Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (GAFA) between them pretty much rule consumer tech world. (You can find a good analysis of the GAFA ecosystem–in audio–at the Economist‘s Babbage blog.) They began in different niches. Increasingly, though, they’re thieving from each other’s patch. (Google is doing books–half-heartedly. It’s doing social media–unexcitingly. It’s doing mobile–but without profit in the form of the free, open-source Android. Facebook is muscling in on advertising revenue. Apple… Eh, but you’ve all read all the news.)
Amazon changed the game, moved it up a gear, by bursting into the mobile hardware/portal scene with their inexpensive Kindle Fire tablet. And now, according to reports like this one from GalleyCat, Apple is rumoured to be planning a move onto Amazon’s publishing turf with an announcement of an epublishing platform.
I’m guessing this is just the beginning of fun-filled invasion games. If I had to bet a sandwich, it would be that, next up, Facebook will do something interesting with content publishing. If I were them, I’d buy Goodreads, put out a cheap tablet, and build my own self-publishing set-up for both books and music. A poke in the eye for both As in the GAFA and another step towards reducing Google’s relevance except as the provider of an open-source mobile platform.
So that’s my (only partly joking) prediction for 2012. What’s yours?
Nicola Griffith 
Money will rule the world. But seriously, the pen will dtill be mightier than ths sword.
My typing will get better.
Facebook is AOL in the 90s. It is not long for this weird. Apple has its ups & downs but it a contender. Amazon is the Wal-mart of Everything. Google makes the internet work. I'd put my poker chips on “G.”
barbara, autocorrect will get better :)
mordicai, I go back and forth about FB. They're a walled garden, yes, but they're smarter and much, much bigger than AOL. Nearly a billion people for whom FB is tightly integrated into their lives. I think Apple will turn into Microsoft within ten years…
Also, I meant “not long for this world,” but I prefer my typo.