2010: 10 key tech moments that are shaping our future | memeburn

Share By Uzair Parker
12.29.10

As 2010 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on some of the key technologies that have influenced, inspired and dominated the mobile, web and software product markets this year:

1. The Rise of the Tablets

Announced in early January, Apple’s iPad was one of the most significant product launches this year: The world’s first fully functional tablet PC. Described as being revolutionary and magical, many early critics initially dismissed the device as nothing more than a larger version of the iPod Touch. Yet, it was anything but that.

The iPad set the standard for tablet devices with its sleek and glossy design, packing a powerful processor with access to Apple’s famed iTunes marketplace that had business owners scrambling to get their web product onto an iPad-friendly application format.

It is one mean piece of hardware and with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab sparking the Android vs Apple battle plus Rim’s Blackberry Playbook now entering the fray, it’s a clear indication that tablet PCs are here to stay.

2. Augmented Reality takes a bold leap

Augmented reality applications have really hit home this year by extending beyond the mobile sphere and into the console gaming environment with both Playstation and Microsoft taking the lead. Microsoft’s Kinect system for the XBox has redefined the gaming genre with its full body, controller-less motion, making augmented reality gaming a, well, reality within your living room. And the EyePet for the Playstation 3 and PSP provides a showcase of what console cameras and motion sensing are capable of. Of course, augmented reality is not limited only to gaming. Layar, Augmented ID and TwittARound are but a few of the current applications which make good use of this technology. Augmented reality has now began filtering into the business sectors where companies are taking note of its showcase appeal with regards to sales and marketing.

3. Android

Google’s mobile OS, Android, also includes middleware, key applications and an SDK which provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using Java. With over two dozen Android powered phones, Google’s answer to the iPhone has an authoritative stamp of approval within the smartphone market. Sleek, customisable and with a modified Linux kernel for an engine, it’s no wonder Android has become the de facto smartphone choice, ranking first amongst all the OS handsets sold this year in the U.S. alone.

4. Mobile Video

The advent of readily available 3G networks worldwide has lead to an increased demand for mobile video services. Application marketplaces such as iTunes and Netflix, which predominantly maintain a purchase-to-download approach, have now also integrated video and TV-on-demand and streaming media onto their platforms. Alongside this, portable, accessible and, as of recently, full HD video cameras which are now a standard component of most smartphones, (such as Nokia’s N8 powerhouse which packs a 12 megapixel camera), allow for easy uploading and streaming of video content. Video blogging or vlogging has since become an accepted medium for feed and content aggregators across the globe.

5. Realtime Search

Search engine giant Google has taken realtime search to an authoritative level in 2010 by providing licensed realtime data streams from mainstream social networks such as Twitter and Facebook into its search results. The initial concerns with realtime search included relevance and also spam control –- filtering the informative live streams from the useless junk, particularly considering that end users would expect the same quality that traditional web searches provided. And this is where Google dominated.

By engaging the legitimacy of a valid tweet on Twitter or Facebook update status, Google’s tight-lipped algorithm delves into the popularity of these pocket-sized information nuggets and delivers.

6. Social Networks

In 2010 giants Facebook and Twitter have continued to dominate the social networking scene, with Twitter releasing its new iPad-like web layout and Facebook redesigning its user profile pages. Public awareness into social media has also increased this year with sites such as LinkedIn bridging the business/ social gap and merging company and user-based profiles together to the point that many company and recruitment entities are now actively engaging LinkedIn for resources.

Also, movies such as the box-office success The Social Network, which chronicles the rise of Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg, have added to the heightened public appeal. Major events, including the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, added to the euphoria, proving once and for all that social networks are above the misinterpretation of the web paradigm. Simply put, they’re big news. And they’re here to stay.

7. Cloud computing flies high

In the past year, cloud computing has really taken flight with the majority of internet sites’ architecture employing web services to consumers by converting their existing services to run on shared resources or “clouds”. Cloud-based services are low on costs and implementation and can be exploited in a variety of ways to develop an application or a solution that taps into the unlimited processing and storage power of vast data centres run by companies like Google or Amazon.

