The world of technology kicks off every year with a bang. Within the first week of January is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the biggest event on Las Vegas’ annual calendar. It attracted 160 000 visitors this year. The GSMA’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) follows in February in Barcelona, where 60 000 people convened this year, and then it was all rounded off in March with the biggest of all – CeBIT in Germany, where over 300 000 were expected for the 2011 show.

Having been at both CES and MWC, some clear trends have emerged for 2011. These revealed a market obsessed with a category of gadget that didn’t even exist a year ago – tablets.