There are trend watchers and industry pundits that think they know what the next big trend is or will be. Chances are they are going to be wrong!
When the trend appears and gains traction they will all swear they invented it or at least saw it coming and knew it all the time. Some very agile programmers and developers will swoop in and build apps and tools to support the emerging trend and consultants will create specialized courses, webinars and white papers claiming to expose the trend’s deepest secrets which they swear will lead to millions.
Agile companies will form alliances and make acquisitions to position themselves in the trend’s pipeline in attempts to dominate the feeding frenzy and control the trends influence. Trend-chasing lawyers will look for aspects they can harness with the potential to yeild protectable patents and intellectual property rewards.
After all this is said and done the public be bombarded by messages hinting that if we do not jump on board the new wave it is all over for us.
My guess has been voiced in my post about Smartphones as controllers of our Digial Worlds.