It seems like only yesterday we were planning for the Mayan Revelation of Saint John the Divine , but like so many other product , the 14th b’ak’tun ( next era ) has been delayed due to bugs and lack of pre - orders . Yet if you talked to some pundits back in 2011 , they ’d have told you that the end of days was amount out in Q4 of 2012 , along with its challenger , BlackBerry 10 .
No doubt , in 2013 , several long - rumored products will come to market place . However , next year wo n’t be the year for these 13 contraption and technologies .
Just because it ’s a good melodic theme does n’t intend it is n’t vaporware . Laptop Magazine ’s Avram Piltch examinessome of the most anticipated , albeit least belike , technologies of the new twelvemonth .
The Speculation : After its succeeder deal Amazon - brand Android tablets , the company will launch a smartphone that puts its depicted object front and focus and encouraging you to shop wherever you go . Some have even suggest that the fellowship will make it well-situated to scan damage when you ’re in a retail shop , just so you’re able to see if Amazon sells the detail cheap . Taiwan Economic News recently report that Foxconn will be make up the French telephone , which will plunge in Q3 or 2013 for $ 100 to $ 200 .
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : Breaking into the U.S. smartphone market with any promise of achiever is extremely difficult for new players . The four major carriers rule their meshing with an iron fist , either forcing phone vendors to go along with their software strategy or unlimited rejecting products that do n’t receive their contiguous business goals . Just ask Google , which decided to unblock the Nexus 4 as an unlocked machine rather than deal with AT&T and Verizon . ( A subsidised adaptation is useable for T - Mobile . )
From a commercial enterprise perspective , play in the smartphone space shit little horse sense for Amazon as the company ’s goal is not to trade phones but to sell media and ironical goods through its on-line store . The party already has its shopping app preloaded as crapware on many Android devices , and the caller could leverage these arrangement in 2013 by finally convey Amazon exigent video to Android gadget and adding a Leontyne Price scanning app to the mixture . Why pass money building and plump for a smartphone when you could just get users of other phones to buy the all the same ware from you ?
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The guess : Microsoft will launch the next major version of Windows , codenamed “ Windows Blue , ” as soon as leap 2013 . The raw OS will get at least yearly update over the air so consumer and businesses with Blue always have the latest verison of the OS .
Why It Wo n’t come about in 2013 : If the rumor are true , a company which usually release operating systemson a three - year cadence will dead start sell a raw mainstream operating system less than a year after Windows 8 launch . And before Microsoft starts selilng its next OS , it will no doubt go through months of public and developer previews as it has with Windows 7 and 8 .
So , for Windows Blue to launch even as late as Q4 of 2013 , Microsoft would have to announce a developer preview or public genus Beta at the beginning of the year . With all the disceptation surrounding Windows 8 , news of another new Windows OS would convince users who were on the fence about upgrading to retard their purchases . Talk about Osborning yourself .
More:8 Worst Windows 8 Annoyances and How to determine Them
Why It Wo n’t encounter : With the Nexus 4 , Google is trying to make a point about its independence from carriers . drug user who want a most - superposable earpiece with LTE can already buy the LG Optimus G. However , not including LTE on phones is a poor tenacious - terminal figure scheme . I would n’t be surprised if Google ’s next handset , rumour to be the Motorola X , had LTE that worked with at least a couple of the major U.S. carriers ’ networks .
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The surmisal : If you ’ve been following the news latterly you might expect to see wireless charging stations appear at all your favourite haunts in 2013 . This past gloam , Nokia , HTC and others released phones with Qi - standard wireless charging support built - in while . At the same time , Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf annunciate its program to instal compatible charge pads in its tables and Virgin Atlantic order it will offer the same in its airport lounge . Jay Z also announced a partnership with Duracell to fetch that company ’s charging mats to several New York hotspots , including his own 40/40 club . Could Starbucks , McDonald ’s , 7 - 11 and Chucky Cheese be next ? Not in 2013 .
