2013 is setting itself up to be an extremely exciting year for mobile technology and technology in general. Gaming in console, mobile and PC environments are all expected to boom in a big way in 2013, but those are in no way the only things to see improvements in what is promising to be a year full of innovation and change. These are some predictions of what is to come in 2013.
Tablets
The tablet PC trend has recently taken off and doesn’t look to be slowing down. 2013 should be a big year for mobile technology and chances are good that tablet’s, phablets, and tablet PC’s are likely to be the big players in the new year. As prices drop and quality goes up, more and more people are starting to jump onto this trend. It is hard to imagine that tablets or smartphones will fizzle out, what seems to be the most likely option is for the two technologies will meet in the middle. Maybe not in 2013, but it is more likely an outcome than the biggest growing technology fad to date disappearing.
Social
With the mobile technology push that took place this year and the growth of mobile social action, we can expect to see some strong movements to mesh the two to not only drive up in-store traffic, but to increase customer involvement. Tablets are going to be big in 2013 as far as online transactions go and will likely be the link that finishes the bridge between social media and mobile technology. If Thanksgiving of 2012 is any indication of the kind of change we can expect, 2013 will be an extremely exciting year for mobile technology, social media, and ecommerce.
Mobile Incentives
A big part of mobile marketing and branding is SMS databases, lists and the like. Many consumers now and days won’t sign up to be a part of these mobile marketing plans without some kind of incentive. 2013 is going to be a big time for mobile technology, social media and ecommerce, so naturally SMS texting and offers have the potential to hit a large number of consumers, if you entice them into the program. Coupon and loyalty solutions will become a big part of the oncoming trends as they make their debut. With the introduction of mobile wallets, coupons and loyalty cards can be kept on the mobile device as well. A number of companies have started to use the mobile cameras as a way to interact with customers, offering options like taking pictures of their checks to deposit them or of their credit card to garner their information for a purchase. Tying in incentives into these services will make them much more attractive to consumers and in turn raise sales.
NFC
The particular piece of mobile technology has been a large part of heated discussions between experts and consumers alike. Many believed that 2012 was the year where NFC would take off, but it clearly is not. The expectation is that it will not be fully utilized during 2013 either. The devices needed to make NFC big simply are not there yet and the general lack of acceptance is quite potent. We may see some movement throughout the year, but likely towards the end. One company with a massive impact on the success of NFC is Apple. While many of the newer Android smartphones and tablets are coming with NFC as a standard, Apple has yet to stand up to that plate and swing. There are even analysts to attribute the current lull in the technologies progress is due to Apples refusal to buy in.
What I Think
2013 is going to be an extremely interesting year for technology as a whole. We are on the verge of so many awesome breakthroughs on technology that many of us have only dreamed about. If we take the end of 2012 as an example of what to expect, I’d say we are in for a surprise. The use of mobile devices during holiday shopping this year increased by a figure in the hundreds and this is just the beginning. There is still 50% of the populace out there that still have normal phones and as that number increases we should see and exponential increase in the technology and its use.
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