Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, has announced that the worldwide application development (AD) software market is expected to reach more than $9 billion in 2012, an increase of 1.8 percent over 2011. In Australia, spending on AD software is expected to reach A$153.4 million in 2012, up 5 percent over 2011. Growth will be driven by evolving software delivery models, new development methodologies, emerging mobile application development and open source software.

According to a new Gartner report, 'Market Trends: Application Development Software, Worldwide, 2012-2016', cloud is changing the way applications are designed, tested and deployed, resulting in a significant shift in AD priorities. Cost is a major driver, but also agility, flexibility and speed to deploy new applications. Ninety percent of large, mainstream enterprises and government agencies will use some aspect of cloud computing by 2015.

Gartner also predicts that mobile AD projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4:1 by 2015. Emerging mobile applications, systems and devices are transforming the AD space rapidly, and are one of the top three CIO priorities at the enterprise level. Gartner research found that CIOs expect more than 20 percent of their employees to use tablets instead of laptops by 2013, hastening the process of change as AD tools and applications evolve to address the requirements of these new devices.

Also driving the AD shift, Gartner expects open source software to continue to broaden its presence and create pressure on market leaders during the next three to five years, especially as open source becomes a key element of the software quality landscape beyond the developer level. It predicts that at least 70 percent of new enterprise Java applications will be deployed on an open source Java application server by the end of 2017.

Additional analysis is available in the Gartner report: 'Market Trends: Application Development Software, Worldwide, 2012-2016', which is available on Gartner's website at: http://www.gartner.com/resId=2098416.

Technology research firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released a report, according to which, worldwide media tablet sales to end users are forecast to total 118.9 million units in 2012. This is a 98 percent increase from 2011 sales of 60 million units.

Gartner's detailed market forecast data is available in the report, ‘Forecast: Media Tablets by Operating System, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 1Q12 Update.’ The report is available on Gartner's website at http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=260&mode=2&PageID=3460702&resId=1952715&ref=QuickSearch&sthkw=milanesi.

Apple's iOS continues to be the dominant media tablet operating system (OS), as it is projected to account for 61.4 percent of worldwide media tablet sales to end users in 2012. Despite the arrival of Microsoft-based devices to this market, and the expected international rollout of the Kindle Fire, Apple will continue to be the market leader through the forecast period, it is predicted.

Microsoft tablets are projected to account for 4.1 percent of media tablet sales this year, and grow to 11.8 percent of sales by the end of 2016. Windows 8 is Microsoft's official entrance into the media tablet market.

Gartner analysts said enterprise sales of media tablets would account for about 35 percent of total tablet sales in 2015. These sales will not be clearly defined as enterprise purchases. Gartner expects enterprises to allow tablets as part of their buy your own device (BYOD) programme. More of these tablets will be owned by consumers who use them at work.

Android tablets are forecast to account for 31.9 percent of media tablet sales in 2012. Gartner analysts said the main issue with Android tablets had been the lack of applications that were dedicated to tablets and therefore took advantage of their capabilities. Gartner's consumer survey data shows that consumers are running many of their apps on their mobile phones and their tablets.

Another special report from the Gartner stable, ‘iPad and Beyond: The Future of the Tablet Market,’ provides insight into what consumers, enterprises and vendors can expect as the market continues to unfold. More than 20 reports examine the tablet marketplace, as well as video commentary. The Special Report is available at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/ipad-media-tablet/future-of-tablet-market.jsp.

Technology research firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released a special report titled 'iPad and Beyond: What the Future of Computing Holds'. The report seeks to examine how the iPad has impacted the hardware industry, and how media tablets are changing what users will expect out of their computing devices.

Multitouch on the iPad and other media tablets has liberated users from the hardware keyboard and pointing device. As media tablets become more commonplace, users will expect the convenience and simplicity of multitouch user interfaces when they interact with other computing devices, says the report.

Makers of PCs and consumer electronics are noticing the shift in consumer expectations and are incorporating features popularised by the iPad into the new products they are developing, it has been observed. Multitouch technology has become the de facto interface of high-end smartphones and media tablets, and will extend to additional consumer electronic devices and to PCs.

