Deloitte reveals top technology tips for 2011

Market watcher bigs up tablets, WiFi, gaming and social networking

The technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sectors are more interconnected and interdependent than ever before, research from Deloitte has revealed.

Deloitte today released its top predictions for 2011, with tablets, social media and gaming all set to soar.

As reported on Channelweb last week, Deloitte has predicted that more than 50 per cent of all computing devices sold globally will not be PCs and 25 per cent of all tablet computers will be bought by enterprises.

Security of data on the move will also become a more serious consideration on the risk management agenda, and the rise of tablets will cause a host of security-based solutions to spring up that few businesses will be able to ignore for long.

Deloitte also predicted that the volume of data uploaded or downloaded from portable devices via public WiFi networks will grow at a faster rate than the volume carried over cellular broadband networks.

WiFi-only device sales will outstrip 3G devices, the firm predicted, with the bulk of this being video data and WiFi likely to become the default network for video applications.

Gaming is also set to boom, and Deloitte predicted a six per cent increase in sales of gaming software. Gaming hardware sales are set to drop 20 per cent, but this will be made up by an increase in revenue from monthly subscriptions, peripherals, fees for services and in-game purchases.

And, according to Deloitte, the rise in social networking will continue, with advertising revenue from social networks adding up to $5bn a year and a year-on-year growth of 40 per cent.