Mobile devices have become more powerful than ever. Then again, the greater the role of mobile gadgets into our lives, the stronger the expectations of what could be coming out that can offer an even wider range of features. What can be the next big thing in mobile technology in 2012?

Smartphones

When it comes to new smart phone releases, Apple’s next smart phone is definitely one of the most anticipated mobile devices in 2012. It is very likely that the new iPhone will have new design and 4G functionality but that’s not all. Experts predict that Apple will unveil their virtual SIM technology that will allow mobile phone users to change network providers independently.

After a not-so-good 2011, in 2012 RIM will try to get their customers back with the release of the first mobile devices running BBX platform, the future of BlackBerry designed to bring together “people, devices, content and services” according to Mike Lazaridis, CEO of Research In Motion. The BBX platform is expected to solve some security issues and will allow RIM to introduce high-performance applications, better push services and BBM.

The number one platform for 2011 Android is expected to continue its growth in 2012. Smartphone users should look forward to Android 4.0 release which is not expected to offer revolutionary changes but rather become the standard, mature Android platform.

Tablets

Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle are the clear-cut market dominators for 2012. Tablet users anticipate the release of the next iPad, most likely called iPad3, and predictions are for a more powerful device that will offer some significant software upgrades. Gadget experts anticipate that the new iPad will also run 4G technology and will be much more affordable than its ancestors and comparable devices.

Kindle Fire from Amazon is surely the second contender for the next big thing in tablets space in 2012. With over a million tablets pre-sold in 2011 and over 6 million anticipated sales for 2012, Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet secures its second place after Apple’s iPad. Actually, predictions are that Kindle tablet users should expect a bigger tablet traditionally powered by Android and featuring unique look and feel.

Ultrabook

According to many, 2012 will be the year of Ultrabook. After the release of Apple’s MacBook Air, many companies introduced their own super thin and powerful “Ultrabook” devices. What users should expect in 2012, and what might as well be the next big thing is that Ultrabook is here to stay: there were over 50 different models presented at the Consumer Electronic Show in January and Intel predicts that 40% of all laptops sold by the end 2012 to be Ultrabooks.

Every year Apple offers for free more applications, songs and games to the European users of devices running Apple’s iOS. The “12 Days of Christmas” giveaway was launched yesterday with a suite of songs from the British band Coldplay. Gifts are available for free for exactly 24 hours after their posting, the giveaway lasting, as you probably realized, 12 days.

In order to facilitate the access to gifts, Apple also launched a dedicated application that is updated daily with new offers. The application is on the App Store and can be downloaded, of course, for free.

The “12 Days of Christmas” application is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and the fourth generation of iPods. The application is available in Europe and Canada.

According to sources close to the situation, Apple intends to introduce a technology that converts hydrogen and oxygen in water and electricity. The technology giant wrote in its application that these fuel cells can reach high levels of electric density, which will provide the devices with electricity that will last for days, even weeks.

Also, Apple engineers mention that hydrogen batteries could be smaller and lighter than ordinary batteries. The introduction of these devices could solve one of the greatest problems of smartphones, which are using a lot of power.

Besides this motivation, Apple stated in its application that hydrogen technology will free the U.S. by the need of using fossil fuels that obliges the maintenance of complicated relationships with governments in the Middle East and that could prevent disasters caused by oil spills.
If successful, this could be a major development for Apple who have become synonymous with poor battery life. Whilst this was improved sightly with the launch of the iPhone 4 it is still a major issue for the devices which are geared around so much internet connectivity.

2011 Biggest Mobile Technology Successes

Android Total Market Supremacy
Needless to say, Android success in 2011 is unprecedented. The platform had zero market presence just a couple years ago and in 2011 managed to debar all major platforms. Furthermore, there are no signs of a slow down – with over 500,000 device activations daily, Android total mobile market domination seems to remain throughout 2012.

4G Mobile Technology Growth
This year wasn’t just an exemplary year for the U.S. growth of 4G mobile technology. 2011 was the year of the 4G race – all major mobile operators are striving to develop their 4G mobile networks. How fast and how well they manage to accomplish that will play a lead role in how each mobile provider will move into 2012.

Mobile Payments
Predictions that 2011 would be the year of ‘mobile wallets’ hasn’t really come true. Nevertheless, 2011 was an year of significant developments in mobile payments infrastructure. Banks, credit card processors, e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers made serious progress towards allowing customers to pay for goods via their mobile phones.

