Demand for Cloud Computing, Mobile Apps to Increase in 2011

While mobile technology has raced forward at light-speed in 2010, with many advances in mobile payments, augmented reality and high-speed networks, look for user demand for cloud computing and mobile apps to increase in the coming year, a University of Alabama technology expert says.

“We will see greater user demand for access to cloud-based content and applications from all devices – desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets and smart phones,” predicts Dr. Anna McFadden, associate professor in the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences’ Institute for Interactive Technology.

“The biggest change in cloud computing will be from business use to personal use and we will see a cloud operating system for mobile devices,” she says.

McFadden notes that “mobile devices are becoming computers in their own right, with an astounding amount of processing ability and bandwidth,” and she predicts that credit cards will begin to be replaced by mobile devices.

“The quality of the experience of applications on these devices, which can apply location, motion and other context in their behavior, is leading customers to interact with companies preferentially through mobile devices,” she says.

With that in mind, McFadden predicts it won’t be just credit cards that consumers use mobile applications for in 2011.

“Aging consumers, especially Baby Boomers, will begin to demand health care and medical services mobile applications for their Smartphones such as: medicine management and personal health data for their convenience,” she says.