2012 holds some big changes in store for Bermuda’s technology market
The year of 2012 is sure to present some big changes and equally challenges, not least in the technology world.At the cutting edge of digital innovation, Bermuda is also set to experience a number of new trends, starting with the cell phone market.Rob McNabb, CellOne’s director of marketing, said that the Island is now starting to see a move towards Android and Apple smartphones having been a BlackBerry centric market for several years and he believes that the next 12 months could prove to be very telling in seeing which platform emerges as the successor.Mr McNabb has also noticed the emergence of numerous wireless Machine to Machine (M2M) connections for businesses (i.e. fleet management GPS services, wireless metering, etc).John Manderson, president and CEO of Wireless Ventures Ltd in Bermuda, foresees an increase in the use of cloud computing with more storage being moved to the cloud.Another phenomenon he sees is a proliferation of smart televisions including LED 3DTVs with applications, such as Google TV and possibly even an Apple TV powered by Siri.Other trends he anticipates range from faster and more powerful cell phones from HTC, Apple and Samsung to the heavier adoption of Android as a Mobile Operating System at the same time as the decline of Blackberry.“You might see an LTE Rollout by Digicel/CellOne,” he added.“I also think that more companies will start copying the Apple MacBook Air as ultra portables.“And there will be a heavier move in the enterprise to virtual computing VMware, Microsoft Hypervisor, Redhat etc.“Additionally, we may see a huge shift in the local telecom space depending on a) Digicel/Transact legality and b) a new licensing scheme.”Technology expert Ronnie Viera, meanwhile sees more functionality in the mobile market in the form of location-based services, as well as the continued migration from Research In Motion/Blackberry to other platforms, and more tablet-enabled applications.In terms of security he also predicts more targeted attacks on companies with data of value and malware beginning to affect Android users more so than ever before.As for telecoms, he reckons that Bermuda legislation/reforms will result in one or two current players being bought or shut down.“Full service/one stop solutions will begin to benefit the consumers cell, Internet and LD from the same provider,” he said. “More people will reconsider the need for a home phone line given the proliferation of cell phones and the ability to select a combined solution offering DSL or Internet bandwidth.”