Top Tech Trends for 2011

First half of 2011 saw the spurt in the Technology industry and several new products were showcased in this year’s Consumer Electronics Association (CES) held in Las Vegas. Clearly, 2011 has been exciting in the tech space and one can look forward to new and exciting products getting launched later this year.

Here is how I see 2011 in terms of Technology trends, user behavior and products:

1. Tech products:

• We will continue to see more non Apple tables in the market
• Smartphone glut: Users have confusion with so many choices. The number of apps on the Android and Windows platform will increase and overtake Apple
• Is there market for Notebooks based on Chrome OS? This machine boots up in less than 10 seconds and only has a browser application. This requires to be connected to the net to function
• Google TV and other devices to watch content from the internet on the TV will become popular

2. Increased popularity of social gaming as witnessed with Farmville and Mafia wars last year.

3. Every device at home will have an IP address and will be connect to each other. So, can the microwave send you a SMS if the food is ready?

4. More companies will identify social networking guidelines for their employees.

5. The world will hit "Facebook fatigue". Have we reached a tipping point on this platform? How much more "poke" and "wall posts" will we see this year.

6. Gesture based interaction will take place with devices such as Microsoft Kinect. This will start with gaming and move on to non-gaming devices.

7. People will drift towards search based on social network. I would rather buy a smart phone based on recommendations from my social group in Facebook than go with Google search result

8. Next generation analytics based on real time simulations and modeling would replace our current Analytic engines which does the analysis based on past data.

9. Mobile phone will become your credit card: This is already gaining momentum in countries like Haiti.

10. “Angry Birds” will be the most popular game this year.

What do you think and what are your predictions?