2011 brought with it a great leap forward in technology and provided us, the consumer with an abundance of gadgets, software and social good to whet our appetite and then satiate our techno stomachs.

We saw the domination of touch screen phones in the Smartphone market as mobile phone companies attempted to catch-up to the behemoth that is Apple and its iPhone.

As well as Smartphones, 2011 saw the explosion of the tablet market into an all out war, with suing and countersuing between mainly apple and its competitors. We at the Practice were also excited to see the further (and predicted) growth of social networks including the introduction of Google’s very own Google+.

So what does 2012 have in store for us? If it is to be the end of the world, do the powers that be have something special in store for us? Well, here at the practice, we have taken it upon ourselves to make our own Nostradamal (yes we made that up) predictions.

Apple to lose its hegemony over the phone market

If figures towards the end of 2011 are anything to go by, then we may be seeing the tides turning. The Samsung Galaxy S2 has become the UK’s best selling smartphone, overtaking both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It has become clear that the consumer has realized that there is a world beyond apple and we may see the floodgates open in 2012 and apple may lose its grasp on the UK phone market.

Expect the tablet market to only get hotter

2011 was another dominant year for apple in the tablet market. That’s not to say there weren’t any other options. On the contrary, there was a plethora. But the iPad 2’s design, interface and apps meant that it was the clear choice for many tablet lovers. We expect Apple’s competitors to make a concerted effort to change this trend. The introduction of Ultrabooks  (an attempt by Intel to counter the growth of the mainly ARM operated tablets) only makes the situation better for us as the consumer.

Facebook continues to dominate

The rumors that a Facebook float could value the company at $100bn are further evidence of how ludicrously big the company has grown. But don’t expect to see this decline, we believe that THE social network’s 800 million user base will only grow.

The rise of low cost tech

Yes, as much as we hate to admit it, the days when we can recklessly purchase overpriced electronic goods is fast coming to an end. 2012 will undoubtedly be hard on the purse strings. While there will no doubt be terrific advancements in technology in 2012, the question is, will we be able to afford it. The Amazon Kindle fire is evidence that there is room for a cheaper product that does (slightly) less, but nevertheless fills that little part of our brain that yearns for  gizmos and gadgets.