IBM Watson app predicts most popular Christmas gadgets

A new iPhone app has been launched that uses the power of IBM Watson to predict which presents will be most popular this Christmas.

IBM Watson is an artificially intelligent computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language. The machine astonished audiences worldwide in February 2011, when it consistently outperformed its human opponents on the American quiz show Jeopardy.

Since then it has been adapted for a range of commercial applications, including advising doctors on lung cancer treatments, analysing business trends, and even writing its own cookbook.

Now engineers at IBM have developed an iPhone app that uses Watson to identify the season's top trends and predict the hottest products before they sell out.

The IBM Watson Trend app distills the sentiment of tens of millions of online conversations daily, by scouring 10,000 sources across social media sites, blogs, forums, comments, ratings and reviews. Every day, it updates its list .

Unlike other apps or lists that provide a static ranking of “hot” products, the Watson app reveals how consumers feel about the products they are considering or have purchased.

Using natural language and machine learning technologies, the app is able to pinpoint patterns and trends to reveal why people are choosing certain products or brands.

If you click on a product, say Apple Watch, it pops up with a short description of the story behind the trend, and also a section called The Numbers Behind The Trend which charts out the product's trend score, from 1 to 100, over time.

It also uses predictive analytics to forecast if a particular trend is a fleeting fad or will continue to remain strong.

As of 18 November, the top trends include feature-rich digital cameras such as the Nikon D-SLR and Sony’s 42 megapixel Alpha 7RII mirrorless camera, and stylish runing shoes like Nike’s Free, the Air Max and Flyknit Racing Shoes.

Wearable accessories top wishlists for both gamers and movie lovers, according to Watson. Watson identified excitement around the new Minecraft Gameband, which allows people to play anywhere on any device, as well as Oculus Rift, which is not yet commercially available.

For children, Star Wars-themed lego sets are high on the agenda, as well as "edutainment" toys like Barbie Hello, which lets children have a two-way conversation with their doll, and the new PAW Patrol Imagicard Learning Game for LeapFrog tablets.

The app is available via a free download at the Apple App Store. A web version is available here.