2015 in the tech world

We saw social media becoming a news source, manufacturing getting a boost in India, the government becoming technology-savvy, a raging Net neutrality debate, greater focus on the environment, and much more.

Hands-free became a reality

While Apple (CarPlay) and Google (Android Auto) slug it out globally for a place in your in-car infotainment system, the former reached the Indian market first. In October, Maruti Suzuki’s Baleno hatchback became the first car in India to come with CarPlay, a software that enables you to control your phone through your car’s infotainment system, allowing you to respond to calls without taking your eyes off the road or have mails read to you.

A voice assistant with the human touch

Unlike Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Now, which rely on artificial intelligence to respond to queries, Facebook’s yet-to-be-released voice assistant, M, will use a combination of technology and real people. Facebook employees will monitor queries and handle whatever the algorithms cannot.

Apple wooed enterprise users

With this year’s release of the iOS 9 operating system for the iPhone and iPad, Apple is earnestly trying to get a chunk of the enterprise software business that Google and Microsoft are also vying for. With iOS 9, network administrators have greater control over what the devices can access on company networks, the software is supposedly more secure, the Mail app has been enhanced for better attachment handling, and the new multitasking feature will make it easier for power users to use more than one app on the screen at the same time. Plus, the big-screen iPad Pro could very well steal a march on the Windows-based convertible computing devices that Microsoft has been pushing and may be the perfect device for enterprise users who want the flexibility of a tablet and the power of a laptop, all in one.

Rise of the running shoe

While fitness bands were the rage in 2014, this year saw the big shoe brands competing to put out the best fitness shoes. Puma launched the Ignite and the Ignite XT, with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt involved in the development of the shoes. Reebok had the ZPump Fusion and the insanely lightweight CrossFit Nano 5.0, and Nike launched the Free 3.0 and Air Zoom Structure series.

The diesel deception

In October, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many Volkswagen cars being sold in that country had used software cheats to ensure lower than usual emission results during testing. The magnitude of the problem was staggering: 482,000 Volkswagen cars in the US and 11 million cars worldwide were emitting more pollutants on the road than test results showed. Vehicle recalls have started globally, but we still don’t know what punishment Volkswagen will face.

Google became Alphabet

Google Inc. is restructuring itself under a new parent company called Alphabet Inc. Under chief executive Sundar Pichai, Google will be responsible for all of Alphabet’s Internet-related businesses, including Google Search, Gmail, Android, Google Now and YouTube, while companies such as Google Capital, Nest Labs and Fiber will now function independently. This restructuring does not at the moment make much difference to Google’s many users.

Zuckerberg turned philanthropist

After the birth of their daughter, Max, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a doctor, have vowed to donate 99% of their Facebook shares “during our lives” to charity. These are currently worth more than $45 billion (around `3.02 trillion). The couple founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which will “focus on personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities”, they say.

Women’s football broke into the Fifa games

For the first time, EA Sports’ popular Fifa football simulation game featured 12 women’s national teams as part of the game. What’s more, the US’ Alex Morgan, Canada’s Christine Sinclair and Australia’s Stephanie Catley were featured on various versions of the game’s cover.

A butler on your phone

In 2015, there were a slew of new concierge apps on smartphones. You could now shop for groceries online with apps such as Grofers, hire a carpenter or wedding photographer with UrbanClap or rent a self-drive car with Voler. It was like everyone had his own butler.

Net neutrality became a buzzword

In April, mobile service provider Airtel launched a platform on which you could download certain applications without paying data charges. A raging debate about Net neutrality ensued, with its proponents saying companies such as Airtel should not be able to decide which websites and apps get priority access as all traffic on the Internet should be treated equally. Airtel shelved its platform, but Facebook is persisting with Free Basics, formerly known as Internet.org, which provides free Internet access to select websites to those who cannot afford it.

The Union government has not yet announced any guidelines on Net neutrality despite consultation papers being published through the year.

Not so Yahoo!

In the late 1990s, Yahoo! had the sort of brand recall that Google has today. But things have become so bad for the once-great Internet company that a sale may be inevitable in 2016. This despite a lot of restructuring and consolidation since former Google employee Marissa Mayer took the reins in 2012. Many of the moves have suggested that Yahoo! wants to become a media content company rather than having the wide range of services, mostly not-profitable, that it has currently. Yahoo!’s core business of digital advertising continues to shrink. In July, it reported that overall quarterly revenue had declined from a year earlier because the display and search-related advertising businesses shrunk by 12% and 9%, respectively. The search traffic has shrunk too and it now holds around 11% of the market.

Governance went online

On 1 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Digital India initiative, which will attempt to make e-governance available to all citizens. The project will include providing high-speed Internet services to all 250,000 ‘gram panchayats’, setting up 400,000 public Internet access points and offering mobile healthcare services. The projected cost of Digital India is `1.13 trillion. Technology firms such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco and Qualcomm have pledged support to the project.

India aimed to innovate

In September 2014, Narendra Modi announced the Make in India initiative, encouraging both domestic and foreign companies to manufacture in India by making it easier to invest in certain sectors, including electronic systems and information technology. As a result, several multinational companies, including Intel, Microsoft, IBM and Qualcomm, have committed to increasing their investments in India.