28 Dec Google In 2016: 11 Predictions
Will Google prevail in its legal battles over Android and its search business? Will it thrive under Alphabet? Here are our predictions for Google in 2016.
Google as, it began, is no more. It has been reorganized and now operates as a subsidiary of Alphabet. Yet in its diminished role, it still generates the bulk of Alphabet’s revenue. And it remains the focus of my ill-advised effort to predict the future.In late 2014, I made 11 predictions about Google in 2015. I had six hits and five misses. I’d have preferred to do a bit better, but that’s the nature of predicting the future. I’m sure inside information would have helped.
2015 Prediction Scorecard
1. Project Ara gains momentum.
False. Project Ara has yet to emerge from the lab. Its planned trial in Puerto Rico over the summer was cancelled. But competing modular phone projects Fairphone 2 and PuzzlePhone have been progressing.
2. Google adapts Hangouts and/or Chromecast to handle live game broadcasting.
True, through the Google Cast Remote Display APIs. The company also launched YouTube Gaming as a direct competitor to Twitch.
3. Google+ languishes.
True. Google decoupled Google+ from YouTube, so YouTube users no longer need the Google+ Profile that few seemed to want. In November, Google redesigned Google+ to focus on Communities and Collections. It’s a modest shift but hardly a renewed commitment of resources.
4. Supreme Court sides with Oracle in Java API case.
True, more or less. The Supreme Court refused to hear Google’s appeal of Oracle’s appeals court win, which indicates that the justices find the lower court ruling consistent with the law.