EDITOR'S note:

China's economy has been regaining some steam in recent months after growth was hit by weak external demand and domestic tightening in the previous three quarters. As we embrace 2013, Shanghai Daily now runs a year-end series to track policy and market changes as well as their influence on different sectors for next year.

Mobile phone numbers, bank accounts, e-mails and work documents. These are the data that matter most in our everyday life.

With the development of new technologies, the management and use of data and the devices that convey them have become hot topics. Big data, cloud computing and mobile Internet are but a few of the innovations that will influence the information technology industry in both business and consumer markets in 2013.

China, as the world's biggest personal computer and mobile device market, provides huge potential for companies in the industry.

"In common with many emerging markets, China's cloud and mobile initiatives are hot," said Matthew Cheung, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Without the legacy systems that hamper many Western enterprises, Chinese organizations have an opportunity to leapfrog in the adoption of new technologies."

Spending on IT in China is forecast to grow from US$117.8 billion in 2013 to US$172.4 billion in 2016 - a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent. That compares with predictions for a global growth rate of 3 percent over the same period, according to Gartner, a US-based research firm.

In the consumer sector, the convergence of the personal computer and the mobile phone is expected to accelerate with products like Microsoft's Surface and Apple's iPad, which already is a catalyst for the booming mobile Internet industry.

Mobile Internet market revenue will hit 100 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion) in 2013, compared with 71.2 billion yuan in 2012 and 39 billion yuan in 2011, according to iResearch, a Shanghai-based research firm.

Each sector of this chain is well connected because cloud services are based on big data in the cloud end server, which spreads and is used across all devices, from servers and computers to mobile phones.Cloud's popularity will soon extend to televisions

A CLOUD firm today offers content access and sharing from various devices, including PCs, mobile phones and tablets. Some firms have tested connections between televisions and mobile devices via apps and WiFi connections.

By 2014, at least three personal cloud providers will extend the service to television. At the same time, many government-backed public cloud service providers will be out of the market, according to Gartner.

Personal cloud services will bring content access and sharing across devices of different brands, which enhances the user experience. For example, users will be able to stop a video on a handset and resume it on a TV. In the future, this can extend beyond media content to allow users to make calls, view e-mails and respond to text messages from their TV sets while they are away from computing devices. Gartner said it expects at least three providers to extend such services to televisions by 2014, without identifying them.

The list of firms with the capability is long. Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and China's Lenovo have developed all or part of the related products, including mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, PCs and TVs.

On the other hand, government-invested public cloud computing service data centers will go online soon, but many of them will be unable to achieve profits on those services alone and may be forced out of the market before they can expand, analysts said.'Big data' management helps businesses

"Big data," the latest buzzword in the IT industry, refers to a collection of data that is too large and too complex for traditional management tools to process. The challenges include data capture, storage, search and analysis.

The county's big data market is yet to be developed, but it is expected to start taking off next year, analysts said.

Revenue in China's big data processing business is expected to hit 310 million yuan this year and 5 billion yuan by 2016, according to CCID Consulting, a Beijing-based IT research firm.

Tech giants like IBM, Oracle and SAS have taken leading positions in the sector.

With data processing and analysis software tools, people will not only be able to know what has happened and where to make improvements, but they will also be able to "predict" what will happen, according to Jeremy Sim, Manufacturing Consulting Director of SAS Asia Pacific.

With more than 500 staff in China, SAS helps giants like Baosteel and Shanghai General Motors improve the efficiency of their operations and analyze market trends for better strategic planning and risk avoidance.

China will become the most important market for the big data business because its manufacturing sector requires serious upgrading. Internet giants like Alibaba and Baidu, with their huge databases, are poised to tap into the sector, said Su Meng, a professor at Peking University.Mobile Internet devices expected to replace PCs

mobile device will gradually replace personal computer in China in the next few years.

By 2016, sales of tablet computers will match sales of PCs in China, with more affordable prices and more choices of applications. The average price is expected to drop from US$262 in 2011 to US$176 in 2016. Tablet sales will reach 57 million units in China in 2016, nearly equaling PCs at 58 million, according to Gartner.

There is increasing media tablet demand from different markets, such as hospitality, insurance, finance, retail, transportation and education, the research firm said.

Lenovo, now the biggest PC maker in China, will become the top smartphone vendor by the end of 2013, according to Gartner.

With the growing popularity of mobile devices, the mobile Internet is a lucrative avenue for every player in the market.

"Wireless and mobile services will determine who will win the most consumers in the end," said Zhou Hongyi, chairman of Qihoo 360, China's biggest online security service provider.

Qihoo 360, with several hundred million users, is expanding in the mobile sector with a mobile security tool and Internet browser. The move follows the path of other online giants: Alibaba, with applications such as Alipay and Taobao; Baidu, with search tools; Tencent, with QQ; and Weixin, with mobile ends.

The convergence among IT and other industries will also continue. One example is the mobile payment provided by mobile carriers, banks and third-party payment service providers.

Based on the new services, people will be able to purchase merchandise by just swiping their mobile phones in stores instead of using credit cards.