We look back at the biggest tech disruptors of the 2010’s

By Xische Editorial, December 22, 2019

It sure has been a wild decade in technology. Apple’s iPhone, which was released last decade, loomed large over 2010s as developers and platforms found new ways to harness the incredible power of smartphones. This was especially evident in emerging markets where millions have entered the age of connectivity with cheaper smartphones and better internet infrastructure. When you give millions of people new tools, innovations follow. As we close the decade, it’s time to take stock of all the devices, platforms, and services that transformed the technology landscape.  Here is our list of the best and most innovative items that will continue to transform how we live, work, and play in the 2020s.

Thinking about the last decade of blockchain, the oft-quoted Ernest Hemingway passage from the author’s seminal work The Sun Also Rises comes to mind. Speaking about a fortune lost, the novel’s protagonist says he lost everything "gradually and then suddenly". The rise of Blockchain technology and associated cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin can best be described as gradual and then sudden.

Over the past decade, the UAE took major steps towards integrating blockchain in several parts of government and society. The initiatives are too numerous for this roundup but just consider Dubai’s Blockchain Strategy, which aims to establish more than 1,000 new businesses or business solutions using the technology, as one example of how the government is using blockchain to cement the UAE as the global hub of the technology. 

The iPhone might have come out in 2007 but the iPad hit the market in 2010. It’s been a major decade for Apple. The company vaulted to a $1 trillion dollar valuation and lost its visionary founder, Steve Jobs. In the process, it redefined the wearables spaces with Apple Watch. Yet, the iPad demonstrated a shift in how we use computers. By 2019, the iPad is effectively a fully functional computer and Apple is betting big that customers will continue to use it over laptops in the next decade. We aren’t ready to give up our trusty Macbooks but it’s clear the time is coming. 

How can we talk about tech in 2010s without a mention of artificial intelligence (AI)? When we look back on the development of AI, the 2010s will mark the moment in which the technology went mainstream. Throughout the decade, AI has seeped into our daily lives. From voice-activated assistants (more on that below) to algorithms that determine what we should stream next, AI is now baked into the fabric of the internet. At the same time, governments around the world are seriously considering how to incorporate AI into work of governance in order to streamline services and increase efficiency. The UAE is on the bleeding edge of these initiatives and will begin the next decade as one of the most innovative countries in the world when it comes to AI. 

When you combine a boom in smartphone usage and advanced AI-powered algorithms, you get the rise of super apps. The growth of Chinese super apps such as WeChat is one of the most important developments of the decade. Earlier this year, we wrote about how the super app model is moving to the West. Essentially, these apps function as entire operating systems where a user can chat with friends, send digital money, book movie tickets, and upload photos to a social network in just one app. The question facing us in the next decade will be how to regulate these behemoth applications. 

We touch briefly on the Apple Watch but the entire category of wearables deserves special mention. From fitness trackers to Apple Watch, more people than ever are now tracking vital health data with their smart devices. This is proving to be helpful for the insurance industry, which is now offering incentives ranging from lower rates for active people to free devices. As the technology gets better, we will see even larger changes to the sector. The 2010s mark the beginning of when the insurance industry embraced personal technology and its all due to simple wearables. 

Back at the start of the decade, electric cars seemed impractical but what a difference a decade makes. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Elon Musk and Tesla, the electric car is now commonplace. Manufacturers around the world are making electric versions of popular models and charging stations are increasingly commonplace. The next step will be autonomous vehicles and we wouldn’t be surprised if we were writing about how they became commonplace at the close of the next decade in 2030. 

Here is some good news. For the first time, the number of men who smoke dropped globally. According to the World Health Organization, smoking has reached a turning point and that’s probably because of the rise of vaping. One company, in particular, will be closely associated with the rise of vaping and its Juul. We don’t know what the long term health effects of the popular devices will be but it is clear that our relationship with smoking will continue to change in the next decade. 

With the rise in smartphones, there was a boom in accessories. Everything from pop sockets to portable batteries became commonplace this decade. USB-C, which promises to be the socket of the future, gave rise to a less glamorous accessory: The dongle. What will we think when look back and remember all these silly dongles? 

Do you notice a trend in technology this decade? Most of the major innovations are connected to the smartphone. This is true for the next item on our list: voice-activated assistants. From Siri to Alexa to Hey Google, these AI-powered assistants are getting smarter and better integrated into our lives. Just think about the developments that will take place over the next ten years. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be hard to avoid these assistants. 

Finally… With more time spent on the internet, this decade saw the “uberfication” of just about everything. On-demand delivery for everything from ride-hailing to fresh groceries can be done with ease from our smartphones. This is a particularly important issue for us in the UAE since Careem, the Middle Eastern ride-hailing service based in Dubai, was sold to Uber in one of the largest ever tech questions in the region. With new smartphone users coming online every day, applications targeting their specific needs will continue to shake up the marketplace. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the technological developments that defined this decade but these are the developments that will continue to shape how we think and use technology in the next decade. From our perch in Dubai, we are watching the emerging world around us transform thanks to these innovations. In ten years, we expect the next round of developments to originate in new markets much closer to home. It will be historic to watch.