforms.
Still we are yet to see some serious and very useful usage of AR in this area. Hopefully 2019 is the year.
Native Apps With Single Codebase
Most probably this is going to be the hottest trend in 2019 for smartphones. Obviously, we have seen a great rise in this area in 2019 but still more and more developers are moving towards technologies like Flutter and React Native to build native mobile apps.
The main reason for this is that the apps can run both on Android and iOS with a single codebase. And to add cherry on top of that, the development time is reduced by a huge margin when compared to building applications with Java or Kotlin or Swift. So, this is yet another area where a lot of improvements and growth will be seen.
The above are some of the trends which will be encountering huge growth in 2019. The tech industry will experience some really big changes this year and further as well. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Also share this article of you liked it.
For further discussions you can always Contact me and I will be happy to answer your questions.
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