Aside from excitement related to the Olympic Games (see previous blog post), the British nation is feeling a bit sorry for itself. At the end of April 2012, it was declared to be in a double-dip recession and the unemployment rate over Q4FY11 was at its highest since 1995. Pretty grim, and this is for a nation which doesn’t always see the glass half full at the best of times.

All this has had a substantial impact on UK retail; a -2.3% slump was reported at the end of Q1FY12. The Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market in particular was extremely disappointing (according to the latest TEMAX report (1) ). Market volume fell by -7.2% year-on-year which was the lowest Q1 turnover in the past four years. The only growth was in the IT industry, which is largely attributable to innovation.

Like most Londoners, I absolutely can’t wait for the 2012 Olympics, just around the corner from now. I can’t wait for the buzz, the thrill of watching talented athletes competing and setting new records. Aside from the throngs of even more tourists and a couple of weeks of hectic journeys to work, it’s going to be a hugely positive event of which the UK should be very proud.

But it’s not just the athletics that has us hooked. This Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, is consolidating the future of technology. Social media, mobile banking, 3D TV, NFC-enabled phones, live, multi-platform and high definition TV broadcasting, the site of Europe’s largest free Wi-Fi zone[1]* and extended network service, user-generated content and applications… the list goes on; London is setting the standard for a truly mobile and interactive Games.

With increasing numbers of children using social networking sites, how do parents feel about their safety and is there anything they, or other parties, such as network operators, can do about it?

Nowadays, each week seems to bring with it a fresh load of news articles and stories about acting safely on the internet and the privacy of our behaviour online. As much as we’d like it to be restricted to just our friends or, in the case of online banking, the company we are paying money to, the personal  and banking details we happily share online always have the possibility of being viewed out of context, and by people we may not know.

The Western European technology sector continues to grow, according to the latest GfK Retail and Technology TEMAX report, which showed Q4 year on year growth of 0.2%. This equates to 2.1% growth for 2010, driven by innovation in IT connectivity and Smartphone sales.

Looking back to establish future trends

Rapid innovation in the technology sector has continued to drive consumers and businesses to adopt devices that enable increasingly mobile and connected access to their favourite content and services. In addition, the overwhelming growth in the smartphone market has resulted in year-on-year growth in the Telecommunications (TC) market. The growth trends established at the beginning of the year continue to strengthen, and influence businesses and consumers to invest in the latest technology.

Innovation in IT connectivity and devices

Within the last week, Nokia, Google Android and RIM have announced, alongside rumours of Apple’s iPhone 5, that 2011 will see the start of NFC-enabled phones, and the beginning of widespread commercial usage of this exciting piece of technology.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a form of wireless communication technology that allows an exchange of data from two devices if they come within 10cm of each other. It’s been around for quite a while; in fact most Londoners use it every day for travelling with Oyster cards. NFC phones first appeared in 2007, when Nokia released the first phone of this type. With all the benefits of NFC, it’s surprising that we still haven’t seen widespread commercial usage. However, this may all change early next year with the release of the Apple iPhone 5, which is rumoured to be NFC-enabled. If the excitement and buzz around new iPhones continues, this could be the start of something truly revolutionary. In an announcement only last week, Nokia pledged to activate their NFC chips in 2011, with Google and RIM keen to follow the trend, both declaring that the next version of Android and future Blackberrys will come with NFC. Clearly, it’s something not to miss out on.

The consumer technology market in Western Europe has grown for the third quarter in a row (year-on-year figures) according to a recent report from GfK TEMAX. Growth is being driven by increasingly demanding consumers who are seeking more innovation, connectivity and mobility, which is leading to a blurring of market categories.

The same GfK TEMAX report showed that Q2 2010 saw a +3.6% increase in comparison to the same period last year. Particularly strong this quarter were the Consumer Electronics (+8.9%) and Information Technology (+4.6%) sectors. And this isn’t surprising, given the rapid pace of innovation and thus the enormous growth in breadth and depth of product range for both sectors.

Despite smartphones and mobiles with open operating systems (making up a quarter of the mobile market in Western Europe) having a volume growth of 62%, the Telecommunications market actually declined in year-on-year figures (-0.2%). It’s an extremely positive sign that the consumer technology market appears to be back on track, particularly after the year which was dubbed the “year of crisis”.