What's NOT Going to Happen in 2012
The world is going to end.
Indeed, myriad predications are made annually about what's going to happen in the coming year. But what about all the stuff that won't happen? ABI Research has released a report called "What's NOT Going to Happen in 2012" to highlight just those things—because while they may not get much attention, they're equally important.
ABI says tablets will not become the mass market mobile computer of choice. A dependence on wifi and a lack of full computing features will keep tablets in the "adjunct" category for 2012.
“With WiFi being the predominant form of Internet connectivity, media tablets tend to stay at home during work and school hours along with the family pet," the report reads. "As an incremental device being used alongside laptops and smartphones, the use case to replace these existing devices has yet to materialize."
The research firm also believes RIM will not be abandoning its PlayBook tablet, despite humiliating sales and a $500-million resulting loss. Even though its marketshare is less than 1%, a tablet in concept must remain a core component of RIM's business moving forward.
“While the tablet business is competitive, tablets are a complementary product to the smartphone in not only the business segment but also increasingly in the consumer segment as well,” reads the report. “Complementary applies to use, purchasing, brand awareness, and eventually, if not sooner than later, for purchase considerations. RIM is not getting out of the smartphone business, so they won’t be getting out of the tablet business.”
ABI also predicts that HTML5 isn't going to become a ubiquitous standard in 2012 like many suggest.
“Some claim [HTML5] will take over as the standard for mobile applications and push native mobile apps to be used only in the game category. While this will not happen in 2012, it also won’t happen in 2013 or 2014,” reads the report. “The reason is that not all mobile browsers are fully HTML5 compliant. Another reason is that app development platforms are offering developers new ways to incorporate native and other programming languages (including HTML toolsets) to efficiently create mobile apps.”
ABI affirms that native programming will continue to provide better performance than HTML5.
Image: Zmags
