2010 was definitely the year of smartphones and smartphones would replace the feature phones sooner as we thought at the beginning of 2010. 2011 would be the year of smartphones 2.0 so here are our 10 predictions for 2011.
1. Samsung would overtake Nokia and become the largest phone manufacturer.
Samsung became market leader in Germany in 2010 and is already the top seller in US. Samsung has sold almost 10M unites of its Galaxy S and with the launch more high-end and affordable devices Samsung can overtake Nokia in 2011.
2. Android would overtake Symbian become the largest mobile OS
I think there is now doubt about this. Android is adopted by almost all manufacturers and Samsung and Sony Ericsson have already abandoned the use of Symbian. Nokia would never sell more devices than all of its competitors.
3. Nokia would release competitive high-end smartphones with Symbian 4 and MeeGo
The release of Nokia E7 has been delayed until early 2011, because Nokia want a better user experience. Videos of some promising devises like Nokia N9 and Nokia X7 have already leaked. Nokia has at least three promising phone in the pipeline. Nokia N8 is also selling unexpectedly well
4. Most of the smartphones would be powered by a dual core CPU
LG Optimus X2 is now the only smartphone with a dual core CPU and other manufacturers would follow this trend.
5. Near Field Communication (NFC) would become a default feature.
Nokia C7 and Google Nexus S are the only smartphones with a NFC chip.
6. (Contactless ) mobile payment battle would heat up.
This battle would be mainly between Nokia and Google (Android). Nokia is already a pioneer this segment. Nokia C7 has a build in NFC chips and is capable of contactless mobile payment. Google bought the NFC startup Zetawire to integrate its technology in Android.
7. HTML5 and JavaScript would become the standard programming language for mobile apps.
Developers can already write their apps for Android and iOS in HTML5. HTML5 would be adopted by more and more developers in 2011. This is bad and a good news for Nokia. It is a bad news because Nokia’s phones, even the Nokia N8, can not render HTML5.
IT is a good news, because developers can easily port their apps to Symbian platform, as soon as Nokia releases a HTML5 browser.
8. Bada OS would be the surprise of 2011.
Don’t forget Samsung’s Bada OS. Microsoft celebrates selling of 1,5M WP7 phones and every one is talking about Windows Phone 7, but there are already more phones with Bada OS. Samsung has just released Bada 2.0 with HTML5 and would the support of largest phone manufacturer Bada OS could outsell Windows Phone 7 in 2011.
9. Smarphones would come to emerging markets.
Emerging markets are the last stronghold of Nokia. Cheap Android smartphones would threaten Nokia’s dominance of emerging markets. LG has has already sold more than one million of its low price smartphone LG Optimus and chines manufacturer Huawei would release cheap android smartphones as well.
10. The rise of gaming phones
Sony playstation phone (Xperia Play), Nokia X7 and Motrola Stadia would are expected to launch early 2011
