Yukon technology predictions for 2007

I humbly offer you my predictions for technology trends that will impact and influence the lives of Yukoners in the coming year:

1. Mobile devices will move from being just for phone-calls to a common method by which many Yukoners read/write email, capture videos/photos and use the web. Sadly, watch for our local network to dramatically slow down, perhaps even collapse, as throngs of mobile device-wielding southern athletes descend upon Whitehorse for the Canada Winter Games.
2. There will be a greatly increased number of people who discover and come to rely upon Skype and other VoIP service providers for everyday phone-calls, bypassing the Yukon’s traditional land-line service provider in Northwestel, whose bottom line will suffer the consequences.
3. As Andrew has written, a source for Yukon citizen journalism will be established and quickly flourish, enabling people from all over the territory to not only read, but create and edit the news that is important to them.
4. Government of Yukon, among others, will start to promote the use of RSS for its public announcements, including press releases. Maybe not the most exciting content to read, but a step forward technology-wise.
5. At least one of our major local businesses will launch headfirst into an e-commerce product sales model, doing their best to discourage orders via phone, fax or mail. They’ll cite lower costs, personal trackability and speedier response times as the reasons for the move.
6. Speaking of sales, one of Whitehorse’s last remaining music stores will cease to exist because cheaper, faster and more varied digital downloads now make it impossible to survive on hard-case CD and DVD sales alone.
7. Corporate blogs will start to proliferate across the territory, no doubt with plenty of controversy. Many will fail, but a few will survive and prosper, bettering the profile of the organizations in the eyes of many Yukoners.

Here’s looking forward to 2007. See you on the other side.