Top 5 2013 Tech Trends

Yes its February 2014 and I am only doing a post on 2013 tech trends but the past year has had  a lot to offer that has filtered into our current year . The square off between smart phone companies saw them become bigger and bigger,  faster and a lot more intelligent than most of us . The wrist watch became smarter than an average kid in the playground and we saw the digitized prescription free Google glasses. So the following is a guide to the top five tech trends that ruled 2013.

5. Company Buyouts

Many giants in the tech industry purchased each other off  as a battle to acquire each others stake in the industry. This proved very successful for many companies as they began to grab foothold in markets different from them.Be it the inking between Nokia and Microsoft or Yahoo acquiring Tumblr, 2013 was one of the biggest years in tech buyouts. Some pretty shocking, some expected and some downright confusing.

4. SamartPhones

2013 was the year when smartphones not just got bigger but some went over-board with the sizing. While 5-inch displays were the commonest of features, there were smartphones with screens as big as 6.5-inches. To the point that many people started calling them phablets as a play to their size in comparison to tablets. Their popularity made people rush to buy them. In Zimabwe through the blacmarket smarthphones became a major trend as people were being offered way less the price authorized dealers were selling at. 

3.Cheaper Tablets

One of the biggest tech wins of 2013 were budget tablets. While smartphones continued to set new bench-marks when it came to pricing, tablets were relatively cheaper and with competition getting tough, the prices quickly dropped. Tablets almost replaced the laptop with many students opting to use one, I my self own one and clarity and optimized experince is far more preferable than the standard 1kg! laptop. 

2.Smart Watches

From the pebble smartwatch to Sony smartwatch 2 and Samsung Galaxy gear, 2013 was the year of smartwatch launches. It made asking for time a whole lot bigger. While most of them failed to make the cut, they did set the ball rolling for wearable technology. I wonder when they will hit the shelves in the country. Pretty sure they will be costly.

1.Google Glasses 

While no one has yet emerged as the true challenger for Google Glass, and the gadget itself is mired in various lawsuits and cases, it is one of the trend-setters of 2013. We do hope that Google Glass finally becomes available to the public by 2014. I guess for some of living in the third world expect them 2016. 

(images taken from google.com)