Tech trends in 2012
This year, a number of trends have persisted throughout the tech and telecommunications industry in South Africa and abroad, keeping media and market players on their toes.
From telecom developments to court battles to the latest gadget and device launches – 2012 has been a big year for tech – and some things just keep popping up time and time again.
BusinessTech takes a look at five trends in tech this year that have turned up around every corner in the industry.
The race to LTE
2012 has been the year for LTE – Long Term Evolution technology, which has been dubbed the “next generation” of cellular technology across the world.
While international markets have settled on branding LTE “4G” – the technology isn’t technically at the standard of true 4G (which is 1Gbps speeds, according to the ITU).
While “4G” LTE has made headway in the USA and in Europe, closer to home – where it’s referred to simply as “LTE” – all of South Africa’s network operators have made leaps and bounds in the LTE space.
Vodacom launched the first commercial LTE offering in October, with MTN doing the same late November. 8ta and Cell C are both actively trialling their own LTE networks.
While the big LTE news came to the fore in the latter months of 2012 – news of trials, speeds, spectrum and regulatory hassles have consistantly made headlines throughout the year.
>> MTN LTE launches in SA
>> First Cell C LTE sites go live
>> Neotel trials 70 Mbps LTE
>> LTE and 4G marketing battle in SA
>> UK’s first “4G” service to cost R499
>> Vodacom launches LTE in SA
>> 8ta free LTE trial announced
Patents vs patents
We’ve all heard about the high-profile Apple vs Samsung patent battle – but patent litigation has been the trend of the year in big tech business in 2012. Apple, Google,Microsoft, RIM, HTC, Oracle, you name it – everyone in big tech is fighting everyone else over patents.
Patent litigation has become a big goldmine for companies looking to not only reap the wards of court-ordered cash payments, but also from the added plus of stifling the competition with product bans and set-backs.
The only people happier than the companies about the patent wars are the lawyers fighting the battles.
>> Apple and Samsung: A defining rivalry
>> Google vs Microsoft trial wraps up
>> Nokia wins BlackBerry patent dispute
>> Ericsson sues Samsung over patents
>> Apple vs Google patent case chucked out
>> Kodak loses patent appeal against Apple, RIM
>> Facebook counters Yahoo on patents
Money goes mobile
2012 was the year that money went mobile.
While FNB led the way in 2011 with the launch of its banking app for smartphones, 2012 played host to the launch of a wealth of financial mobile solutions for people to access, manage, lend and transact with their existing or new mobile accounts.
Mxit Money, MTN Mobile Money, Standard Bank’s App, Nedbank’s App suite, MoneySmart, 22seven, My Financial Life, Wonga and RainFin – it was all about the mobile money.
>> MTN launches low-cost banking solution
>> Social lending to hit SA banking
>> Wonga.com launches on mobile
>> We will “leapfrog the competition” through apps highway: Nedbank
>> Nedbank My Financial Life now live
>> MoneySmart does what it says on the tin
>> Standard Bank and Mxit launch mobile money service
>> Standard Bank quietly launches mobile banking app
>> No Absa app this year
Building ecosystems
In 2012 big tech companies were all about pushing their ecosystems – futher reigning in customers and users onto one cohesive platform.
It’s become less about what device you use, and more about which ecosystem you choose – whether it’s Apple iOS, Google’s Android or Microsoft’s recently-launched Windows 8.
The iPhone 5, the iPad 3 and 4 (as well as revamped Macs, iMacs and iPods to boot)
Don’t discount Amazon and RIM, either, with the latter looking to revitalize its struggling BlackBerry platform with a new range of BlackBerry 10 devices in the new year.
>> Android dominates on smartphones
>> BlackBerry 10 devices pegged for January 2013
>> iPad Mini arrives
>> Apple iPhone 5 gets the thumbs up
>> Microsoft, HTC partner on Windows Phone 8 devices
>> Windows 8 sells faster than Windows 7
>> Amazon: Kindle Fire is our best-selling product
Convergence
Convergence is one of those buzzwords which have persisted in the industry for a number of years – but 2012 saw the move to seamlessly integrate a number of IT and telecoms services kick up a notch.
With data, voice and video services all being handled through one channel hosted by any given network operator, consumers got a taste for the benefits of converged networks in 2012.
Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C all came to the party with deals and offerings throughout the year – especially on the data front – selling their wares to draw in customers, effectively competing with fixed-line ISPs.
>> Telkom cock-a-hoop over convergence
>> Opinion: Convergence trends in SA
>> Cell C launches aggressively-priced data promotions
>> Mobile data growth and voice revenue
>> BlackBerry data quandary for Vodacom
>> Vodacom targets financial services as 4th revenue cycle
>> Vodacom aims for “Amazon-like” online experience
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