2010 was an exciting year for technology with the advent of tablets and the increased use of smartphones. In an earlier article on ttb.com I highlighted 6 hot workplace trends for 2011 based on the developments of 2010. And now, David Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer at TELUS has issued trend predictions for the Canadian market based his observations of the marketplace. According to David, “As an extension of the smartphone adoption trend we saw in 2010, the proliferation of WiFi enabled technologies, especially tablets, increases our options when choosing how to consume content, and this flexibility will be a true game-changer for both our personal and our professional lives.”
These predictions, while focused on the consumer, may be of interest to businesses who market to consumers as they provide insight into how people use technology and consume information. Here are David Fuller’s top 5 trend predictions for 2011:
1. Tablets and mobile-enabled accessories and peripherals: Consumers will increasingly want to remain connected to the Internet and do more with it in 2011, requiring not just more powerful smartphones but a host of purpose-built WiFi enabled devices. As more consumers and professionals discover compact, powerful tablet devices, new habits will be formed, dramatically changing how we manage our increasingly digital lives. The always-on mobile connectivity, long life batteries, solid state drives and large screens on tablets provide a truly portable computing experience. Similarly, we will see the number and variety of WiFi-enabled devices continue to grow. Portable gadgets with WiFi such as digital cameras, eBook readers and handheld gaming devices will likely see particularly large volume growth next year, enabling consumers to share and access different types of content from anywhere with the optimal tool for that experience.
2. Smartphones as WiFi hotspots: The Android 2.2 release earlier this year allowed users to turn their Android powered smartphones into WiFi hotspots, and we expect that other platforms will follow Google’s lead by enabling this capability in future releases of their operating systems. It is an exciting time: in 2011, mobile WiFi from advanced smartphones and other sources like mobile modems will enable the proliferation of purpose-built devices by allowing users to connect tablets, game consoles and more to the Internet and each other, anytime and anywhere.
3. Over The Top and multi-screen Video Services: The growing popularity of TV Anywhere will continue as more Canadians demand the ability to enjoy the content they pay for as part of their existing TV service on the screen of their choice. The ability to start watching something on the TV and pick it up on a computer’s browser (or a smartphone or tablet) will allow consumers to take content with them throughout the home or on the move. But the evolution of TV content doesn’t end there. In 2011, consumers will continue to discover the flexibility offered by Over The Top services—online content services from providers like Netflix, Hulu, Apple and Google—as a complement to traditional carrier TV services.
4. The TV is dead. Long live the TV!: The death of the TV has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, quite the opposite is true. With TV content’s move to portable mobile devices and PCs, the TV itself is reborn as the true centre of the connected home, brought back to life by its connection to the Internet. After all, it’s still the best screen in the house. Internet-powered interactive TV services will propel the trend to share graphically-rich content like photos and video content--created on smartphones--on the biggest screen in the consumer’s arsenal. TV-optimized apps like Facebook and YouTube will take advantage of the capacity of a large TV screen to deliver visual impact and present new ways to both stay connected socially and multitask: imagine catching the game while chatting about it with friends and keeping on top of scores, all on the same big screen.
5. Cloud-based computing: The cloud is a web-based way to cost-effectively process, manage and store all of your data. This year, all major mobile platforms will make the transition to supporting cloud-based services, so you can access both corporate and personal data (think: streaming photos, videos or your music library) from virtually anywhere, on any device, at any time – all stored safely in the cloud. As consumers become more comfortable with cloud-based computing, look for the major mobile platforms to ramp up their efforts to sell streaming content services such as music, TV and video. With the move to the cloud, the “flexibility factor” of using a variety of screens to consume content really hits its stride.
David concludes that “Each year’s trends propel us further into a connected world in which we can do business, stay informed, organized and entertained, at home, at work and on the move. Innovations like tablets, WiFi services and TV Anywhere enable us to do more with that connection than ever before by pairing our desired activity with the optimal screen option in the home and on the go.” 2011 will be “the year of ultimate flexibility”!
If you are a business that markets to consumers, how might trend predictions such as these impact your business? Do you have any additional trends/predictions for 2011?