Why It Wo n’t occur in 2013 : While many new phone this fall support the Qi tuner institutionalize standard , Samsung and Qualcomm have lend their support to the competing Alliance for Wireless Power ( AW4P ) monetary standard . There ’s nothing like a standard state of war to make restaurant chain invest 1000000 in upgrading their substructure to support half a dozen phones , none of which is an iPhone . Do n’t expect to see many more public places with wireless charging until Apple pick a criterion and builds support into its product .
More : Top 6 Smartphones with Wireless Charging
The hypothesis : Two geezerhood have passed since Nokia has jumped off the “ burning platform ” of developing its own phone O and fully bosom Windows Phone . So what does former Microsoft exec Stephen Elop do for a follow - up ? How about release a pad of paper .
After all , Elop order the chase when speaking with analysts : “ From an ecosystem perspective , there are benefits and synergism that survive between Windows and Windows Phone , ” Elop said . “ We see that opportunity . We ’ll sure consider those opportunity going frontward . ” According to one popular hearsay , the troupe design to turn a Windows RT ticket with a battery - powered keyboard cover early in 2013 . The tablet will allegedly come with wireless 4 grand service from carrier such as AT&T.
Why It Wo n’t materialise in 2013 : Nokia has had enough difficulty win market share in the smartphonespace and , though things seem to be seem up for the Finnish company , its Devices and Services division lose 683 million euro in Q3 . Windows RT machine like the Microsoft Surface are by no means a prove commodity so Nokia would be jumping onto a whole new combustion platform at a time when it require to show stableness and success . I recall they ’ll guide .
More:10 Best Tablets of 2012
The Speculation : If you have certain Sprint phones , today you’re able to use Google Wallet to tap and pay at a handful of stores . On AT&T , Verizon and T - Mobile , you will soon be able to use a competing service call ISIS to turn over your earpiece into a credit calling card . With all this activity , you might expect that , in 2013 , all the major stores would support nomadic payment . Not so fast there , Ms. Kardashian .
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : You may see a few more stores add backing for one or both defrayal criterion , but many phones , including the iPhone , do n’t have the NFC check necessary to back up them . Even worse , consumers have few incentives to flip from honest-to-goodness fashioned mention and debit entry cards . Forrester Research Analyst Denee Carrington of late told us that mobile payments wo n’t catch on until at least 2015 .
More : How to Fix Mobile defrayal
The Speculation : Rumors of an Apple large - screen television ( aka the iTV ) have been floating around for year . In recent 2011 , these rumors gained more credibility when Walter Isaacson ’s biography of Steve Jobs mentioned that the later Apple founder had plans for a television receiver bent . In 2012 , Apple CEO Tim Cook order NBC ’s Brian Williams that television receiver is “ an region of vivid pastime ” for his fellowship . Now , many consider 2013 will be the twelvemonth that Apple stops dropping hint and finally drop ships a product .
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : There ’s nothing stopping Apple from manufacturing an ordinary high-definition television with iTunes and maybe some extra smart TV functions built - in . However , the company wo n’t be content to ship that . It needs to partner with cable television providers and television receiver web , two very buttoned-down groups , to offer a concluded end - to - last armed service . It must also leave a secure exhibit than its competitors , perhaps an OLED screen that would push the price way up .
With the cable and display marketplace unlikely to change in the next 12 months , Apple will determine that it ’s well off pushing its services through an improved Apple boob tube correct - top box seat , rather than getting into the TV business in 2013 .
More : Best Smart TVs of 2012
The Speculation : Google has been working on a self - aim car for a distich of days now but it ’s not alone . Big auto maker such as Ford , Cadillac and Volvo are educate their own autonomous vehicles . In the past two years , both Nevada and California have made the self - driver street legal . Will we finally see someone selling them to the public in 2013 ? No .
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : Google ’s ego - aim car engineering is probably the closet to being ready , but the company is not an automaker and is n’t likely to sell auto directly to the world . Even if one of the automakers matte up it had a finished product , there are only a couple of res publica where driver could use the car in its autonomous mode . With so much potential indebtedness — just imagine the lawsuit if one of these cars make an accident — we ’ll be reading about new testing and legal certifications for age before the first model score a franchise .
