Raghu Patri

The year 2011 clearly belonged to Apple. Whether it was the launch of the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 or the sad demise of it’s iconic founder, Steve Jobs, Apple was in the lime light. Sales were good and once the year is out, it will confirm that Apple will have a fair share of the market. Is this trend going to continue?

Google has been hot on the heels of Apple with it’s own offerings. Google, with it’s open source, has a number of vendors to work with. Samsung and Amazon leading a pack of eager players to grab a share of the ever expanding tablet market. This certainly has given Google the reach it needs. Amazon has been the joker in the pack with the unexpected success of it’s Kindle Fire. Priced very competitively, it has been a hot favorite in the “Black Friday” sales in the US, not to mention the rest of the world. The coming year, 2012, looks to be set to be Google’s to take.

One player who could take some of the edge away could be Microsoft, the dark horse in this race. The Redmond giant is keeping up with the rest with the expected launch of it’s Windows 8 platform. It is expected to seamlessly integrate the PC/Laptop world to the Tablets and Smartphones in a way that is not seen before. The launch, expected in the first quarter of 2012, would surely up the ante in the already crowding space.

So, where does this leave Apple? Apple has always been a market changer rather than a mass player. That, of course, was largely due to Steve Jobs who had the vision and courage to make his ideas feasible market realities. Will Apple continue in the same vein in his absence? Market analysts don’t think so. The general feel is that Apple will slowly lose it’s edge over the next 2-3 years. That is a long time and anything could happen. It would be a loss to the market if Apple were to fade away. Then again, Jobs vision of taking on the TV world and bringing it to the Apple platform is already “Research in Action”. It could be a game changer if it is accepted by the content hungry masses. It has already announced it’s intention to make this work by halving it’s advertising costs on iAd. A move which should be welcomed by the content and app providers.

The big disappointments in this market have been Nokia, Sony Ericsson and RIM. All three had a market share which could have been exploited better had they got their act together and strategy right. Nokia, after it’s disastrous 2011, is now getting on to the Windows 8 platform. Will it work for them? Sony has chosen to go the Android way. Once again, interesting to see this Japanese-Norwegian combo try and get back into contention. RIM, what with it’s servers acting up and the later goof up by offer only select customers sops, is in for a rough ride. It is not clear how this Canadian giant will perform in the coming year. Not too much hope rests on them as of now.

So, how will 2012 pan out? Markets, if they could be predicted right, would take away the fun from the anticipation and excitement of the wait. Betting on any one player or technology would be disastrous. This, of course, poses a major headache to the content providers. They have to make sure that they have availability on multiple platforms which increases their costs considerably. Where does this leave the good old PC / Laptop market? It will probably continue to grow, maybe in single digits, somewhere at the rear end of this exciting market. Undoubtedly, the players are set to cater to the varied needs of the markets. Exciting times ahead for the consumer who will be spoilt for choice. All in all, the tidings look good. In the end, the consumer is king and is set up for a roller coaster ride.

It looks like Google finally hit it right with the social networking world. Google + seems to have all the right kind of reviews which could make it successful. I really like the approach that they have taken to launch it. Start it off with a select few reviews who could influence the outcome before launching it to the general public. This is how they launched their Gmail service. It was an instant success.

This time around Google had to taste a lot of failure before they came up with a good product (atleast it sounds good from the reviews so far). Now, taking social networking to it’s next level is what was really needed. Facebook is getting more and more complex to use. Twitter is useful and fun but has a lot of limitations. Hopefully, Google + will be able to address user needs better.

Google now needs to look ahead. Social networking needs to mature. So, what are we talking about here? Sure, they have all the new Circles, Sparks and Hangouts. But is it all? Ability to connect easily to people and work with groups doesn’t alone qualify for maturity. Using it only for leisure does not excite anymore. Google should look at a larger picture of what LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook can offer but offer it in one place. If this is accomplished, Google would have achieved the first step to next level of social networking. From there, allowing it to evolve into something more meaningful would not be difficult. It may not be easy to visualize it right away.

Good work, Google. It looks like we can expect a lot more from you….