Google isn't stupid, although they seem "loosely jointed" at times.

Google makes its money selling ads.   EVERYTHING "freebie" that they do quietly supports this goal.

If somebody locks up the internet in an area (yeah, that's you Comcast/Time Warner) you can watch Google quietly bust open that monopoly using new technologies until their ads and services can flow freely w/out hindrance.   Once that happens, the Googlishness will likely stop .....

Google is also pushing Chrome browser and Chrome OS forward on the laptop to be more of a full service OS now.   Chrome OS looks a lot like standard Linux distros now, with a desktop, applications and a launch bar.  Some of the apps only exist in the cloud, but that's OK (very normal lately as all Linux distros now make no distinction between cloud based and hard drive based applications).   Some of the Chrome applications are local hard drive based too, which didn't used to be the case at all.

Mainstream Android has GOT to downsize itself to fit on the lesser 32 bit hardware that is going to be popular in the third world countries starting this year.  6 - 8 billion new cell phones in that market is a PRIME reason for doing so.

The spin you will see here in the USA is "Performance Enhanced Android 5.0 that can REALLY SCREAM on your old phone."   It will be true enough, but the real reason will be to fit and work better on the 6-8 billion lesser spec'd phones being sold in the orient and South America starting this year.   More phones will be sold this year alone than even existed 2-3 years ago.

The ARM chipset march to 64 bit will get functionally derailed for a year or so as those first low cost lower feature 32 bit smart phones go into everybody's hands everywhere.    You will see Android/Google go into a "reduced" fit and function war with the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, and also with Tisen and Sailfish to see which is the better cell phone OS for the emerging rest of the world.

The winner here will be the predominate "everything" OS for out in the future.

You may well see Android fork itself into a 64 bit deluxe hardware version for the upper end markets and see a 32 bit feature reduced version for the emerging phone world, assuming that's what Google sees as necessary to keep preeminence in both mature and first phone markets.  

Or, Google might merge Chrome and Android and have a real convergent OS for the upper end and call it Chrome OS, saving Android for the reduced feature set cell phone OS for the developing world.   Or some mix of the two, tossing in a little Motorola intellectual property called Webtop as it is now available to be used in the fight.

One thing you can count on is that Microsoft will keep on trying.   You will see MS attack only in the upper end markets and totally ignore the lower end market as they have NOTHING that can run on reduced hardware and it isn't a market they see themselves doing well in anyway.   Microsoft needs the big bucks to survive, and when the rest of the world goes lower end Microsoft will be left out in the cold yet again.

Look for ARM Cortex A53 to come into play strongly next year matched up with the A12 as a middle weight chipset, with A57 to be more of a "server only" chipset for a while yet.   20nm production size will swing into full play next year, with chip speeds going up 25% across the board when they shift to the smaller lithography size.

Also look for a lot of effort to be spent on customization of chipsets to fit a particular market EXACTLY as Qualcomm had proven to everybody that thought works out a lot better than "generic" chipsets seem to be doing.

Also look for new names to pop up to the top, names like Mediatek and Xiaomi, players who are brand new, lean and quick to move into market slots with customized products.

Intel moves too slowly still, they have certainly built themselves a strong knockout punch aimed at 64 bit ARM, but the market has shifted back on them now back to lower end 32 bit land and they are going to swish the air a bit with that mighty blow when they throw it.   They will still throw that big Bay Trail / Haswell Sunday punch because they really want to keep the uppermost top end of everything (they can make enough bucks there to keep them alive & kicking).

Intel, like MS, has NOTHING prepared and ready to get back down into those reduced feature cell phone emerging markets ....    So, they will not be inside that half of the world's picture of technology at all.

So, 2014 will be an interesting year to watch unfold.  I see progress slowing some and becoming more real world ---- somewhat less idealized.


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A bit of perspective.  

Dicke Tracy's wrist radio/television becomes fully real this year (all functions).

The Star Trek communicator is completely passe now a days (it had no screen and it couldn't give you directions)

A $35 Raspberry Pi has more computing power than the original Macintosh Computer by Apple.

Your current smart phone chip has more power than a Cray II supercomputer had when it was brand new.

Whatever you buy in 2-3 years time will be the equivalent of the best PC you ever bought (or ever will buy as you won't ever buy another desktop type PC again, ever).

What you buy 5 years after that, won't even be invented or concepted yet/now at all .... it will be brand new stuff.