The year 2011 was a great year in the field of technology. We’ve seen a lot of new stuff and developments in the last 12 months. I’m sure 2012 will be even better and more exciting. Check out my top 10 tech predictions for 2012.


Some of them are a bit of a long shot while others I’m pretty confident about.

• Apple will finally announce and release the iPhone 5. Sure ball.
• Flagship smartphones will run on a dual-core 2.5GHz processor. A dual-core 1.5GHz could be the minimum clock speed for most while a dual-core 2.0GHz will be set as the median speed.
• The storage industry will stabilize and HDD manufacturers will be able to ship out 5TB drives for desktop PCs, 2TB drives for laptops and 500GB for tablets. SSD will remain to be expensive for the most part.
• Netbooks will finally come to an end and have to give way to a new breed of laptops. The current definition of netbooks is what’s preventing it to evolve (Atom, 1-2GB of RAM, 10.1-inch screens,etc). Newer ones will go the Macbook Air route to survive — something similar to the Aspire S3 with HDD at the 11 to 12 inch form factor. Price will be a deciding factor so it should be under Php25k.
• Microsoft will buy Nokia for under $30 billion. Windows Phone 7 will challenge BB10, Android and iOS for a bigger piece of the pie. Windows 8 will help spread the Kool-Aid.
• Mobile internet speeds in the Philippines will average at around 10Mbps. At least, that’s what the carriers will promise in big bold letters. DSL speeds will continue to languish and will not even reach 3Mbps on average.
• Now that Sun Cellular is under the ownership of PLDT and Smart, a 3rd telco will likely emerge to add balance to the duopoly between Smart and Globe.
• NFC (Near-Field Technology) will fail to get mass adoption especially with contactless payment systems. It will still be there and will be more common in handsets but might take a long while to be really used by many.
• A Filipino tech start-up will be bought by Google. If that doesn’t work out, they might go under.
• We will finally get to see WiFi in the sky. It’s a long shot but it’s possible one of the big telcos and a major domestic airline will do a beta test on this later this year.

I’m crossing my fingers I’ll hit 50% with my predictions here but it sure is exciting if you just think about it.

Author: Abe Olandres

Source: Yugatech (Philippine News & Technology Review)
http://yugatech.com
Reprinted with Permission