Here are a few of my predictions for how 2011 will be remembered:
1. Passive television viewing starts a long slow slide to oblivion. Despite Google’s planned delay of its IPTV launch, 2011 will be the year where Internet Television hits the consumer market and a fundamental shift begins from passive to interactive TV viewing. At the same time—3D television will be a failure.
2. Tablet computing becomes the rage. Apple set the stage but 2011 will be the year when tablet computing becomes the preferred platform for viewing a whole variety of content—so much so that enterprises will begin extending their applications to accommodate the devices. About 15 percent or more of mid-to-large size businesses will have a tablet application deployed.
3. Near field communication technology will hit the market to eliminate the need for credit and debit cards for charging purchases.
4. Enterprise cloud computing adoption will begin in earnest. CIO’s begin to have confidence that moving pieces of their infrastructure such as office productivity tools and testing environments to the cloud makes business sense.
5. And sadly we will see a significant act of cyber terrorism. The electronic services of one country will be knocked out for at least 24 hours due to cyber terrorists or criminals.
[Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of posts from Xconomists and other technology and life sciences leaders from around the U.S. who are weighing in with the top surprises they’ve seen in their respective fields in the past year, or the major things to watch for in 2011.]
