Analysis - Top ten tech trends for 2011

[HEXUS]

We offer our annual predictions of the trends that will most influence the technology business in the coming year.

Read more.

[AGTDenton]

My only predictions are AMD will lose more market share, iPAD apps will be front page news and in general its going to be a very slooooow year.

[Whiternoise]

I can't see the iPad being beaten any time soon. Tablets based around Windows have never been particularly good at catching on and now there's just a rush to bring out competitors - what we've seen so far has been crap, basically all of it. Some people might find it handy to scribble on their tablets when they use Word, but really it's just a case of "because we can". iOS has the advantage of being extremely slick and extremely effective as a platform for games and casual applications.

Android is currently in no position to dominate tablets as the games still suck - don't get me wrong, I've got an HTC Desire and I wouldn't get an iPhone if you paid me, but the marketplace is utterly dire. That's not to say that the apps are bad, there are some gems in there, but there is little to no search functionality and the marketplace is flooded with rubbish like animated wallpapers that masquerade as real applications. Heck, they've not even got a "sort by rating" option.

Ironically once again Apple has managed to produce an expensive handheld that no one realised they needed and that everyone claimed they didn't (before promptly buying one). Personally I don't see the point, given that you could buy a moderate to good desktop for the same sort of money and my Kindle is much more useful, but they've done what they do best - corner the market and utterly dominate it.

[0iD]

Q1 & Q2 (at least) is going to be full-on Tablet wars with everyone trying to out-do the iPad(/iPad2?). IMO affordability is going to be key if anyone wants to take on Apple, else they're going to have to have a killer app/functionality.