2010 is almost over, and so it’s time to look into the future and see what 2011 may bring for the software industry. Following are four of the trends that I believe will drive the software industry in the coming year. These trends will affect some segments more than others, but all of them will have some impact on what you do with computers in the coming year.

Consumers own multiple computers based on form factor

One general purpose device is not enough for most consumers, and even for many business uses.
We’ve grown to view the laptop as that all-purpose device. It still functions in that way, but for many applications, other devices work better.

The smart phone has become a mobile computer. It’s used for email, web browsing, reading, GPS navigation and more. It truly is a mobile computer, albeit the smallest one people will own.

Next up in size is the small tablet. iPad, Kindle, the Nook and the Sony Reader show examples of early entries into this market. That trend will continue, and consumers will demand more capabilities from these tablet sized devices, as long as they can be delivered without sacrificing battery life.
Of course, the laptop will continue to be the primary computing device. It has replaced the desktop for most applications, including high end gaming.

However, as applications adopt more and more social features, people will want the web in their living room. We can see the beginnings of this as consumers connect gaming consoles to the web, not to play games with remote friends, but to surf the web. They watch YouTube, browse Facebook or watch Hulu. More and more, we will see applications that are designed for the living room, with multiple inputs and a much larger TV style screen.

The theme tying all these different devices together is that they are all general purpose devices. The difference is the form factor: People want to carry the most efficient device for them at that time. It may be a phone, it may be a laptop, or it may be something in between.

Data moves online into the cloud

In order to make use of these different devices, people need their data. People now have too much data to transfer easily between multiple machines. Whether that data is a music library, videos to watch, documents or email, consumers will continue to demand that their digital life is accessible from any device they own. This trend will move beyond our current applications that run online to having applications smart enough to synchronize data on multiple devices so that whatever we need is at our fingertips whenever we switch devices.

Applications designed for the future will be designed to store data in the cloud and to enable users to move seamlessly between devices from the beginning. Data will live in the cloud, and your devices will connect to it.

Web Applications move beyond the browser

Traditionally, to run your application on multiple disparate devices, that meant running in a browser. That’s quickly becoming the choice for baseline applications. The applications that strive for the best user experience are already showing customized front-end applications for each device. More and more, our software will give us a customized experience for each device upon which we want to use it.

You can see the beginnings of this trend in smart phone applications that connect to Twitter, or Facebook. This trend will extend to photo storage, videos, music, and more.

Businesses will continue to leverage software to solve tough problems

Some of the predictions may seem obvious. That’s because the future is based on “The Long Nose of Innovation.” Successful innovations are based on long series of low-amplitude refinements. This takes place over a long period of time. To find the next big thing in software, look at what’s been failing for the last 10 years. Those innovations are ready for the big time.

I even believe software as a tool is still in the early phases of the long nose. I’ve said all along that I’m optimistic about the future of the software industry. I don’t see this trend ending any time soon. Every 21st century growth industry relies on software. Growing and successful businesses will continue to leverage software to solve their hardest problems as quickly as possible. Everything from health care to energy to innovative businesses not yet imagined will use software to enable their core mission. The world is too complicated for it to be any other way.

Bill Wagner is co-founder of SRT Solutions in Ann Arbor and a software blogger. He shares this regular column with co-founder Dianne Marsh.