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

US government adopts ‘cloud-first’ policy - SmartPlanet

By Joe McKendrick
Nov 30, 2010

The Washington Post’s Marjorie Censer reports that US federal agencies are now required to adopt a “cloud-first” policy when considering new information technology purchases. The policy is the result of an overhaul of the government’s IT procurement process:

“Jeffrey Zients, the federal government’s first chief performance officer, announced… that the Office of Management and Budget will now require federal agencies to default to cloud-based solutions ‘whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists.’”

This is a dramatic sea-change in acceptance of the cloud technology approach, which was fairly new and radical just a couple of years ago — and still is fraught with misgivings about information security.

Still, the financial benefits are too compelling to pass up, espcially for an $80-billion-a-year IT operation such as that of the US federal government. The cloud-first initiative may help the government in its efforts to reduce and consolidate its stable of 2,100 data centers. The government is moving to reduce that total by at least 40% by 2015.

There are other “smarter” IT approaches already in place. The General Services Administration maintains a government “app store,” Apps.Gov, which provides agencies with access to various cloud platforms and applications.

Federal CIO Kundra Vivek has vowed to reign in and streamline the government’s IT budget by at least by five percent a year through aggressive and pro-active actions such as cloud computing, virtualization and data center consolidation. And, as a result, enable agencies across the board to better streamline their own programs.

8ta readies BlackBerry offering

By Leigh-Ann Francis
Johannesburg, 26 Nov 2010

Fourth mobile operator 8ta is testing BlackBerry smartphones on its network and will likely be ready with an offering early next year.

The operator is also in discussions with Apple to offer its iPhone smartphone range, but was unable to give any details at this point as it is bound by a strict non-disclosure agreement.

The BlackBerry play will be a significant one for the newcomer, as it has been recognised as a fast-growing cellular brand in SA.

BlackBerry smartphones were rated as the second “most popular cellphone” in the annual Sunday Times Generation Next Survey 2010. In 2009, BlackBerry smartphones were ranked fifth, and in 2008, the brand was ranked seventh.

8ta has already come to market with a strong smartphone play, including an extensive range of Nokia, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and Sony handsets.

The operator has not given any details around how it will structure its BlackBerry deals. However, on 8ta's highest-end contract deal, customers receive 500 free on-net minute calls, 200 free minutes to other networks and 50MB free data.

Vodacom, MTN and Cell C already offer the BlackBerry smartphones. However, only Vodacom and MTN offer Apple's iPhones.

Vox to take on telcos

By Nicola Mawson, ITWeb senior journalist.
Johannesburg, 26 Nov 2010

Vox is transitioning into a fully-fledged telecoms company, says MD Douglas Reed.

Vox Telecom is moving towards becoming a full-fledged telecoms company, taking on the giants in the industry.

The company's move towards providing the entire range of telecoms offerings comes on the back of its migrating of least-cost routing (LCR) customers onto its own network, Cristal Vox.

Cristal Vox allows the listed telco to offer a range of voice communications services instead of only competing on outbound calls, which accounts for a third of all voice traffic. MD Douglas Reed explains that the recent regulated interconnect cuts gives the company clarity and allows it to build its model for the future.

Vox wrote down its LCR business Orion by R809 million during the year to August, on the back of future lower mobile termination rates. The write-down hampered earnings, which came in at a R678 million loss. Adding back impairments, the company reported headline earnings up to R71.7 million.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA last month announced a termination glide path that will see mobile interconnect rates settle at 40c a minute from March 2013. Fixed rates for local calls will end up at 12c, while interconnect for national calls will be 19c a minute.

Reed says the clarity gives the company the opportunity to grow, and Cristal will provide Vox with a network backbone from which it can turn LCR business Orion into a complete telecoms company. Vox spent R48 million on the network during the year.

Vox would have preferred a slower glide path, says Reed, as this would have given the company a year or two more to get its network up to speed. However, being forced to migrate LCR customers will open up the opportunity to grow margins, as it can now offer its own services and not just on sell those of its new competitors, says Reed.

Cell C leapfrogs into fast lane - Times LIVE

Nov 21, 2010 10:58 PM | By Toby Shapshak

Lars Reichelt was a happy man last week. The CEO launched CellC's new data network in Gauteng on the ninth birthday of the cellular network.

A week earlier, Cell C, Internet Solutions and Convergence Partners had agreed to build a 12000km national fibre-optic network that will cost R5-billion. As they like to say in the internet industry, you can never have too much fibre.

From a new cellphone data network to a new fibre company, the last two weeks brought good news for telecoms in South Africa.

Cell C has aggressively built its new data network and offered some aggressive launch prices (though the final prices haven't emerged yet).

Because it previously focused on voice and neglected expensive 3G services, it has been able to leapfrog directly to new, faster technology called HSPA+. Theoretically, this can achieve data speeds of up to 21.6megabytes a second.

"I don't think there is a third operator in the world that has, in 10 or 11 weeks, leaped to the front of the leagues in a very big country," Reichelt said proudly.

"There are not many countries in the world with this kind of population coverage, at that kind of speed. South Africa has become a world leader. There are not many European countries, or [places in] the US, where you get the kind of speeds you are getting here."

Reichelt added: "By the end of 2011 we aim for 97% population coverage with HSPA+. By mid-2011, we want to cover 67%."

Right now, he said, 32% was covered, reaching 34% by the end of the year.

These are bold pronouncements, and Cell C has been able to build its next-generation network for two reasons.

First, you can build anything, and build it quickly, if you throw enough money at it.

Second, because Cell C has previously gone after only voice minutes at the bottom-end, pay-as-you-go market, it had no 3G network. This meant it did not have to sweat its expensive assets, as the other operators have.

Reichelt is a clever CEO who has re-engineered the third network operator as much as its data network. He converted crippling debt to equity. He sold off its cellular towers and refinanced the company.

Along the way, he changed focus from voice minutes to data, the big growth area for networks around the world as data-hungry smartphones become increasingly popular, as do their data-loving apps.

Cleverly, Cell C has gone after the small towns and rolled out its new network in coastal cities such as Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town, before moving inland to Bloemfontein and Gauteng.

Like every geek and tech journo, I have been testing Cell C's network and am impressed with the speeds.

Reichelt showed off connection speeds from the major speed tester to demonstrate how CellC has leapfrogged to the top. In part, this is because it has unfettered access to the 900GHz spectrum, which is better suited to providing data services, requires fewer base stations to provide coverage, and transmits through walls more efficiently, giving a stronger signal indoors.

The test will come when it has more users.

Cell C might be the underdog in the cellphone industry, but, as Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx points out, they are the third-largest customer-carrying company in South Africa, with 7million customers - or 14.5% market share - behind Vodacom (23million, 49.5%) and MTN (17million, 36%).

The good news for consumers is that more competition generally translates into greater choice and better prices.

•Shapshak is editor of Stuff magazine