Interface technologies can be clustered around five basic modalities, the Gartner report points out. They include state of mind (of the user), human-computer hybrids, action detection, speech and biosensing. Of the interface modalities, action detection has been extensively used to this point because touch - for example, pressing a key, clicking a mouse or touching a screen — is the standard way to interact with computing endpoint devices, such as tablets, PCs and smartphones.

Gartner analysts have said the iPad has created a transformational change in how people interact with computers. The report includes links to nearly 20 research documents that examine how tablets are changing how people interact with computers. Additional information is available at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/ipad-media-tablet/future-of-computing.jsp.

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Technology research firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released a special report, 'iPad and Beyond: The Future of the Tablet Market,' that provides insight into what consumers, enterprises and vendors can expect as the market continues to unfold. According to Gartner, the worldwide media tablet sales to end users are on pace to total 63.6 million units, a 261.4 percent increase from 2010 sales of 17.6 million units. Media tablet sales will continue to experience strong growth through 2015 when sales are forecast to reach 326.3 million units.

Apple's iPad is projected to account for 73.4 percent of worldwide media tablet sales in 2011, down from 83 percent share in 2010. Beyond Apple iOS and the Android operating system (OS), Gartner does not expect any other platforms to have more than 5 percent share of the tablet market in 2011.

Android tablets are on pace to ship 11 million units in 2011, accounting for 17.3 percent of media tablet sales. This is up only slightly from Android's 2010 market share of 14.3 percent. Gartner's forecast for the Android OS has been lowered by 28 percent from last quarter's projection. The reduction would have been greater had it not been for the success of lower-end tablets in Asia, and the expectations around the launch of Amazon's tablet.

Gartner analysts said Research In Motion's QNX OS is a promising platform, but it is still in the early stages of development. RIM's main challenge will be to attract more support from application developers as the company is going through a tough period, with considerable pressure on its smartphone business.

As more vendors will arrive in 2012, Gartner analysts say it is important they concentrate on delivering a rich user experience based on a strong tie between smartphones and tablets. They also need to focus on a good set of apps, an intuitive user interface, and the ability to share content easily between devices, according to them.

The special report is available at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/ipad-media-tablet/future-of-tablet-market.jsp.

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ABI Research has stated that its 'Smartphone Technologies and Markets' study explores the leading IC and OS platforms and the outlook for these competing technologies. In addition, it examines technologies that are being integrated into smartphones as competitive differentiators by smartphone OEMs.

The smartphone industry has been witnessing a lot of action over the recent months, with Google's Android platform seen gaining ground. The newly announced acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. for $12.5 billion is expected to give Google a more significant direct involvement in the design and production of mobile phone hardware. The move is also seen to shore up a valuable intellectual property portfolio for Google during a time when legal manoeuvring through patent holdings is plaguing the Android market.

The deal, if it goes through, is expected to have several repercussions. The Android platform is on its way to becoming the eventual leading OS in the smartphone market due to its wide OEM support, according to observers. The questions being raised are - does the growing support change for Android now that Google will be in direct competition with its licensees? Also, will the likes of Samsung, Huawei and HTC adjust their strategies by emphasising a competing platform? How it will affect Android's future development remains to be seen. Since Android's innovation relies on the contributions of its licensees, observers wonder if it would all freeze as the deal takes shape. How well RIM and HP capitalise on this opportunity is another question being raised.

Beyond mobile phones and media tablets, Motorola Mobility is seen having a healthy business in the digital home, namely broadband cable modems and set-top boxes. Its strategy has been to promote a "TV everywhere" solution. Google, in contrast, had its foray into this space with Google TV, seen widely as an experiment. A tie-up between Google and Motorola could give Google the expertise it needs to be taken seriously and gain an eventual foothold in content delivered to the home.

ABI Research's 'Smartphone Technologies and Markets' study explores the leading IC and OS platforms and the outlook for these competing technologies. In addition, it examines technologies that are being integrated into smartphones as competitive differentiators by smartphone OEMs.

