A 2011 Connected Consumer Forecast

1. Summary

The technology industry moves at such a fast clip these days, keeping track of every news announcement, emerging trend and company merger is like trying to get to Inbox Zero the day you return from a week-long vacation. And, as our recent quarterly reports show, the past 12 months in each vertical — Infrastructure, Mobile, NewNet, Green IT and Connected Consumer — were filled with noteworthy events, announcements and acquisitions.

But more exciting, perhaps, is looking forward into the next 12 months and using the trends of 2010 to predict the realities that will surface in 2011. Throughout this past December, GigaOM Pro’s curators did just that, making trend predictions, pointing out companies to watch and even telling us what not to expect. Will 2011 be the year of the free e-reader? Will we eventually see a Facebook TV? And let’s not forget the massive buzz surrounding the rapidly growing connected-TV market.

Connected Consumer curator Michael Wolf’s thoughts, analyses and predictions are compiled here in a single report. As with any analysis of the market, we couldn’t possibly include every company, announcement and product that’s caught our eyes over the past 12 months, and if there are trends or announcements you found important but weren’t included here, we encourage you to add it in the comments section of this report.