The end of 2013 will witness consumer cloud services for accessing content being integrated into 90% of all connected devices, according to Gartner.
Gartner managing vice president Andrew Johnson, addressing a gathering of technology industry executives in Singapore, said that the emergence of personal clouds reflects the "4S experience", consumers’ desire to store, synch, stream and share their content on regardless of device or platform seamlessly.
"The shift to the personal cloud will accelerate rapidly in 2012 as consumers learn how to use new services on their devices," said Johnson.
"Brands must stretch across multiple devices, platforms and services," added Johnson.
Services such as Netflix, Google Apps, Amazon Music, Microsoft SkyDrive and Apple’s iCloud have driven consumers to adopt cloud-based services as part of their digital ecosystem.
"What distinguishes the personal cloud from what came before is its ability to store, synchronize, stream and share as needed allowing consumers greater flexibility in choosing devices and platforms," elaborated Johnson.
The research firm estimates that consumers will spend approximately $2.2tn on digital technology products and services in 2012, which is roughly about 10% of the average disposable household income.
Consumers will spend some $2.8tn worldwide on connected devices by 2015, expects Gartner.
However, according to Gartner, growth is not the only opportunity.
Gartner expects personal cloud to be widely adopted by 2015. It expects by 2014 that less than 10% of consumers will use cloud services as their main storage.
