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PREDICTION: Android powers on
Google's Android operating system will continue to prove incredibly disruptive during 2011. It could conceivably overtake market leader Nokia this year in terms of global smartphone OS share (if not in overall mobile phone OS share) and will certainly consolidate its current position of strength. This will ensure its search engine remains as dominant on mobile as it is on desktops. Moving into powering cheaper handsets is the next step and this will prove as successful for Google as it previously has for Nokia when it focused on emerging markets in a way other manufacturers didn't.
In tablet computing is where Android may have its most interesting time this year as there are plenty of companies with Android-based tablets in the pipeline. Its penetration here may ultimately be at the expense of Google's Chrome OS. Built for netbooks, it's now looking like something of an anomaly and by the end of the year Google is likely to discontinue this operating system in favour of deploying Android across all devices. How this will affect the Chrome browser remains to be seen.
