January 4, 2011
Apple’s two-year roadmap: Think cloud services
ZD Net
Larry Dignan writes that according to Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, Apple will spend the next couple of years prepaing for the cloud services market.
“According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Apple won’t enter new categories in 2011. This year will be about harvesting gains from the iPad, iPhone, App Store, Mac and iPod and upgrades. Going into 2012, Apple will have the stage set for cloud services. Munster writes: ‘Apple has largely failed in cloud services to date. We expect to see an iTunes streaming service in 2011, but we expect Apple to continue its focus on Web services beyond 2011 in order to leverage the connected nature of its devices. Other web services could include expanded support for document storage in the cloud, or even remote computing capabilities using the cloud to access your Mac and all its files and settings from another Mac (or an iPad) via the cloud.’”
In 2011, mainstream means mobile
ZD Net
Phil Wainewright shares his thoughts on the status of next-generation enterprise applications.
“It will take a while for the current crop of desktop operating systems to catch up with the mobile space, and by the time it does, most applications could look more sophisticated on mobile than they do in desktop browsers. Meanwhile, frontline workers will be among the earliest adopters of next-generation enterprise applications delivered to smartphones and tablets. This is going to be an important cultural shift for many organizations, where throughout the PC era, it’s been the penpushers, analysts and managers who’ve had all the latest and greatest technology at their fingertips. We’re entering a new era in which retail sales assistants, field service engineers and maintenance operatives are going to be first in line for the newest mobile devices, while the knowledge workers back in the office struggle on for the next few years with their superannuated Windows OSes and unresponsive flatscreens.”
Five hot business technology trends to watch in 2011
ZD Net
Jason Hiner shares five business tech trends to watch this year.
“Based on my conversations with IT leaders and tech vendors and my daily observations of the latest developments in the industry, here are my top five tech trends that businesses should keep a close eye on for the year ahead: 5) the enterprise warms to Apple and Android, 4) the shrinking private data centre, 3) IT consumerization marches on, 2) desktop thinning and 1) business units absorb more IT.”
