THIS year is shaping up as a wired year for lovers of consumer electronics.

We can wake up in the morning and read the latest news on our iPads on our way to work using 3G or 4G networks. At our lunch break, we can peruse gadgets or books from online shops. In the evening, we can watch high-definition online video clips through Wi-Fi based on home broadband networks.

All the constant innovations that mark the information technology realm seem certain to change our lives in 2011 - once again. So what's in store?

Video websites

The fight for a dominant position in the online video market is expected to intensify after Youku successfully completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in early December.

Tudou, China's second-largest video website, is also expected to sell shares on the Nasdaq market in the next few months.

The two sites will likely grab most of the advertising spending targeted on video sites. Spending on patented content is also expected to rise because the rivals are trying to outdo one another in the quality of videos offered.

Beijing-based LeTV became the first Chinese listed video site in August, after raising 730 million yuan (US$111million) in an IPO on the ChiNext board, China's Nasdaq-style market. Shares sold at 29.20 yuan apiece at the IPO. They currently are trading at about 52 yuan.

LeTV is smaller than Tudou or Youku. Youku's income in the third quarter of 2010 was US$17 million, while Tudou's was US$17.3 million. LeTV, by contrast, showed revenue of only US$11 million over the same period.

As more and more websites seek to provide mainstream licensed TV series and movies to viewers, going public and brand marketing have become prime industry strategies.

Other smaller rivals of Tudou and Youku are also expected to launch IPO plans within the next year or two. These companies may include Shanghai-based Joy.cn and PPLive.com, whose peer-to-peer software provides online broadcasting of TV programs and movies. Tudou and Youku have also launched applications to allow iPhone and other smartphone users access to their video database through mobile handsets more easily.

Research estimates that the market value of online video sites may reach 16 billion yuan in 2014, more than a fivefold increase from last year.

Apart from enhancing user experience, they are also reaching out to related businesses, including the production of TV series and the redistribution of online broadcasting rights for hit movies. Both Youku and Tudou have made those investment decisions.

Youku Chief Executive Officer Victor Koo told the media that the ultimate goal is to cover the computer screen, the mobile screen and the TV screen.

Tablet PC

Tablet personal computers are attracting increased attention since the Wi-Fi-only iPad debuted on the Chinese mainland in September. Headlines in newspapers are filled with hot topics: "The iPad 3G has been approved in China." "RIM is going to launch its tablet PC Playbook."

And there's no end in sight to the hype.

China's tablet PC sales will reach 4.5 million units in 2011, compared with 600,000 units in 2010, according to Beijing-based Analysys International.

The rapid growth comes from the surging demand for large-screen mobile terminals, more types of terminals available and copycat models entering the market, a factor unique in China, according to Analysys.

Chinese manufacturers that used to turn out "shanzhai," or copycat, mobile phones, have started to produce shanzhai models of the iPad. The copycat costs less than 1,000 yuan, only a quarter of the cost of Apple's iPad.

Branded domestic firms, including Lenovo and Hanwang, have also taken aggressive strategies into the sector. For example, Lenovo, China's biggest PC vendor, launched its LePad during the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vega, joining the tablet PC wave with RIM, Motorola and Samsung.

According to research firm Ovum, tablet PC sales in the Asia-Pacific region will hit 52 million in 2015, compared with 2.8 million last year. These will account for 35 percent of global sales then.

"This huge growth in shipments will be dominated by tablet-style technologies such as the iPad, and will mainly be driven by consumers buying devices to complement their smartphones," said Tony Cripps, Ovum's principal analyst.

"This will either be as a 'third device,' where there is a high penetration of PCs, or the primary computing device, where there is low penetration."

Online shopping

CHINA has the largest Internet user base in the world, and more of those users are turning to online shopping. Competition for their patronage is intensifying, and the victors in the battle are likely to be those sellers who streamline their logistics systems to get products as quickly and efficiently as possible to buyers.

The recent stormy and snowy weather in many parts of China highlighted the limitations of existing logistics operations that connect the numerous shopping websites, as well as millions of vendors on Taobao.com, with their consumers.

Robust spending ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in early February has overloaded courier services trying to deliver packages of goods ordered online, and poor weather only added to the flow snarls.

Last month, a high profile price war between newly-listed Dangdang.com and 360Buy.com was a perfect example of the drive to establish the equivalent of an online Wal-Mart that offers a huge range of merchandise.

Price wars may become more commonplace this year in sectors such as consumer electronics and home appliances because online vendors have more power to decide when and how to launch sales promotions than traditional distributors.

Although online spending still contributes a small percentage of overall retail volume in China, online shoppers, relatively, have much more spending power.

Online promotions and campaigns that allow shoppers to fight for limited numbers of bargains at very low prices that are only available with one or two minutes can have a huge marketing impact and make a big impression on participants, as well as those who may not be able to get the bargain.

As websites expand to include an ever-increasing array of products, warehouse inventory management and logistics services need to be better managed.

Last week, Alibaba Group said it will invest up to 30 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion) with other partners to build a nationwide warehouse network to tap into the growing logistics demand of online vendors.

Dangdang, 360Buy.com and Amazon.cn have launched several regional logistics operation centers across the country to handle inventory and dispatch goods to nearby cities.

Customers who buy books, computer kits and even groceries online have come to expect rapid delivery, and vendors need to meet those rising expectations if they hope to compete.

Improved networks

Shanghai has the slowest Internet speed on the Chinese mainland, according to a recent industry report.

But the network speed on PCs and mobile phones will improve considerably this year, probably by 10 times or more.

In 2010, Shanghai's Internet access speed was 73.9 kilobits per second on average, ranking slowest nationwide, according to the China Internet Network Information Center report released last week.

China Telecom's Shanghai branch, which has more than 3 million local household users, announced it will upgrade its broadband bandwidth for homes fourfold to 8 megabits per second from January. By the end of 2012, Shanghai will have the fastest broadband connections nationwide, it said.

From this month, many local people have found their networks upgraded with speeds of more than 1 megabits per second, 10-fold faster than previously.

On the mobile communications front, China Mobile is testing its 4G network in the central business district of Shanghai, with speeds up to 20 times faster than the current 3G network.

China Mobile and UK-based Vodafone Group Plc are jointly developing a mobile device based on the 4G technology called LTE (long term evolution).

Based on 4G wireless communications technology, users will be able to access the Internet using handsets at a speed even higher than home broadband. The technology will support applications such as high definition video data transfer.

LTE is now used in several cities in Europe and the United States.

The improved network is a catalyst of Three Network Convergence, a national government strategy to foster convergence among mobile, broadcasting and Internet networks.

Improvements will help firms provide high-definition video content to PC users through broadband networks and to handset users through 3G and 4G networks.