1. Apple TV Launch
Steve Jobs had the genius to turn a product launch—even an upgrade—into an occasion that sent Apple fans into fits of ecstasy. If there’s one product that they have been looking forward to more than any other, it’s Apple TV. No one knows if or how it will be disruptive. But the launch is likely to happen in 2013. It will also be the first product in a new category since the death of Jobs.
2. Gene therapy commercial launch
Gene therapy, in which genes are transplanted into human cells to treat diseases, has seen its own hype cycle ever since it came into public consciousness in the ’90s. There have been several experiments and clinical trials in the last two decades. The first commercial rollout will happen in 2013. A Dutch biotech company called uniQure will start selling Glybera, the first human gene therapy, in mid-2013. Glybera will treat lipoprotein lipase deficiency, which can cause severe pancreatitis.
3. Opening of the New World Trade Centre
The WTC will have 104 stories, will be the tallest building in the West, and the third tallest in the world. But few will be thinking about these numbers when it opens sometime towards the end of 2013. The dominant thought will be about the twin towers that fell on September 11, 2001.
4. Ahmadinejad’s successor
Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knew the art of infuriating others. In 2010, he suggested that the US could be behind 9/11; he refuses to recognise the legitimacy of Israel, and has called it a mere disturbance in the history of the Middle East; he has been a vocal supporter of the nuclear programme; and once proclaimed there were no gays in Iran. He has to step down as he has already served two terms. In June, we’ll know if the next president will be as colourful.
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(This story appears in the 11 January, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)