What’s in store for technology in 2011? Plenty. While 2010 saw the unveiling of hot products like the iPad and iPhone 4 — as well as the widespread adoption of the Windows 7 and Android operating systems — 2011 looks poised to build on the best of what the preceding year had to offer. Read on for some predictions.
Tablets Everywhere
Apple’s iPad was just the beginning. In 2011, expect an onslaught of competitors that want to take a bite out of Apple’s near monopoly in the “pad” market.
New models from HP, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, Motorola, Dell, Asus, Cisco, Lenovo, and others are expected to be rolled out in 2011.
While these products may not have the instant name recognition of an iPad, they’ll all likely have something that the iPad doesn’t: affordability. What will Apple do in response? There are plenty of shortcomings in the iPad that could be addressed by an iPad successor. Expect to see one in 2011.
Social Networking Warfare
Upstarts like Facebook and Twitter took the world by storm in 2010. Will tech heavyweights like Google stand by and watch success like that go unchallenged? Unlikely.
Twitter’s 140-character niche may be tough to replicate, but expect 2011 to see competitors attempt to chip away at Facebook’s success. Google is currently rumoured to have a “Google Me” product in the wings, which is expected to give Facebook some competition in 2011. Others are likely to follow suit.
Clouds Everywhere
There are plenty of reasons for cloud computing to be taken seriously — by both corporations and consumers — in 2011.
The first is accessibility. Internet access is close to ubiquitous in many areas now, so storing your data on some server that you can reach only when online is less of an issue than it used to be.
The second, though, is cost. In…