Cloud computing, Android also said to take off.Steve Ballmer’s Windows will ‘upset’ the Smartphone status quo in 2011, says analyst Ovum.
Windows Phone 7 is set to become the fastest-growing Smartphone platform, upsetting the complete dominance enjoyed by Apple’s iOS and new kid on the block, Google Android.
Other platforms earmarked for takeoff include Android, which is set to become a “favourite” with developers by the end of the year, according to experts.
As previously reported on Smarthouse, this forecast has already been confirmed by several respected commentators in the industry,
Android users are predicted to triple this year alone, at the expense of older Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and Nokia Symbian Smartphones, according to analysts Telsyte, who predicts price will increasingly come into play as more non-Apple options come on-stream.
“‘Ultra low cost Android Smartphones with pre-paid billing to be the fastest growing segment in 2011,” Telsyte.
“Android has taken over from what I can see,” agrees industry expert, Will Sullivan.
Telcos also better watch out.
Cloud computing, once a fuzzy notion dismissed as a far off concept, has firmly arrived – and is set for ‘mainstream’ use with increasing demand at data centres, memory and server options.
“Cloud services will move from early adopter to the early mainstream stage and will have an impact on key emerging telco services,” say researchers at Ovum.
Broadband demand among consumers is said to “remain unchanged” and will still mainly comprise of 10, 40 and 100G data packages.
However, things won’t be so easy in other sectors – a massive battle on the home front is creeping in, with the main providers said to up the ante in terms of seeking increased market share of home phone and broadband services.
Vendors also take note, says Ovum as they too are in for a testing year ahead and will need to increase their offering in order to survive.
” To fare well vendors will need to execute well in high-growth applications such as mobile broadband and support customers’ cost reduction and revenue growth.”
