Unfortunately although much of the news has been positive for the TelcoTV market, there have also been negative announcements, such as Swisscom's postponement of their commercial deployment named Bluewin. Microsoft announced that Motorola will integrate Microsoft's IPTV platform into its IP set top boxes. Scientific-Atlanta is also showing the Microsoft TV IPTV platform in their booth. Network access equipment providers continue to partner with IPTV middleware vendors. We have Microsoft and Alcatel, Siemens and Myrio, and now Lucent has a strategic alliance with Orca. In other middleware news, Myrio announced its Myrio Interactive Creator, which will enable the service provider to truly customize their user interface by designing the layout and appearance of the content. Amino, the second largest supplier of IP set top boxes based on 2004 unit market share, announced a standard definition IP set top box capable of decoding MPEG-4 AVC. UK competitor Pace announced an IP set top box with hardware MPEG-4 AVC decoding in May, but it will not be available until September.
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...