Tech Trends to Look Out For in 2019

Technology is all about staying ahead of the curve, so let’s take a look at the trends we anticipate changing the way that we interact with the world in 2019.

New Shopping Experiences

It’s no secret that traditional retail stores have been struggling for many years now, but shopping is still as popular as ever. So what’s changes? Well, it’s the ways in which we shop.

According to Adobe, shoppers spent a whopping 24% more in 2018 on Black Friday than they did the previous year. Now whilst a lot of these sales are done online, new channels are opening up for big businesses to reach customers. In August 2018, Walmart was granted a patent to allow customers to strap virtual reality (VR) headsets and sensor gloves to interact with a real Walmart Store via a virtual world. Pretty cool right!?

Electric Vehicles & Changing Lifestyles

Buying an electric vehicle is a luxury purchase for some and an environmental choice for others. However, in the past electric vehicles have taken a long time to charge, leaving you with plenty of time to kill.

Though Supercharger stations are now dotted all around the country, they’re still almost always next to service stations or department stores. But the Tesla module of the future could be set to change this. Elon Musk even teased us about this in a tweet…

Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2018

As the electric vehicle market influences our daily choices, many consumers are choosing to buy into alternative lifestyles. We think we could be seeing more of this heading into 2019.

Sleep Tech

Tech has already infiltrated our waking hours, and now it’s coming for our downtime. From smart pillows to mattresses, new products in the sleep market aim to improve your sleep patterns.

FitBit announced in August 2018 that is has plans to launch a sleep monitoring program known as SleepScore. The technology behind this will use heart-rate tracking sensors on newer Fitbits to give users… you guessed it – sleep based scores.

Digital Swag

Now whilst you might not have heard of Epic Games, we’re pretty sure you’ll be familiar with their hit cross-platform game Fortnite. Epic Games announced in July 2018 that they turned over $1B in sales. Not bad for a free game!

The majority of that money came from in-game purchases known as skins – a way to customise your character. This craze saw a rise in partnerships, with the NFL joining forces with Epic Games to release NFL themed skins to the game. This trend is set to grow over the coming year.

Maps & Real-World Data Advancements

For most of the time, we use maps on our smartphone’s to help us navigate, like typing in “restaurants” and navigating to the nearest one. In the future, maps might be able to offer user recommendations based on past preferences and connect them with friends in the area. In 2019, maps will become smarter by becoming a layer on which we do everything, from communicating to accessing data.

In October 2018, the Roomba-maker iRobot joined forces with Google Maps. The Roomba cleans your home and collects mapping information based on photos and how far its wheels move. This partnership aimed to make the smart home experience more immersive and set up complex commands, like asking your Roomba to “get me a beer”. Bring on 2019!