More : High - technical school Cars Go Mainstream
The Speculation : Motorola is the king of the keyboard slider , having found the original Droid with keyboard and then releasing three different subsequence . The company ’s most recent entry , the Droid 4 , come out last February on Verizon and launched on Sprint as the Photon 4 G this past summer . If Motorola plans to go forward offering keyboarded earpiece , it will need to free a Droid 5 some clip in other 2013 .
Why It Wo n’t hap : The other lead phone vendors have strike away from QWERTY phones in late age , either give up on them totally or releasing them as under - featured budget phones such as the Samsung Stratosphere . Motorola ’s new owner Google has n’t put keyboard on its phones and , when the company launched its flagship gadget this crepuscle , it did n’t even name physical keyboard . Sadly , it looks like Motorola wo n’t come out with another gamy - destruction keyboard luger .
More : The 7 Worst Smartphone Injustices and How to Fight Them
The Speculation : BlackBerry ’s PlayBook was first released in 2011 , an timelessness in lozenge years . With the party ’s new BlackBerry 10 atomic number 76 come in January , some meditate that RIM will update its slate . Though the honest-to-god Playbook is still for sales event , it has ancient specs like a 1024 x 600 screen and a dated design . If RIM wants to stay in this space , it need to release a young simulation . A leak out roadmap even mentions a 10 - inch Playbook computer code name “ Blackforest . ”
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : Though the ship’s company shipped a surprisingly - high 255,000 Playbooks in Q3 of 2012 , the pad has never been a considered a success by anyone ’s touchstone . Meanwhile , RIM is lose market part in he smartphone quad and postulate to buckle down and pore on its core audience : smartphone user . If the party turns its fortunes around with BlackBerry 10 phone , we may see another pill , but not in 2013 .
More:10 Most Anticipated Features of BlackBerry 10
The Speculation : For years , we ’ve been learn that Facebook would relinquish a phone of its very own . In 2011 , HTC even release the super - halting Status , a budget phone with the Facebook logotype on it and some added Facebook desegregation . Could Facebook be plan to enter the market with a truly rotatory handset in 2013 ?
Why It Wo n’t Happen : Back in July , Mark Zuckerberg himself said that create a telephone set “ would n’t make sense . ” To be just , companies sometimes abnegate working on product that afterwards turn out to be very literal . However , in this display case , you should take Zuck at his word . There ’s no real merchandising percentage point to a Facebook phone when every phone on the market place has Facebook consolidation . By make its own phone , Facebook might even disaffect some of its partners .
More:26 Ultimate Facebook Tips
The guess : CNET recently report that Samsung Electronics will be showing off pliant displays at CES 2013 . With the rumor Galaxy S IV phone carry to set up this springtime and the inevitable Galaxy Note III , some trust we ’ll see the first telephone to deploy this applied science .
Why It Wo n’t encounter in 2013 : If Samsung ’s electronics division is first demoing the silver screen at CES 2013 , it wo n’t hit commercial-grade product for at least another year . Also , in order for the telephone set itself to be flexible , the total body must bend , something that may never pass . Samsung may use the flexible video display to create phones with somewhat curved screen door , but that wo n’t happen in 2013 .
More:5 Things You demand to jazz About the Samsung Galaxy S IV
The meditation : Google ’s Project Glass augmented reality goggles will be available as a developers kit in early 2013 . If developers get their hands on the product in January or February , a full - fledged product release ca n’t be too far behind , correct ?
Why It Wo n’t Happen in 2013 : Google co - laminitis Sergey Brin enjoin Bloomberg in June that he would like to have a consumer translation of Project Glass “ within a year ” after releasing the kit to developers . While it ’s always possible that the kit will come out in January and the product will transport in December , it seems unlikely that such a singular product will make its way from prototype to final that quickly . Do n’t carry to get your headset until 2014 .
More : Will Google Glasses Make Us Cyborgs ?
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