What’s in store for 2013!
LTE
We are slowly seeing more LTE devices coming from the telcos. Both Globe and Smart are already offering LTE in some areas of Metro Manila. Both promised a full coverage by 2013. LTE theoretically should go beyond 20mbps and even reach upto almost 80mbps. Sounds fun right? But for me what I wanted to experience is not a fast mobile internet but a stable mobile internet. Mobile devices don’t really need high speed internet unless you are on torrent. I want my mobile device to always have internet and be able to load the apps and sites when I need them. I am hoping to have LTE stable by next year.
HD Displays on mobile devices
There’s already a couple of phones to be released in a few months with HD displays. For Apple, Retina display is becoming a standard for all their products. Sure having HD display would make you appreciate your phone better, reading and browsing with a better screen. You may not notice the HD display at first, but once you’ll get used to HD display, low resolution phones would be a thing of the past.
E-Commerce/ Online shopping
With the introduction of group buying sites, the market became more comfortable with online payments. E-commerce sites just came out of nowhere. If you are a heavy internet user, chances are you’ve already experience making an online transaction. Multiply just recently shifted it’s whole social network to focus on being solely an E-Commerce website. Facebook is also starting to offer more e-commerce options. They have been aggressively trying to get more money after the IPO, so let’s see how Facebook will affect e-commerce.
Mobile payment
This isn’t something new, in fact if I can recall it correctly GCash was first introduced more than 5 years ago. The market wasn’t ready yet, the phones were still limited to a text screen. Smartphones are becoming cheaper and internet plans are becoming more affordable. Companies like square and other mobile loyalty platforms can make this happen. I think 2011 and 2012 already made the market equipped with smartphones, 2013 is just a matter of maximizing it.
Higher Battery storage/ Processor
Battery capacity has been the problem of smartphones since the release of smartphones. There was really no big leap in terms of the advancement of battery life. 2011 = single core, 2012 = dual core and 2013 definitely quad core processors. We are already seeing some quad core phones and dual core lately becoming the “minimum” processor.
and….
Finally an official Apple store in the Philippines?
