ABI Research says that today's portable digital audio and video players needs to become truly portable, in the way that old portable cassette and CD players were -- Vamsi Sistla, director of residential entertainment research said, "Today's so-called portables are still tied by an umbilical cord to the computer and a wired broadband connection. The industry should address these shortcomings." Today the signs are that the industry agreed, and true portability is beginning to arrive. Analyst Joseph Yau, who has just updated their 2004 study, reports that Wi-Fi networking capabilities are starting to appear in portable audio players. "Although such models are still few in number, they will become a flood in 2006," he says. Thomson is even introducing a product line that will interface the player directly with a home hi-fi system, without the need for an intermediary PC and broadband connection. On the video side, EchoStar has just invested $10 million in player vendor Archos, which is said to be introducing a specially-tailored media player that will load movies directly from EchoStar's DISH Network feeds.
The world of eCommerce payments has evolved. As we look toward the latter half of this decade, we're witnessing a transformation in how digital commerce operates, with a clear shift toward localized payment solutions within a global marketplace. The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Juniper Research's latest analysis, global eCommerce transactions are set to reach $11.4 trillion by 2029, marking a 63 percent increase from $7 trillion in 2024. This growth isn't just about volume – it's about fundamental changes in how people pay for goods and services online. Perhaps most striking is the projected dominance of Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), which are expected to account for 69 percent of global transactions by 2029, with 360 billion transactions processed through these channels. eCommerce Payments Market Development What makes this shift particularly interesting is how it reflects the democratization of digital commerce. Traditional card-based systems ar...