[Editor’s Note: This special report on the technology sector is part of Money Morning’s annual “Outlook” series, which is forecasting the prospects for commodities, U.S. stocks and other top profit opportunities in the New Year. Make sure to watch for upcoming installments in the days to come. Click on the “Outlook 2011” logo to see past installments.]

Tech Stocks Set To Soar in 2011 as a New Era of Personal Computing Dawns

Technology companies, and tech stocks, started a revival in 2010 and are heading toward an even more profitable 2011. That’s because a new age of computing – one that prioritizes mobility and efficiency – has dawned in the computing world.

Indeed, we’ve entered what researching firm International Data Corporation (IDC) calls a “new era” of computer usage.

Roughly half of all regular Internet users in 2011 will use non-PC devices, according to IDC, which says a trend becomes mainstream when it constitutes more than 15% of the market.

Just as the smaller PCs of the 1980s supplanted the lumbering terminals of the 1960s, PCs are being replaced by a variety of hand-held devices – like Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone and iPad and Research in Motion Ltd.’s (Nasdaq: RIMM) Blackberry.

“The PC-centric era is over,” IDC said in its annual report, released in November.

The firm predicts 330 million smartphones will be sold worldwide next year along with 42 million media tablets.

….read more HERE