Julie Fortier
Sun
While cutbacks and the economic downturn overshadowed technology trends last year, 2010 will see leaps and bounds in how Canadians use mobile Internet, according to Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions report released Tuesday.
“This year’s Canadian TMT Predictions demonstrate that consumers and enterprises want to access data anywhere, anytime and on any screen — but want to do so economically,” the report says.
Now in its ninth year, Deloitte’s TMT Predictions highlight emerging global technology, media and telecommunications trends based on research from more than 6,000 Deloitte TMT member firm practitioners.
“Canadians and Canadian companies are at the front lines of the battle between demand for data and the realities of pricing,” Duncan Stewart, director of Deloitte Canada Research wrote in a release. “We may not have been the first country in the world to get the iPhone or the Amazon Kindle reader, but our companies, our people and our regulators are facilitating the mobile Internet revolution and changing the ways that technology, media and telecommunications are bought, sold and used.”
However, one of the main problems emerging is that Canada’s infrastructure can’t keep up with consumer demand, according to John Ruffolo, national leader of Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Group at Deloitte.
“Clearing the network traffic jams created by new mobile devices will not be easy and will have serious ramifications for customers and carriers alike,” Ruffolo wrote in a release.
Some of the trends identified in the report include:
– E-reader sales will stall in 2011, but e-books are expected to do well and will mainly be read on smartphones, PCs and tablets.
– Net tablets, which fill the gap between the smartphone and the net-book, could generate well over $1 billion in global sales in 2010 and create a new way to consume magazine, newspaper and television.
– Pay walls and micropayments are emerging as a way for newspapers and magazines charging for online content, but in reality, the majority of Canadian publishers will not implement these methods, as they could negatively impact traffic, and therefore, advertising revenue.
– While online ads only make up about 10 per cent of global ad sales today, online sales will continue to steal share from traditional media in 2010 and disrupt the ad market.
– And as smartphones and PCs create a mobile data traffic jam, carriers will use short-term tech quick fixes to make the mobile Internet work faster and handle more customers, with some players profiting greatly.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