Isolated, system-specific and device and location-dependent applications are now a thing of the past as cloud computing provides the agility, security and readily available APIs across a scalable spectrum with reduced cost and maintenance leverages. For examples, read Technobuffalo’s great post on cloud computing.

8. HTML 5 sets the standard

Browsers such as Firefox and Chrome are already supporting HTML5, the evolution in web development. The addition of many new syntax features such as

2010: the year bandwidth prices nosedived

It has been a year of falling bandwidth prices in SA. Though it took a little time before it happened, the arrival of the Seacom undersea cable jumpstarted a downward spiral in broadband prices.

With access to lower international bandwidth prices, Internet service providers were given the chance to step up their game this year.

But exactly how much less are you paying for bandwidth this Christmas compared to last year?

Afrihost director Greg Payne says consumers are paying up to two-thirds less than they were a year ago for fixed-line bandwidth on Telkom’s digital subscriber lines.

This time last year, Internet providers were charging about R70/GB for 1GB of bandwidth on average. To put that into perspective, a standard 10GB capped account would have cost the consumer about R8 400 a year.

Now, the average cost is about R29/GB, translating into R3 400 over year for 10GB/month — a R4 920 saving.

Consumers could even buy 50GB of data without spending as much as they did last year for 10GB. A 50GB account from Afrihost, for example, costs R475 per month, or R5 700 a year.

Afrihost was one of the first companies to slash bandwidth prices — as early as September last year. Payne says that at the time it was charging less than cost price for bandwidth. It was confident that input costs would plummet.

At the top end, the cost of bandwidth has dropped to as little as R9,50/GB.

“We believed that prices would come down thanks to the new undersea cables and we were a late entrant to the market and so we needed to hit the market by storm,” says Payne.

Afrihost’s campaign resulted in it signing up more than 25 000 new subscribers in the six months that followed the first cuts.

Prices from rival MWeb have also plummeted, falling from R89 for 1GB of data last year to around R26 now.

But by far the most revolutionary development this year was the introduction of uncapped bandwidth accounts from MWeb. Not worrying about how much bandwidth they consumed changed the way many South Africans used the Internet.

Head of products at MWeb Nathier Kasu says people can now stream video, download video and music, and get stuck into online games without worrying about running over their bandwidth caps and getting cut off.

However, he says by far the most attractive aspect of uncapped broadband has been the fact that customers are able to budget on a fixed monthly amount. Before uncapped products came along, many consumers would top up their bandwidth when they ran out, leading to some months costing more than others.

MWeb’s uncapped service has been widely taken up, and Kasu says the company does have a few users he describes as “power downloaders”.

He says that, theoretically, if a user downloads constantly throughout the month using a 4Mbit/s line they could download more than 1TB of data. “We have had a few users that reached that limit,” Kasu says.

Despite the big drop in prices, Afrihost’s Payne says a lot can still be done to decrease the overall cost. “International bandwidth is now very well priced, but local bandwidth is still expensive,” he says.

In general, Internet providers buy up national bandwidth from Telkom at wholesale rates and on-sell those to consumers. Payne says there is quite a lot of room to reduce these costs.

Also, fixed-line broadband prices are inflated by the fees consumers have to pay to Telkom for line rental. These prices may start to come down when Telkom’s local loop — the “last mile” of copper cables between consumers and Telkom’s exchanges — is unbundled next year.

Fixed lines aren’t the only area where bandwidth prices have come down. Thanks to Cell C and Telkom’s 8ta, there’s been a lot of movement in mobile data, too.

Both 8ta and Cell C have introduced more competitive mobile data pricing and this could prompt their bigger rivals, MTN and Vodacom, to follow suit next year.

Cell C’s new data prices are set at such a level that one analyst, Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx, has even suggested its pricing is aimed at Telkom’s fixed-line offerings.

For bandwidth-starved South Africans, that’s music to the ears. — Candice Jones, TechCentral