Widget Predictions

Here are my predictions for the year. Most of them are self-serving. Or, to put it another way, I wouldn't be in this business if I didn't think some huge changes are going to happen along the way. Here are ten I will (mostly) be helping out with, in no particular order:

There will be many Widget startups

• It surprises me that there aren't more startups in the widget space. Maybe the news hasn't spread as far out as we like to think it has. As 2007 will be the Year of Widgets, it's likely we'll see an explosion of widget specific startups as opposed to startups that have a widget strategy (as, of course, they all will)

The Widget value chain will become clarified

• Maybe there aren't that many startups because the value chain of widgets isn't clear. In the coming year the opportunity will become more clear and more companies will startup to fill the gaps and exploit them.

A Widgetized social network or blog will be launched and become hugely successful

• Some smart kid will write a blog and/or social network platform that consists entirely of widgets. You create an interface by choosing which parts to put where. Suddenly you are in total control of your platform.

Host sites will allow widget embedding via an API

• Automated widget adding currently lets you put your widget in a blog entry but not in the sidebar. Most blog and other networks will allow postioning of widgets in the sidebar via the API.

Marketing widgets will become commonplace

• We're already seeing the start of a flood of marketing widgets, but we ain't seen nothing yet. There are many issues to work through on this one. Look out for huge inventiveness this year and a steady flow of pure marketing widgets.

There will be a virus carrying widget

• Everything comes of age with their own specific virus (Skype, Second Life, Myspace). Widgets will be no exception, and some time during this coming year we will have our first widget virus scare.

The first sites composed purely of widgets will be seen

• This is one of my personal bets. Even without a widget framework being commercially produced, it wouldn't take much to create an entire site from widgets. I'm sure someone is building one even as we speak.

A web widget standard will be proposed and resisted

• Everything has a standard, even if it's only been proposed, writting, argued over and published - never adopted. There are already proposals for desktop widget standards. There will no doubt be one for web widgets. And no doubt it will be resisted.

Several 'web widget' hosting sites will launch

• These will be like Netvibes and Pageflakes, but will be frameworks for 'free range' web widgets to be used in. By the end of the year they will be looking even more successful than the existing sites - asssuming they don't convert themselves into host frameworks.

A truly hybrid Widget system will be launched

• A true method of creating widgets that can exist on the desktop and on web sites will be launched - and the web version won't consist of cutting and pasting code.

Comments

[Danny Espinoza]

I'd second Don's comment: With our free little Amnesty Generator, just about any web deployed widget (including SpringWidgets) can be converted into a desktop widget for OS X's Dashboard environment with one click. Alas, cut and paste is still required...for now. ;-)

[Don Synstelien]

Great list of predictions. However, I'd cross the last item off your list. SpringWidgets use one file to run a widget on a blog, Myspace page or windows desktop. All with the push of a button, no copying or pasting of code required.

As for how we apply to any or all of the other items on the list... Can't tell you that yet. ;-)

Great blog, I do read you often.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

-Don