By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet Contributor
By the end of next year, cloud services, mobile computing and social networking will converge into a mainstream platform that will revolutionize the technology space and all other industries that rely on computing innovations, according to a recent report published by the research firm IDC (News - Alert).
"In 2011, we expect to see these transformative technologies make the critical transition from early adopter status to early mainstream adoption," Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC, wrote in the report.
"As a result, we'll see the IT industry revolving more and more around the build-out and adoption of this next dominant platform, characterized by mobility, cloud-based application and service delivery," he added.
Gens also noted that the impending widespread adoption of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has the ability to completely alter the balance of power among the technology industry's elite providers. Companies that are slow to catch on to this thriving movement will be sure to be left behind.
IDC analysts expect mobile computing to make a huge surge in 2011. In fact, the research firm speculates that application-capable, non-PC mobile devices will outnumber personal computers by the end of 2011. In about 18 months, roughly half of the 2.1 billion active Web users will be utilizing a non-PC mobile device as their primary means of online communication.
This transformation away from traditional computers and toward mobile devices is expected to expand the mobile apps market beyond its already impressive stature. IDC analysts suggest that approximately 25 billion mobile apps to be downloaded in 2011. In contrast, only about 10 million will be downloaded this year.
Meanwhile, IDC predicts that cloud computing and social networking will mature alongside the mobile movement, especially in the enterprise and SMB space. Gens and his colleagues speculate that about one-third of U.S. firms will adopt public or private cloud resources by the end of 2011. They also anticipate that social business software will make a huge move in the next year, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 38 percent through 2014.
Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.