Remember AOL? Yahoo Geocities? Angelfire? Those were the days. Nowadays the web is dominated by companies focusing on interaction – like Facebook and Twitter – and others focused on information – like Google and Wikipedia. But given the speed at which the web has transformed itself in the last fifteen years we can expect to see major changes once again. So what does the future hold for the web?
We’re going mobile
Did you know that by 2013 it’s expected that more people will access the internet using smartphones than PCS? And that it’s predicted that by 2011 Smartphones will outstrip the sales of PCs? This means that many web designers are already starting to build mobile versions of their websites to serve up to mobile phone users. A website that looks beautiful on a PC can end up looking crushed up on a mobile screen. The future is going to be big business for those who can design websites that look beautiful on a mobile phone.
We’ll become global
At the minute we already feel like the internet is global but it’s not as global as we like to think. The regions with the highest internet penetration are America, Australia and Europe. Asia, despite having 42% of all internet users only has a population penetration of 21.5%. The penetration in Africa is as low as 10.9%. As the internet becomes easier to access and as cheap smartphones and netbooks become more widely available we will see a large increase in users in developing. This could transform the internet with an exciting influx of new innovations.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular. Traditionally information is contained for companies on large servers - as a company grows these can be expensive to maintain. Cloud computing involves using third parties to provide hosting and applications. We already use loads of these – Flickr, Facebook, our email programs, your free website - but the future will see more and more businesses using them. Companies like Microsoft and Google already provide extensive Cloud Services with everything from email, documents, apps and spreadsheets. It’s possible that not far into the future even our operating systems will be online.
The future’s wireless
Wireless broadband is on the increase and it’s feasible that in the future we’ll no longer need any cables at all to connect to the internet. There has been a sharp rise in WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) in South Korea and in South America, and it has been rolled out in some regions of the USA and other parts of the world. Currently WiMax is able to provide speeds of around 40 Mbit/s but the next update is expected to increase that to up to 1 Gbit/s – the future isn’t just wireless, it’s fast!!
Less computers, more objects
It won’t just be computers and smartphones that can access the internet. Already millions of people can connect on their games consoles. But we will see sensors attached to all sorts of objects which will then be controlled via the internet. Buildings, bridges, roads, doors, anything you can think of – everything that currently is part of the real world will end up with its counterpart in the virtual world.
Computer crime will increase
With more people online and more reliance on the internet, there will be a sharp rise in the number of internet hackers. There is already an increase in new threats every year. With more reliance on the internet it will be easier to hit people hard through the web. However, at the same time there is continuing research going on about how to combat hackers and computer crime. Internet security is currently pretty weak but, in the future, we should expect to see great improvements.
Those are just a few predictions for the coming years. If you’re about to make a website the thing to really keep in mind is mobile compatibility – that’s one that could genuinely affect your business in the near future.
