Analysis of smartphone market trend in the 2014

2013 has passed, but it has left many unresolved questions for 2014 years. How will the smartphone market change? How will the hardware and software markets evolve? Will the conflict between cloud services and data privacy ease?

A lot of questions only time can give us the answer, and no one can predict the success of hundred percent. Let us, together with the author Duncan Anderson, look forward to the 2014 smartphone, mobile smart devices, software and hardware, PC market will change.

1. Smart phones Smarter, more sensors

We often forget how powerful smartphones in our pockets have many sensors: the iphone in my pocket has a pedometer, compass, accelerometer, GPS, fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, camera and microphone, which is a Swiss army knife.

But this is not the end. Does Apple's acquisition of the 3D sensor maker PrimeSense mean the handset can also have a 3D scanner? Although it is premature and inconceivable, one thing is certain: the new sensor will be the focus of industry competition. 2014 means more sensors, more ways to interact with people, and more information about how devices use environments and scenarios.

2. Smart phones Smarter, more artificial intelligence

Both Apple's Siri and Google's Google Now are examples of natural language interactions, but they are also pediatrics compared to IBM's supercomputer Watson.

Siri and Google Now begin a journey of artificial intelligence, the end of which is an intelligent assistant who can communicate in natural language and know everything. Each year, they are moving further towards that goal. I sincerely hope that Siri and Google Now can make a significant progress in 2014 years.

3. Move extended to Home

Nest is rebuilding the home control market. It makes the temperature control, smoke detection unprecedented simple. And this is just the beginning, and its goal is to make home a mobile control.

In fact, home control technology is not new, but nest now do is very important, because it allows the general public to enjoy the original very sophisticated technology, from the installation to the use of very simple.

The timing of Nest's appearance was just right. Consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of reducing energy consumption in homes and managing bills of all kinds, something that smart home management can achieve. In the United States, Nest pledged to use their temperature control function to save 173 dollars a year for each household.

4. Movement extends to the individual

For me, the problem with the "smart watch" that has not yet been successful is that it should not be just a subsidiary of smartphones. Smart watches need to have their own "killer apps", an app we've never seen before.

The most unique feature of wearable equipment is its fit with the body to make a series of health sensors available. Fitbit and Nike FuelBand have also proven that there is a market for moving tracking smart wrist bands for health purposes. So a device that is tiny, independent and stylish and equipped with a variety of health sensors may be the "killer app" the smart watch is looking for.

5. Technology also must be very fashionable, very type

Finally, technology is in shape. The digital products, whether from product design or product modeling, are already within the mainstream consumer's consideration, no longer a few geek patents. Manufacturers do not want the final product to be verge.

Color, shape, size, thickness and material may be the bright spot to attract consumers. In such a competitive smartphone market, the demand for these will only grow higher. As mobile technology gets more and more into the home, and more and more individuals are concerned, we have reason to believe that fashion is a key factor.

6. Low-consumption Bluetooth (BLE) to help new mobile interactive form

BLE is already standard for smartphones, whether it's ios,android or windows, BlackBerry. Traditional Bluetooth needs pairing and power consumption is already in the past, and today's smallest battery can also support the use of BLE devices for several months. Seamless network connection is greatly promoted the application of ble.

Most health-tracked smart hand rings, such as Fitbit, are synchronized with mobile phones in the background using BLE. In addition, it can detect the intensity of the BLE signal and the position of the signal source like Apple's ibeacon. Based on BLE applications are also increasing, and the various operating system equipment support ble, there is reason to believe that based on BLE applications will be more and more rich.

7. Processor innovation transfers from performance to low power consumption

After Apple's powerful A7 processor was 64-bit, other manufacturers will certainly follow suit in 2014. The ability to handle mobile devices is now more powerful than it was 3 years ago. Will the next phase of processor innovation focus more on battery endurance than the most powerful new performance?

