Symphony Teleca Corporation (STC), the services organization dedicated exclusively to helping clients manage the global convergence of software, the cloud and connected devices, today announced its software industry predictions for the year 2013.

“At Symphony Teleca, we interact with global brands every day helping to ideate and bring to life the products that will carry their business into the future,” said Andrew Till, Senior Vice President, Smartphones and Consumer Electronics, Symphony Teleca. “Our team is laser-focused on what is to come and that’s how we are able to deliver next-generation solutions for our clients. 2013 will prove to be another exciting year for our company and we are eager to watch it unfold.”

In 2013, Symphony Teleca predicts the market will see the following shifts:

Computing Becomes Task-Centric
There will be a shift to task-centric computing as user interfaces become truly multi-modal and content, services and applications grow to be pervasive, moving with the user across device types

UI Keeps Leaning Towards Voice, not Touch
There will be an increased emphasis on voice recognition enablement technologies such as ECNR as the next phase of UI is not keys or touch, but voice

Consumers will Control their Digital Personas
Consumers will demand federated control of their identities across platforms and devices as they seek to manage their digital personas not just on their own devices but across all

Mobile Continues to Drive Impulse Purchasing
There will be growth in the number of consumers using their mobile devices to perform impulse or opportunity-driven purchases. Retailers will create a simplified transaction process leveraging desktop account credentials. Dynamic analytics using in-memory databases will enable targeted promotions from retailers and other B2C companies on mobile devices

An Industry of Digital Info-Mediaries Will Evolve
As companies look to leverage social media data, an industry of digital info-mediaries will evolve that can provide syndicated, individual consumer level data that is current and actionable

NFC Has its Day
Near Field Communication (NFC) will reach a tipping point. A tremendous number of people will have devices with NFC (in addition to RIM, Nokia, Sony, Google and many others are now shipping with NFC) - a critical mass of NFC-equipped phones just may be coming together and it may find a home in the enterprise as well.

NFC Tags Will Enable Consumer Lifecycle Engagement
NFC tags on individual consumer products will allow companies to engage and maintain a relationship with individual consumers throughout the lifecycle of the product

Consumers Start to Pick a Car for its Infotainment System, not its Horsepower
The auto industry will see a buying trend around infotainment capabilities and rear-seat features versus historic qualities of evaluation such as engine size or cabin room

The Car Becomes the New Smartphone
The auto industry will realize that they're facing the same challenges that phone and tablet developers faced in the last few years and will start to adopt similar approaches to their software development problems

Tablets Become Workstations
There will be continued growth of tablet use in the enterprise as well as a more enterprise apps developed for tablets in particular. Companies will start to consider the devices and technologies necessary for increased collaboration where employees can not only access material via the tablet but can also use it as a mutual working station

Homes Get Connected with Second Devices
There will be increased sales of the second-screen devices at home. Lower price point tablets like the iPad Mini and Samsung Galaxy will see growth as families will only want to spend $300-$400 on a second tablet device for their home

Same Platform, All Devices Becomes the New Normal
There will be a rise in the “all-screen strategy” – using the same platform across device categories, including TV sets

ISVs Tap New Markets with Partners
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) will see new profits generated from aggressively adapting their solutions for new markets. To do this ISVs will continue to work with innovation partners to reduce time to market including product ideation sessions

About Symphony Teleca

Symphony Teleca Corporation, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., is the world’s first services company dedicated exclusively to helping clients manage the global convergence of software, the cloud and connected devices. The company delivers innovative products combined with contemporary product development, systems integration, analytics and managed services to hundreds of organizations around the world. Symphony Teleca’s 5,800 employees support customers from 35 offices globally, including delivery centers in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. For more information visit www.symphonyteleca.com.