July 6, 2004

Since the beginning of 2004, there appears to be some important changes in the Internet landscape, as many industry observers are seeing changes that, in certain cases, might drastically affect the Internet browser, and various other software or hardware products we use in our day-to-day lives.

In order of priority, here are the top five Internet Trends shaping up 2004 that we see as major catalysts:

Top Internet Trend No. 1: Internet applications

In place of the Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Opera), a strong growth of the Internet is now being observed as "connected executables" or Internet applications that perform various Web services or search requests, are delivered through task-specific applications, and not through the traditional Web browser.

Even the Real One media player or Microsoft's new Windows Media Player have integrated web viewing features built into these end-user applications.

Top Internet Trend No. 2: Decline of the web browser

Over time, search engine giant Google may cause a potential decline of the Web browser as we know it, by recently launching the Google Deskbar. The Deskbar enables direct Internet searches, without utilizing a web browser such as Internet Explorer. It is possible that the original Internet browser will probably slowly vanish, as we could find very specific uses for receiving and sending various data, digital information or as we become more globally interconnected to the Web.

This new Internet trend could be rapidly implemented through wired home devices, or wirelessly with our Wi-Fi-connected PDA's. Today, it is conservatively estimated that Internet users spend an average of three hours and 43 minutes per month, using Internet applications of all kinds.

The top five Internet applications today are:

     * Windows Media Player
     * AOL Instant Messenger
     * Yahoo Messenger
     * MSN Messenger
     * Real Player

Of these top 5 applications, Microsoft's Windows Media Player has the largest active user penetration, at slightly over 34 percent. AOL Instant Messenger was next at 20.2 percent, followed by Real Player at 20.1 percent. MSN Messenger was at 19 percent and Yahoo Messenger, which reaches a little over 12 percent of the active Internet user base.

“With over 76 percent of Web surfers using Internet applications, overall performance and functionality has grown beyond the browser, to become a fundamental piece of the fundamental desktop,” says Abha Bhagat, senior analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. “It has become harder to distinguish when you're on the Internet, blurring the lines between what's sitting on the desktop and what's coming from the World Wide Web. People should expect that trend to continue and in fact increase over time.”

Top Internet Trend No. 3: Wireless Internet connections (Wi-Fi)

The wireless (Wi-Fi) movement will really accelerate in the second half of 2004, as more products roll out with various options, in an effort to eliminate protruding wires from the desktop to mobile media players, cell phones and PDA's, with the combined use of bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ultra wideband, infrared and RF transmissions frequencies.

The biggest impact is expected to be on your mouse and keyboard connectivity, as these peripherals will all go wireless, and the overall cost for these hardware parts drop significantly. Wi-Fi (Wireless Internet) will also connect many home networks in the final half of 2004.

Additionally, it is expected that the security features of these various access point transmitters will be drastically improved over time. Wi-Fi will continue to expand in the home, with free community or city-sponsored hotspots and corporate networks.

The national paid subscription networks are expected to slow in 2004. More consolidation and coverage is needed to provide significant value to the subscriber, and more Wi-Fi enabled devices are needed in the market before people will sign up for more monthly subscriptions. These Wi-Fi subscriptions will need to be part of your cell phone subscription plan before mobile Wi-Fi goes mainstream.

Top Internet Trend No. 4: Professional Blogs

Professional Blogs (Weblogs) in 2004 will go through a significant transition, as the explosive growth in the number of bloggers will slowly start to decline, but the overall quality and depth of active bloggers will actually improve significantly. Blogging technology developments and additional uses will expand in the second half of 2004, to include more professional journalists, major media, online experts, professionals in just about every field and even senior executives at major corporations.

The blog "hype" in 2003 will slowly decrease into a smaller group of bloggers, as many personal blogs will go out of date for increasingly longer periods of time, as many lose interest in keeping them up to date, or simply run out of time to do it.

Really simple syndication, better known as RSS, took the Internet by storm in 2003, as many bloggers began using this XML-based standard to share and syndicate written content to RSS News Reader applications. RSS is not really a new Internet protocol, as it uses the web to syndicate and share content and links. Expect the second half of 2004 to be a significant growth period for RSS, as it becomes a part of the overall decline in use of the traditional web browser.

Top Internet Trend No. 5: Home Digital Media

It is expected by many industry observers that 2004 will be the year for digital media to make it into the living room. Expect the second half of 2004 to bring features and products that will really bring all your PC-stored digital media into your analog, digital TV or plasma flat-panel screen.

Internet radio & streaming video, MP3 files, photos, home videos, cable TV, DVD, VHS and radio will all be inter-connected to the PC, with the new version of Microsoft's Media Center PC. The new TV set-top PrismiQ Media Player will enable you to access and record all your digital Internet audio and video content on your PC, via a Wi-Fi or wired network connection for playback on your TV.

You should also expect new plasma panel TV's that have integrated PC and Wi-Fi that will enable a new living room media experience. Early adopters will still want their PC independant from their plasma panel. We will want to centralize our home media to a single media location in the home network, that will enable digital media library playback from any PC or PC-connected plasma panel on the network.

Microsoft's X-Box is going to continue making improvements, until it truly becomes the center of home gaming and other alternatives to the Media Center PC.

Source: Web Talk Guys.com