CES Preview day was all about hardware, but day 1 was all about filling that hardware with new and innovative content.

1. Extending TV content to mobile devices. This is perhaps one of the most compelling trends expected to proliferate in 2011. Verizon and Time Warner shared the stage to discuss the evolution of TV Everywhere. Dish Network will further extend its Sling Media ability by allowing subscribers to access their live and recorded content on Android devices. The extension of pay TV content to the mobile device will surely complicate the mobile media market in the US by offering an already paid for alternative to mobile specific solutions such as Primetime2Go or even iTunes.

2. Mobile Media continues to grow up. First, Hulu Plus announced it would be available on Android devices soon. This brings Android on par with iPhone but the long lag between the Hulu Plus Beta launch in August and the eventual release of Hulu Plus on Android shows that content owners clearly see iPhone as the premier platform for now. Finding a way to fuse digital and physical, Ultraviolet continued to discuss its development in making accessing owned content more convenient through a digital locker and embedding the technology in as many devices as possible. For more information about Ultraviolet read my Fierce Wireless article. The goal of both services is to increase consumption and with ever larger screens on handsets and the tablet incursion of 2011 these services will find a waiting audience.

3. Video is key to 2011 and beyond. As LTE launches, new video services become available, and phones offering more multimedia-centric features 2011 is sure to be the year of mobile video. But video is about more than just professional content. It also encompasses video conferencing. Recognizing this opportunity, Skype acquired Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services that enable individuals to capture, instantly share and preserve great moments on video from anywhere. This will surely help Skype better compete with other video conferencing services.

What is evident from these announcements is that content owners see mobile as the next big opportunity as well as a necessary outlet for ecosystem building. How networks will handle the load associated with all this video remains to be seen as most popular applications today – broadly speaking – are light on network usage compared to video streaming apps. But its clear that 2011 will be the year of mobile video.

Location based services are all the rage. Just this morning Shopkick announced another partnership – this time with Crate and Barrel. Foursquare recently exceeded 5M users. Gowalla launched its newest update providing an overhauled user experience. Articles on the topic have appeared everywhere, including Fierce Wireless (Warning shameless self promotion at the last link). But despite the hype location based applications are still just at the larval stage.

Today, stalwarts remain the key players. Recently, we revamped our Apps Database – which used to contain the top ten apps for iPhone and Blackberry in the US. Our new iPhone database contains a more global view - capturing the top 100 (free, paid and grossing) apps - in 62 countries. The data shows that Facebook remains the dominant player – regardless of region. Out of 124 free apps lists (2 weeks of 62 countries) Facebook and Skype appeared on 98% of the lists. Windows Messenger appeared on 75% of the lists.

Interest in social networking is not restricted to mature markets either. In fact, the Middle East and Africa are most likely to download social networking services - with nearly 11% of all free iPhone downloads coming in that category – almost 2x that of Western Europe.

Clearly there is intense interest in social networking even if there is not yet sustained interest in location based social networks. Foursquare and Gowalla combined for 12 total appearances (11 for foursquare and 1 for Gowalla) managing to garner placement on less than 10% of all free apps lists. However, many of the companies, such as McDonalds, that were bold enough to partner with these up and coming companies have found great success as these services continue to slowly grow, expand, and increase their influence.

In fact, these services will be so important in 2011 that we dedicated an entire prediction about them in our recent report 11 for '11: Predictions on the Future of Mobile Media (although to know what we predicted you’ll need to read the report). Additionally, we will be hosting a webinar on Thursday December 17, 2010 at 10:00 EST to discuss the future of social networking and how location will come to play an increasingly important role in 2011 and beyond.

Please find more information and register at the link below.

Mobile Social Networking: A Platform For Success?