NEWS
Analyst house Gartner has named the technologies it believes will play a significant role in shaping the mobile landscape over the next two years.
With the rise of Apple's iPhone, and other newbie entrants such as Google's Android OS platform, mobile user interfaces (UI) are emerging as a key battleground as ease of use becomes ever more important.
The mobile tech to watch
♦ Mobile user interfaces
♦ Display tech
♦ Mobile broadband
♦ Mobile web and widgets
♦ Location sensing
♦ Bluetooth 3.0
♦ 802.11n
♦ NFC
Gartner predicts mobile makers will use UIs to differentiate handsets and platforms in an attempt to stand out from the competition - meaning businesses should get ready to support them.
"Organisations should expect more user demands for support of specific device models driven by interface preferences," the analyst notes.
Another area it believes has an important role to play in differentiating mobile hardware is display tech. 2009 and 2010 will bring several new display technologies into play, according to Gartner, including 'pico projectors' that are capable of projecting presentations on flat surfaces.
The analyst is also confident mobile broadband will continue its onward march, noting: "In many regions, HSPA [High Speed Packet Access] provides adequate connectivity to replace wi-fi 'hot spots'".
The mobile web has potential also, according to the analyst, which "is emerging as a low-cost way to deliver simple mobile applications to a range of devices".
Mobile widgets are tipped to gain ground in the coming years, as Gartner says they offer a way of streaming simple feeds to handsets and small screens. Mobile web apps will therefore be part of most B2C mobile strategies, the analyst notes.
With the rise of GPS-enabled phones, location sensing will grow in importance as a means of contextualising mobile apps and making services more useful. Mobile presence and mobile social networking in particular are likely to benefit, the analyst adds.
Gartner has high hopes for the next iteration of Bluetooth too - Bluetooth 3.0 - which will bring support for wi-fi and ultrawideband. The analyst claims it will enable new applications such as health monitoring.
802.11n wi-fi is also tipped as having potential. "802.11n is the first wi-fi technology to offer performance on a par with the 100Mbps Ethernet commonly used for wired connections to office PCs. It is, therefore, an enabler for the all-wireless office, and should be considered by companies equipping new offices or replacing older 802.11a/b/g systems in 2009 and 2010," the analyst notes.
The final tech to make it onto Gartner's map is NFC (near field communication), however while Gartner believes it is emerging as a leading standard for applications such as mobile payment, it says NFC usage is not likely to become common in mature mobile markets anytime soon. "NFC is likely to become important sooner in emerging markets, with some deployments starting by 2010," Gartner concludes.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Duh- if you are just now starting to monitor these technologies, you are WAY behind the eight-ball. I'm disappointed- I thought the point of these type of articles was to make us aware of future trends...
2. jen
Duh - you need to read the first paragraph more carefully. The point of this article was not future tech, but the existing tech that will actually be on the market and making waves in the next couple of years. Also, the author didn't claim to be monitoring this herself, but was actually reporting on what Gartner has said. Interesting article, all in all.