Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Canada in a fog as tech heads for the cloudsphere

Alex Carrick is the inquisitive chief economist for Reed Construction Data in Toronto. Apparently tiring of the bad news in the development industry, he wrote an article recently on the glowing outlook for the tech sector. He’s genuinely excited about the “sweeping nature” of tomorrow’s technological advances.

Here’s a brief recap of his analysis.

· The personal computer may be on its way out. The next wave in personal computing is “cloud” technology. This is where applications and software reside somewhere other than on a PC. Computing functions and files are increasingly being stored on server space rented from others. As a result, many executives can now run their companies in the field from their cell phones.

· Retail is being Turned Upside Down. Even video outlets are being slammed by the Internet. And the latest version of Amazon’s Kindle wireless reading device is expected to alter the book publishing industry.

· The Web Keeps Changing the World: Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) have grown into business promotional and information-sharing sites, as well as job-search sites. During the recent political upheavals in Iran, Twitter became a primary means for people to communicate their dissatisfaction with the official election results. In a related example, China has just backed down on requiring PC makers to install web-filtering technology on all computers sold in the country.

· In the construction industry, Building Information Modeling is about to change the way buildings are designed and constructed. People simply understand things better when they see them in 3D.

· Canada is at a Disadvantage. Since many technology products (see: Kindle) arrive in Canada a year or more later than in the U.S., our developers face a disadvantage. More than 25,000 applications have been written for the iPhone; Canadians firms were held back from the get-go.

You can read the full article here. Or visit http://www.alexcarrick.com/ to read Carrick’s personal blog

No comments: