So many publications attempt to summarize the year in technology news that I think It would be better for me to focus instead on what we can gather from what happened once the dust has settled.
2010 was an interesting year on many accounts, especially on how wrong the pundits and "consultants" were.
This was supposed to be the year that the Android OS overtakes iOS (the iPhone OS) as the preferred mobile platform. Hasn't happened. In fact, I would venture to say, that despite the stellar debut of the iPad tablet, the iPhone was the star of the year.
From the debut of the iPhone 4, to the ever expanding AppStore repertoire, to rumours of a Verizon iPhone. The iPhone has been on everyone's lips and remains fixed in the publics consciousness.
I will not dispute that there might be more Android phones out there than there are iPhones. The latter's edge however is that its owners usually replace their iPhones with another and that newcomers to the smartphone market ask for it by name. The Android phones seem to be the generic alternative that people get when the can't think of what to ask for. I recall hearing a PC Magazine commentator saying that the Android platform's biggest weakness is its inconsistency and lack of uniformity.
Having written what could be interpreted as paean to the iPhone, I will refrain from committing the same mistake I rail against so-called experts for. I will not predict which platform will come out on top in 2011, but I will say that the Android is not the shoo-in that many claim it will be.
I will venture to predict though that the iPad may experience a resurgence in the next 12 months. Apple deserves credit not only for giving tablets new life but for insuating it into more areas of life thant any other company that has marketed them before.
"Honored more in the breach than in the observance," the PC must be mentioned for its near absence from techology news. I say this to point out how subtly specialized devices called computeres are being replaced by devices with similar computing power but different designations. I think 2011 will mark the continuation of that trend.