Who does not miss the past few weeks of Nokia's endurance. Now only giant phones with bigger batteries have a longer endurance. Some people may favor these "tablet phones", but I still doubt that people want their phones to be so big in their pockets. Just as Intel's Haswell processor makes Apple's MacBook Air 12-hour, if manufacturers pay more attention to the efficiency of mobile processors, they will benefit not only the users, but also one of their competitive advantages.

8. Hardware to software Innovation center of gravity shift

I love hardware. But personally, a better screen, faster processor is no bigger impact than a good app on the use of my mobile device. The app gives mobile devices a new use, and it's the driving force that mobile devices can continue to replace traditional computers.

New usage scenarios include direct demo of keynote files on the iphone or ipad, post-processing of photos with Photogene, management of to-do items with clear, and so on. These premium apps make mobile devices an efficient content authoring tool, not just consumer content.

It is noteworthy that many apps come from small companies or independent developers. Given that large companies can develop free applications and become a "leader in losses", it is vital that small companies survive in their respective markets.

9. Back-end services (backend as A service, Baas) spring

Relatively speaking, app development time is short, a small team to develop a good app in about 3-6 months. But the connectivity between apps is getting higher, and they are increasingly reliant on large servers. These systems have a much longer development cycle than apps. This is why many developers use Baas. The current Baas providers include Parse,stackmob and Kinvey.

For big companies, the cost of developing apps is nothing. The real challenge is to change the backend system so that it can be accessed via mobile apps. I think it will be a trend for Baas providers to be more and more.

10. Mobile devices continue to nibble on the PC market

For now, manufacturers are not going to stop moving to the mobile device market. Light, long, quiet and so are the factors that attract consumers, and the physical keyboard has a single clock can only choose the Bluetooth keyboard.

The mobile age approach is not a simple copy of the PC era, but a redefinition to replace the PC. The mobile age not only brings the change of the use scene, but also brings the new view of the problem, the new problem-solving method, which is the key of moving beyond the PC.

11. The end of platform competition

I think the mobile platform race is over, and iOS and Android have swept through.

Apple has no reason to be distracted from the low-end market until it is sure of the dominance of the high-end market. Few realise that Apple still has a lot of room to exploit, and that a deal that has just been signed with Japan's DoCoMo and China Mobile will bring steady and huge sales.

In other systems, BlackBerry has little chance of being revived. Windows only has a slight improvement in the area. Firefox Os,sailfish the impact on other platforms. I have no reason to think that the market share at the end of 2014 will be much different from today's – it is still apple and Android, which dominate the high-end and low-end markets respectively.

12. (small) camera replaced by mobile phone

For the camera on the phone, the pixel was sufficient for a few years ago. 8 million pixels is enough, no need to be higher. The cell phone shoot has been very good, do not need to carry a digital camera.

But the camera on the phone doesn't threaten the higher-end camera market. Samsung's Galaxy NX, for example, does not have much persuasion. Professional photography still needs to adjust the shutter, aperture, ISO and white balance, which means that many physical buttons are indispensable and touch-screen devices are unmatched. More complex processing requires more than a few orders of magnitude more than mobile phones. The SLR market may never be replaced by smartphones.

13. The use of cloud services facilitates conflict with the abuse of personal information by governments and enterprises

The number of consumers using cloud services such as Dropbox and icloud is increasing. While enjoying the convenience of cloud services, we hear news of the misuse of personal information by governments and large corporations. In the 2014, such conflicts could not be alleviated, but would be exacerbated.

Are we happy to be a commodity rather than a consumer? Like Amazon and Google get our data by providing us with free services and then use the data to sell services to other companies. Most people don't know where the data is being used after you search Google. (Google will keep track of your every search) who really understands that Facebook will track your behavior on other sites if you maintain Facebook's login status.

This is a big unsolved problem. We have built this technology world of mobile and cloud services, but we are not sure whether we are worth the value of the data we are paying, and the attendant risks.

At least I don't know.