As the title suggests, everything this year has been about apps, namely the iPhone app store, which is a cut above the rest and has set the benchmark for all of the other competing manufacturers with it’s 100,000 apps trumping even the offering from the mighty Google, in the form of Android with it’s, rather embarrassing in comparison, 20,000 apps.

But what does the future hold? After all, in a matter weeks, the iPhone app store is going to become “old” news as we enter 2010, but what is set to take it’s place in the spotlight as the most sought after feature of the future?

Well, we have a sneaking suspicion that it may have something to do with the Broadcom BCM2763 VideoCore IV Processor, which, to the vast majority will mean nothing. Well, it is a new processor; but it’s a little bit special this one. The new processor is said to be able to give phones the ability to incorporate 20 megapixel cameras (yes twenty megapixels!) as well as being able to boast multiple shots per second, image stabilisation, panorama mode as well as face and smile detection. Oh, and the Broadcom BCM2763 VideoCore IV’s party piece? Full 1080p HD video recording.

Now that’s quite a big deal as you probably know. Could the mobile phone truly be on the brink of replacing the digital camera? Well, yes, if Broadcom have anything to do with it. However, not happy with possibly killing off the digital camera, apparently Broadcom has gaming consoles in it’s sights too. The new processor will allow full native graphics rendering in 1080p resolution, which if paired with an HDMI output, could quite easily see this transferred to a television for widescreen gaming too.

The good news doesn’t stop there either, as Broadcom claim the new processor not only has a smaller footprint than it’s predecessors, but will also have a lower power consumption, meaning a huge list of benefits, with, as far as we can tell, not a single drawback. That said, the price of this technology has not yet been disclosed and we can’t imagine it’ll come cheap, but at the end of the day, who cares where 20 megapixel cameras, 1080p video recording and HD gaming all in one, are concerned.

Keep an eye on the blog for more details.

Continued here:
2009 has been the year of the Apps, but what does the future hold?