Top 5 technology predictions for 2011

Top 5 Technology Predictions for 2011.
1. Near field communications (NFC) and mobile payments

Near field communication chips have been around for some years, but their time looks like it’s finally coming: a phone could soon become your credit card or be used to organise payment and transport, for instance. Google’s new Nexus S includes the technology, and rumours are that Apple’s new iPhone will too.

Initially, however, NFC is likely to be fairly limited: buildings, for instance, have already begun to build NFC chips into their signs so customers can automatically add contact details. It’s only when NFC becomes a ubiquitous, standardised technology that it will make a difference – but that time seems increasingly inevitable.

Matt Warman

2. Social gaming

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Gaming started to become a truly social experience during 2010, with the advent of games such as Farmville becoming popular across social networks like Facebook. The trend is set to become a dominant one during 2011, as Zynga, one of the largest social gaming companies responsible for the likes of Farmville and Mafia Wars, prepares to release at least three more games, with other studios following suit. Plus unlike many US start up technology companies, there is a proven economic model in place, funded by virtual credits: money for essentially nothing.

Emma Barnett

3. IPTV

Having been an aspiration for so long , the benefits of internet of finally set to arrive on the biggest screen in the home during 2011. Driven in the UK by the release of YouView, the BBC-backed IPTV offering, timetabled for launch by mid 2011 and dubbed the ‘next generation’ of Freeview. The pay-TV operators have also turned on their web connections, such as Virgin’s new Tivo set-top box, in order to offer their subscribers, a TV schedule which goes backwards as well as forwards in time. This will be one of the hottest technology spaces during 2011, with Google TV set to come to UK shores too.

Emma Barnett

4. Social commerce

The power of social networking has yet to be fully harnessed by advertisers. Although Facebook is now making decent money, complex issues of privacy have prevented it from thoroughly capitalising on the fact that users are sharing huge amounts of information. Turn that on its head however and you get social commerce: people coming together to benefit from massive bulk-buying schemes, even though they’ve never met. In this context recommendation is obviously key,

too, and it becomes another medium for advertisers as well. Groupon has garnered all the headlines so far, but many more brands will emerge in this sphere over the coming year.

Matt Warman

5. Everything connected

This trend has been present throughout 2010, but it will accelerate throughout 2011: every device, from the television to your phone to your fridge can now have a web address. That means you can email a picture straight from your mobile to your picture frame already; in future, as internet godfather Vint Cerf has suggested, the cork in a wine bottle will have an address too. That means it will email you to tell you today is the best day to get it out of the cupboard. Equally, home automation will allow lights, energy heating and more to be controlled remotely, without the need for comprehensive rewiring.

Matt Warman