2010, nice ring to it!

Next week, we will pause each time we write 01/01/10.

2010 has a nice ring to it.  Rounding out the decade, a turbulent one.

For those in Tech, such as Amazon, what a decade it was: boom-to-bust-to-branch out.

If I had magic, I would reset the clock. That way, we can charge out of the gate with less pessimism and more passion.

After all, when we started out ten years ago, everyone was rushing around the Valley (Silicon) trying to make deals, to switch jobs, to consider options.

E-commerce was new, and each of us was trying online payment option.

Some trust you had there, giving out your credit card number to a web site.

(What if Jeff took off to the other Amazon, and enjoyed his “4-hour work week”).

Consumers expect not only good service, great price but also speed of delivery.

Blu-Ray player penetrates quickly down to the majority  of consumers (price down to a little bit over $200) in much less time than its DVD counter parts.

Netbooks, smart phones, pre-paid wireless plans are speeding up adoption (remember LD pre-paid card market?).

Smart entrepreneurs already made their moves to outer space (Virgin Galactic), or down to nano level.

We will have to push the envelope further this next decade. Faster and more furious. Fierce negotiation. In your face.

I am speculating that Twitter will be made obsolete by that which is so simple, scary and sweet that Wows us all.

Why didn’t I think of that!

The thing about future is that it forces us to rearrange our present priorities. No more complacency.

No legacy, or precedence. It upend the traditional pyramid structure we have been so accustomed to since the days of Pharaoh.  Open-source code? Wing suits that enable men to fly? Space tourism? Independence from oil?

Please don’t hurt my head. But please give me more. After all, it’s 2010. And it has a nice ring to it. Least of which is the ring tone on your cell. And that, in itself, already grew albeit a parasitic industry (on the coat-tail of the wireless sector).

I saw Lost, the second season. And I couldn’t help noticing the collaborative effort of those “cast-away” survivors to launch a raft out to sea. It does take a village. We had a tragedy early this decade that brought us together. For the next one, let’s collaborate anyway, tragedy or not. There is always an easy way, and a hard way, copyright or copyleft, zero-sum or non-zero-sum approach. We need to sharpen our instinct to choose, from tools to tactics, from things to people. We will have better Search capabilities at our disposal. But we won’t have many chances of getting it right.

Let’s make 2010, the year of  heightened awareness of social and emotional connection.

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