Despite a relatively small increase in the overall online population over the next five years, the number of U.S. consumers with broadband is expected to grow from slightly under half of households to about 78 percent by the end of 2010, according to a new report from JupiterResearch. "With a clearer value proposition and increasingly reasonable prices, the question people ask themselves is shifting from why would I get broadband? to why wouldn't I get broadband?" said Joe Laszlo, research director. The firm said that the U.S. broadband market will remain a closely contested race between cable modem and phone line-based DSL services, with other technologies relegated to relatively minor roles. Cable, however, is expected to remain the leading residential broadband technology in the U.S. Two key predictions: The Internet gets a little grayer. Online seniors will grow the fastest of any age group, doubling from nearly 10 million in 2004 to just over 20 million by 2010. Nearly one-half of online users will access the Internet from multiple locations, with 65 million online adults having access from both work and home in 2010.
The global smartphone market closed 2025 with a story less about recovery and more about transformation. Premium product, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing scale are now the forces shaping competition. For business and technology leaders, the latest IDC market study data confirms that smartphones remain a critical indicator of consumer demand, supply chain health, and AI commercialization at the edge. Smartphone Market Development Global smartphone shipments grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 336.3 million units and bringing full-year volumes to 1.26 billion units — a modest 1.9 percent annual increase, according to IDC. This smartphone growth emerged despite a memory shortage crisis, tariff volatility, supply chain disruption, and macroeconomic headwinds. What stabilized demand? Two factors: sustained growth in premium devices and strong foldable momentum, combined with accelerated purchases as consumers bought ahead of anticipated price increases. Buyers weren...