Predictions for the new year are the norm for January. Most of them are preordained anyway, so I won’t duplicate the effort. But I do think that as a mobile engineer or decision-maker, you need to watch five key trends and developments in 2011.

Competition For The iPad

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Many new tablet computers will launch this year, with a fresh batch appearing at the 2011 International CES in Las Vegas. But how many of them will give Apple’s iPad any real competition? Does Samsung’s Galaxy Tab stand up to the iPad’s “gold” standard? Sort of, but what would you rather have for the same money?

Watch for some real competition during the year as manufacturers and cellular carriers try to find a decent contender. What new features will these competitors offer to move the trend away from Apple? Based on past results, Apple may top its own iPad with a newer and better version.

Mobile TV—Really?

Mobile TV is far from new, and you can get it in various forms. But it hasn’t been the winner that many companies hoped for. Qualcomm’s FLO TV is now out of business for lack of subscribers, which is too bad since it was a great service. The next big mobile TV development is the eventual rollout of over-the-air (OTA) mobile TV using the ATSC M/H A/153 standard.

The standard was finalized after extensive testing in 2009, and it works. But we don’t see much of it yet. It enables devices to receive regular digital television (DTV) signals directly from local TV stations, wherever they are. About 70 U.S. stations have already launched the service. It is a new hardware/software investment for TV stations, so the implementation has taken some time.

Most major markets have some stations on the air, with more to come. But we really need cell phones and laptops with DTV receivers built in. LG was a leader in the development of handset TV, and more products are on the way. Look for adapters for laptops, integrated receivers in new tablets, and more handsets—all with rabbit ears.

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