Independent strategic management consulting firm Northstream announced its
annual top five trends for the global mobile industry in 2011, naming LTE (Long-Term
Evolution) deployment, mobile video calling adoption, the rise of Apple’s iOS
and Google’s Android operating systems, increased mobile broadband availability
and specific data price bundles as areas to closely monitor in the coming year.
The company noted there have been nine commercial LTE deployments this year,
and a further 44 additional launches are anticipated for 2011. In total, 113
operators have publicly committed to the technology across 46 different
countries with 43 LTE trials currently in operation. However, Northstream
analysts said despite this strong growth, LTE faces an unpredictable future in
2011 with its sustained global deployment being impacted by a variety of factors,
including additional spectrum requirements that could lead to widespread
fragmentation.
“Widespread LTE enabled smartphones will be available beyond 2011, when
there will be sufficient choice to interest mobile consumers and a proven LTE
voice solution will have been found,” the report noted.
Mobile video calling got a boost through the iPhone 4, which now boasts
face-facing cameras, a large high-resolution display, and interactive
applications that can switch between a standard voice call and a WiFi-enabled
video call by the touch of a screen. Despite just 1 percent of existing 3G
calls being video enabled, Skype claims that its share of video calls stands at
40 percent of total customer interactions. Furthermore, the report noted the
number of video call enabled Apple devices alone is set to exceed 100 million
over the next 12 months, with Cisco likely to launch a consumer version of its
video conferencing system.
For more, read the eWeek article: LTE, Mobile Video Calling to Rise in 2011: Report.