2011 Biggest Mobile Technology Disappointments

GSM Phones Vulnerability to Hackers’ Attacks
Mobile technology vulnerability to hackers’ attacks has been an ongoing issue for the past several years. Nevertheless, a new study revealed that mobile phone hacking is actually easier than people expected. According to researchers, GSM networks, still used by approximately 80 percent of all mobile phone users worldwide, did not provide adequate security against hacking attacks. They found that not only any GSM phone can be ‘hijacked’ but now hackers can do that on a large scale and in a very short time frame. The findings of the study are particularly disappointing as once network security is breached, hackers can unlimited number of calls or send out unlimited number of text messages and GSM phone users can only find out when they receive their mobile phone bill.

BlackBerry Outage
Blackberry users will hardly forget 2011 October’s Blackberry outage when a failed switching mechanism crippled Blackberry network for several days. The longest service interruption for BalckBerry’s 12 year history, notorious as the ‘BlackBerry Blackout’, affected millions of BlackBerry customers in Europe, North America and Africa who were unable to receive and send out emails – BlackBerry mobile devices key feature.

Vodafone’s Network Continuing Problems
Vodafone customers started to experience network problems in 2010 and unfortunately issues with connectivity and reception issues continued into 2011. Vodafone representatives blamed the software upgrade at first and later simply admitted they ‘could have done a better job’. Vodafone substandard performance led to thousands of disappointed customers, lawsuits and court battles for compensations.

More to Come in 2012

The world of mobile phones and moble technology is a very exciting place right now and it is a sure bet we will have even more develoments and disappointments to talk about in 2012. NFC technology is likely to change the way we look at our moble devices and trasform them from being a communication tool, to a lifestyle tool. And with Android and Apple now in a flat out turf war 2012 could be a very interesting time indeed in the world of mobile.

Blackberry handsets currently hold the lions share of the teen market largely due to their BBM functionality reducing the need for costly text messages. However the report suggests that the availability of Android apps providing rival messaging services are likely to remove Blackberry’s main USP to this audience.

Blackberry currently command 21% market share or under 25 smart phone users however in the past few months GfK’s data suggests HTC handset usage has grown rapidly whilst iPhone ownership is larger in the 16-24 year old category once price is less of an issue.

It will be interesting to see how Blackberry responds to the diminishing appeal of their main USP in the youth market especially given their handsets tend to be less ‘sexy’ and design led which has obvious appeal to the younger generation.

The niggling feeling I have whenever some starts telling me “Ebay sells one car every 5 minutes via mobile” or “Ebay sells 3 Ferraris a month via mobile” or any other version of the figures produced is that does this really indicate mobile retail adoption?

I’ve purchased through Ebay many times, Ive also purchased through Ebay mobile, but the process I went through to make a mobile purchase was not solely on my handset.  On the whole, when I have purchased through Ebay on a mobile handset it has been after doing my research, and deciding to bid, via a desktop machine. The mobile element of the purchase was simply due to the timing of an auction end and the most I did on a mobile was place a final bid.  Even the final processing of purchase on the whole was then done on a desktop device, despite Paypal being accessible on mobile.  And so, is it not, that these ‘purchases’ which are being reported, are originating on the Ebay website with only a final bid, or auction end time, being recoded on mobile?

If this is the case, and I have no proof either way, then these figures do not tell us anything about the adoption of mobile retail and purchases or payments via mobile devices as this is not a traditional retail purchase.  Much more indicative are the figures for the sales ASOS generate through their mobile app.

I do believe mobile commerce is on the rise, and mobile payments are the future, I just don’t think you can put Ebay in this category.

Rant over…..

Payments via mobile have been discussed for many years as the next barrier to overcome in the use of mobile devises in our day to day lives. Sandwich chain Eat is the latest large retailer to trial the use of NFC in a single store in central London. Eat will utilise NFC technology to allow customers to redeem coupons and loyalty rewards rather than make payments however Eat has issued a “watch this space” statement indicating they have further plans beyond the trial for the use of NFC.

Google’s launch of Google Wallet will also add to the adoption of the technology and it wont be long before ore high street stores are finding a use for NFC, even if it isn’t for making payments just yet. The main barrier is the technology costs for the retailers themselves as most new smart phones have the functionality already built in. As Tesco put it when asked about their plans, “putting NFC terminals in 35,000 checkout lanes in the UK isn’t cheap”. When looked at this way you can see there are still a couple of barriers to overcome but it can’t be long before NFC terminals start to appear on a fast lane checkout in more local stores.

More details on the HTC Wildfire S in Grey
More details on the HTC Desire S in Red
More details of the HTC Wildfire S in Purple

To begin with the system is going to be available on the Google Nexus S 4G however over time it will be available on all Google handsets. You can find out more at the Google blog or at the newly created Google Wallet Microsite.

This sort of technology is undoubtedly the future of mobile usage and through this deal with Mastercard and Citi Google will hope to steal a march on its major competitors, specifically Apple.  If they can prove it works well, and get the store level penetration to make it a viable payment option, it could be a big step in catching up with Apple in the smart phone market.