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The worldwide mobile phone market grew 65.4 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. This marks the third consecutive quarter where total shipments exceeded 100 million units.

Vendors shipped 106.5 million units in 2Q11 compared to 64.4 million units in the second quarter of 2010. The 65.4 percent growth was on par with IDC's forecast of 67.3 percent for the quarter and below the 84.0 percent year-over-year growth in 1Q11.

For 2011, IDC maintains that the worldwide smartphone market will grow 55 percent over 2010. According to Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team, the first half of the year has demonstrated strong growth for the smartphone market, with Apple leading the pack. The second half of the year is expected to bring new flagship models and refreshed user experiences to market. These will keep smartphones well out in front of the market, and keep growth on an upward trajectory.

Apple's success can be directly attributed to its distribution (more than 200 carriers in more than 200 countries), increased manufacturing capacity, and solid demand within emerging and developed markets from both consumers and business users. The company's emergence as the number one smartphone vendor worldwide comes at a time when former worldwide leader Nokia is in the midst of a major transition. However, Apple has yet to top Nokia's single-quarter volume record of 28.1 million units. But given Apple's momentum in the smartphone market, it may not be a question of whether Apple will beat that milestone, but when, according to IDC.

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Technology research services firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released the findings of a survey according to which consumers in the US are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products.

According to the survey, US smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011. By comparison, mobile PC shipments are forecast to total 50.9 million in the US in 2011, up from 45.6 million from 2010.

In December 2010, Gartner surveyed 1,557 mobile phone users across the US, China, India, Italy, Japan and the UK about many topics, including the types of devices consumers are looking to buy within the next 12 months. A total of 256 US consumers participated in the survey. The results of this study represent the views of the respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of the online population where an online methodology was pursued, and of the total population where computer-assisted or face-to-face interviews were conducted.

Smartphones were followed by laptop computers and desktop computers in rankings of US consumers' average intent to purchase in 2011. Mobile phones ranked fourth in average intent to purchase, followed by e-book readers in the fifth position, and tablet computers ranking sixth.

Although demand is very strong at the high end of the smartphone market, Gartner analysts said vendors should not ignore the middle and lower tiers of smartphones, which will be a source of growth in 2011 as operators look for prepaid smartphones that require no subsidy.

The report 'Findings: Smartphones Top U.S. Consumers' Intended Purchases for 2011' can be found on the Gartner website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1547927.

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Technology research services firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released a report titled "Competitive Landscape: Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 4Q10 and 2010". According to the report, worldwide mobile device sales to end users totalled 1.6 billion units in 2010, a 31.8 percent increase from 2009. Smartphone sales to end users were up 72.1 percent from 2009 and accounted for 19 percent of total mobile communications device sales in 2010.

Overall, the mobile device market showed less seasonality than in previous years in mature markets such as Western Europe and North America, the report noted. Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users reached 32.7 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2010, with sales of 452 million units.

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Android grew 888.8 percent in 2010 and moved to the No. 2 position. Android sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 continued to be driven by broad availability of many high-end products from HTC (Desire range, Incredible and EVO), Samsung (Galaxy S) and Motorola (Droid X and Droid 2).

Symbian's market share dropped further in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 32.6 percent or 32.6 million units. This allowed Android to overtake Nokia's Symbian unit sales. However, the Symbian OS is also used by Fujitsu and Sharp as well as in legacy products from Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

The wider availability of the iPhone 4 helped Apple to maintain its share of the smartphone market at 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 and led the iPhone OS platform to reach the No. 4 position in 2010.

Earlier this month, Gartner released a report titled 'Forecast: Mobile Application Stores, Worldwide, 2008-2014'. According to the report, worldwide mobile application store downloads are forecast to reach 17.7 billion downloads in 2011, marking a 117 percent increase from an estimated 8.2 billion downloads in 2010.

Smartphones and tablets are expected to take centre stage at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress 2011, scheduled for February 14 - 17. A number of new application announcements such as 3D technology, improved user interfaces around touch, faster networks on LTE technology and new forms of payments, such as near field communication available on smartphones, are expected to be made.

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