Deloitte Forecasts 2011 Trends in Technology, Media, and Telecom

MR - Deloitte sees smartphones, tablets, and netbooks, representing 465 million of the 815 million computing device units to be sold in 2011, according to the tenth annual Deloitte forecast of top trends in technology, media, and telecommunications. Deloitte's other predictions: No standard will emerge for smartphone or tablet operating systems. Enterprises will purchase more than 25 percent of all tablet devices in 2011. The percentage of businesses in developed countries that use at least one eGovernment service will increase to 90% from 75%. Calls for online privacy and regulation will increase, but broad use of cookies continues. Battery technology advances, but at a much slower pace than technology in the platforms it powers. Hydrogen's promise will get some traction in 2011, but not in the automotive sector. Television's growth in share of advertising revenue will continue to eclipse all else. DVR penetration will reach 50 percent in the U.S. and U.K., advertising revenues will be unaffected. "Push"-based TV programming continues to beat "pull." Social network advertising increases significantly in penetration, but not as a source of revenue. Online gaming shows a redistribution of revenue. Live performances will diversify to combat the effect of aging acts, led by music festivals. Temporary pop-up retail music outlets jump to 1,000 to meet demand; On-line music sales in at least one category will outpace legacy CD sales. 3G technology continues to be viable; 4G wireless networks not yet in large-scale carrier adoption. Volume of data transferred over public WiFi to outpace cellular broadband volume. Twenty-five percent of big-box stores will offer free in-store WiFi to customers. Video calling will be cheaper, better, and more widely available than ever, but a demand-spike is unlikely. (1,950 words) . . . (to read the remainder of this article, please log in below.)