Two key factors have led to the 'return of browser wars'. One is cloud computing, or SaaS based applications to be more specific. With just about every type of application available on the Internet, you need to ensure that the web browser is geared up to handle them. The other major contributor is the digital revolution, which includes the onslaught of zillions of devices that connect to the Internet--tablets, STB, TVs, and even printers, apart from the regular ones like PCs, laptops, and smartphones.

Where will all of this lead to? Presented here are six key trends we think will bring major changes in the world of web browsers:

1. Web browser to encroach more OS territory

The speed at which functionality is being added in web browsers, one really begins to wonder whether it will take over from the OS some day. This debate has been on for quite some time now, but it's not going to happen any time soon. However, we have reached a point where you can do just about every task through a web browser without worrying about what the underlying OS is.

Next year, we'll see web browsers hog up more functionality from the OS, and a real good example of this is Google Chrome, which acts as an application delivery system much like an OS.

When the browser becomes the primary application and user interface (as in Google Chrome), the line between the web browser and the OS begins to thin. Another example of this is an initiative from Mozilla called Webian Shell, launched a few months ago. It takes the essential elements of your web browser, desktop environment and window manager and combines them into a single minimalist graphical shell dedicated to using web apps.

Another indicator of the thinning line between the browser and the OS is the video and graphics capabilities being built into the former. If you can edit images from within the browser itself, it reduces the need to have a locally installed image-editing software.

2. More browser-managed devices

The Web Browser is bound to show up on a multitude of gadgets, and not just PCs and smartphones. The new crop of devices include printers, set top boxes and of course TV sets. We have already seen a little bit of this in Google TV– a platform designed to bring web content to your living room, and in the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web all-in-one printer.

In the coming year, the web browser shall guide LCD monitors and the soon-to-arrive devices to access web based applications.