Tablets as expected were the most significant device of note. Tablets managed to totally disrupt the mounting momentum behind netbooks and dramatically impacted laptops to a major degree that caused great concern and consternation to most manufacturers. Smartphones on the other hand continued to gain marketshare and added capacity as these days almost everybody has made the move from basic cell phones to fancy smartphones.
Online, Social Media remains the wellspring of activity and development. Everything else is an integration of Social Media into more traditional services usually in the form of marketing and community building.
On the Search front Bing has steadily gained small increments of marketshare and Google has the problem of figuring out exactly which businesses they want to be in. Mastery of the secrets of (SEO) Search Engine Optimization has become a major revenue generator for developers, consultants and experts that decode the constantly shifting landscape of SEO.
Along with Cloud Computing “Apps” are leading the charge away from more traditional application software and towards smaller inexpensive bite-sized solutions that can are often mashed up and aggregated into more personalized and customized configurations and integrations.
The industry most affected by change is publishing. Publishers are scrambling to uncover new ways to produce and provide content while looking for ways to monetize their efforts to survive and sustain the shifts and pitfalls.
To sum up 2011 has become a time of disruption and change. Yet beyond greater mobility there is no major change that amounts to much of anything that is really new and innovative. Most innovations are mainly enhancements and extensions of trends that are only now realizing their full potential and promise.
A handfull of companies have taken the time and effort to leverage their brand and extend their reach into new market spaces.
Taking a heavy hit industry tradeshows are attempting to stay relevant but the virtual world and poor economy has made many of them less essential and able to justify their expense.