GoKawiilApple was born in 1976, and it's turning 50. I know the feeling. When I turned 50, not so long ago, I stared off into space for a while, started some new projects and did fun things with my friends.
But then what? Me, I'm still working that out. For Apple, the future is equally uncertain. Even when you're one of the largest companies and the dominant maker of computers, phones and wearables, what's the trajectory in a world overrun with disruptive AI and facing economic headwinds and climate change?
Over the last 20 years, I've reviewed most of Apple's emerging products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, from AirPods to the Vision Pro. I grew up with Apple tech: When I was a kid, we had an Apple IIC in our home computer room and an Apple-made dot-matrix printer connected to it.
As I sit here today typing on a MacBook Air with a Vision Pro strapped to my face, spreading my Mac's virtual display around my room, I have plenty of pet theories about what comes next, far beyond the foldable iPhone and revamped Siri expected this year.
Fifty years is an impossible span of time to consider. And yet, in 1976, early forms of the internet and computers existed. And even back in 2009, when I started at CNET, I thought laptops would disappear in favor of phones and tablets. I was half-right. Laptops are still here.
During his 2010 keynote for the iPad's debut, Steve Jobs showed a photo of himself and Steve Wozniak from the early days at the Apple Computer Company. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
So what's next? Does Apple become a legacy company honoring its nostalgic brands? Is it an increasingly design-focused company geared to rich people? Will it become focused on elder care? Could Apple take a wild flex to new products? Will it be making furniture, cars and robots in 2076? Or growing engineered foods? Will my kids have Apple products living inside their heads?
To get some help, I called Annie Hardy, Global AI Architect and Futurist at computer networking giant Cisco Systems, whom I met a couple of weeks ago at SXSW. I asked for her thoughts on what's next for Apple as I brainstormed my own.
"We're not just working and looking at one future," Hardy says of her work as a futurist. "We're looking at alternative futures. A futurist is looking at what's potentially going to happen and tries to prepare people for that."
In that sense, looking forward is like being Doctor Strange, exploring all the tangled threads of the multiverse. But these are the trends Hardy and I see for Apple.
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