Digital Lifescapes

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or ADAS, are technology-based solutions designed to help the vehicle operator. At the end of 2012, the global market for ADAS was estimated to be $16.6 billion. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they now forecast that the ADAS market will increase to more than $261 billion by the end of 2020 -- representing a CAGR of 41 percent. "ADAS systems are increasingly being offered by mass-market OEMs such as Ford and Volkswagen," said Gareth Owen, research analyst at ABI Research. While the majority are offered in bundles and sold as optional driver-assist packages, a growing number of OEMs are starting to fit some ADAS systems as standard equipment. ADAS is also becoming more sophisticated. For instance, in May 2013 Volvo will start offering a system that can stop a vehicle if a pedestrian or cyclist is in its immediate path. A key catalyst driving the adoption of ADAS systems in Europe over the next five years will b

Across a variety of formats, music is undoubtedly the most mature segment of mobile entertainment. The global revenues from streamed music services on mobile devices are expected to rise by more than 40 percent to $1.7 billion, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. For the first time, these revenues will thereby overtake those generated by full-track downloads to mobile devices. The study observed that growth in premium service adoption was increasingly being driven by mobile network operator partnerships with service providers. In Europe, several operators have seen an uplift in spend amongst the mobile users, notably TeliaSonera in Sweden, which bundles Spotify with TV, mobile and fixed line services. Furthermore, such services are also gaining traction in Germany, where O2 offers simfy and T‑Mobile has recently introduced Spotify. However, the most significant growth has come in the U.S. market, which is poised to overtake South Korea this year as the lea

AHCIET and Ovum launched the Observatory of Telecoms Indicators in Latin America. Its objective is to measure and analyze the digital ecosystem as well as identify and quantify the socioeconomic contribution of the telecoms industry to the growth and welfare of the Latin American economy. In its first study, the AHCIET-Ovum Observatory concludes that telecoms services have increased their impact in Latin America. Not only have they become increasingly present in the daily lives of millions of Latin Americans who communicate and work using new access technologies; they are also expanding their influence and contribution to the economic development of the countries in the region. The telecoms sector has had a significant impact on national economies in Latin America between 2008 and 2011, generating growth in fixed (72%) and mobile (41%) Internet connections. At the same time, entry-level tariffs have fallen substantially, enabling new users to join the information society. Job

Smart Watches have been around for the last decade. But this wearable computing device has failed to take off for one reason or another. They were unattractive, too bulky, had weak functionality, or the battery life was too limited for extended use. However, over the last nine months a number of new smart watches have emerged that could change consumer perceptions about the value of these devices. Moreover, demand is developing in the marketplace. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, more than 1.2 million smart watches will be shipped in 2013. "The strong potential emergence of smart watches can be attributed to several reasons," said Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research . Contributing factors include the high penetration of smartphones in many world markets, the wide availability and low cost of MEMS sensors, energy efficient connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing software app ecosystem. The wearable computing de

​Mobile device design is increasingly reliant upon integrated platforms -- which are semiconductor chipsets based on combinations of application processor, baseband processor, and wireless connectivity technologies. In 2012, 19 percent of mobile handsets shipped were based on an integrated platform -- which is forecast to more than double to 46 percent in 2018. "Integrated solutions are used in many handsets from mass-market smartphones to flagship smartphones and will eventually find their way into feature phones," said Philip Solis, research director at ABI Research . One industry dynamic mitigating the need for integrated platforms are device reference designs and related services that are being offered by some of the semiconductor vendors. Qualcomm certainly benefits from its integrated platform products as it offers a large number of them with different features. Currently, only Qualcomm integrates wireless connectivity into its products, and is the only vendor

​The convenience and mobility benefits afforded by media tablets are very apparent, given the results from record unit shipments and revenues that were reported by vendors in 2012. In 2013, approximately 150 million tablets (up by 38 percent year-over-year) are forecast to ship globally worth an estimated $64 billion (up by 28 percent from 2012) in potential end-user revenues, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. So far, Apple has reigned since the introduction of its iPad in 2010, though Samsung and others continue to erode its early success. About 60 percent of the 2012 tablet shipments used Apple’s iOS operating system software, while 37 percent were based on Google’s Android OS (or development forks of Android, such as found on Amazon’s Kindle Fire). The remaining 3 percent OS share consisted of Windows (Windows 7, 8, or RT), BlackBerry Tablet OS, and unidentified OS implementations. "The tide is definitely turning toward Android-based tablets, thoug

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), that's down by -13.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). To put this decline in perspective, this market performance was the worst since IDC began tracking the PC market quarterly in 1994. The results also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year shipment declines. Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering the troubled Microsoft Windows 8 operating system, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions -- when compared to a year ago. Fading mini notebook PC shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending. PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultra-slim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well a

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, American companies like Netflix, Hulu, Apple and Amazon helped to drive the over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment market past $8 billion in 2012. The three largest markets -- North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific experienced year-over-year growth in excess of 50 percent in 2012. The continued spread of connected consumer electronics (CE) and increasingly mobile devices -- such as media tablets -- are expected to push the market past $20 billion by 2015. "The shift to digital and OTT distribution is accelerating, particularly as content providers increasingly warm up to these channels,"  Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research . While traditional pay-TV services are still afforded many advantages, now it's the content owners who will decide if they continue down the same path or forge ahead -- disrupting the primary means of legacy media distribution. The dynamics around revenue generation continue t

Juniper Research forecasts that the amount of mobile data traffic generated by smartphones, featurephones and tablets will exceed 90,000 petabytes by 2017 -- that's the equivalent to almost 42 quadrillion tweets or approximately 7 billion blu-ray HD movies. However, the latest market study from Juniper also finds that only 40 percent of the data generated by these devices will reach the cellular network by 2017. It's now anticipated that the majority of the mobile data traffic will be carried via a Wi-Fi broadband network connection. Juniper's new report finds that despite 2012 being a breakthrough year for 4G LTE networks, mobile service providers will still need traffic off-loading technologies -- such as Wi-Fi and small cells -- to augment 4G networks. "The trend will continue and operators will make use of more integrated units of Wi-Fi and small cells," said Nitin Bhas,senior analyst at Juniper Research . In the case of indoor cells, where most

A new group of publishers are rapidly taking over the mobile display advertising market in the United States. Where in past years, advertising networks -- such as Google, Millennial Media, and Apple -- received most of the spending on mobile display ads, now individual publishers control the segment. Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, and The Weather Channel all registered strong sales in 2012 -- most of them started from zero sales in 2011. Publishers controlled 52 percent of U.S. mobile display ad spending in 2012 -- that's compared to the 39 percent they received in 2011, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). "Mobile ad networks are losing market share to publishers, and we expect them to lose even more going forward," said Karsten Weide, Vice President of Media & Entertainment at IDC . Networks, especially independent ones, are entering a difficult phase, in which, with an ever smaller share of revenue, they'll have to

Mobile devices with HTML5-compatible browsers will total 1.4 billion in 2013, following an annual increase of 87 percent, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Although the installed base of this size represents a very potent market for mobile application developers, in practice the vast majority of them continue to choose the native app model over the web for their releases. "While some two years ago it still looked like 2013 could be the Year of Web App, it’s now looking like that this will prove more like the Year of Hybrid" said Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst at ABI Research . HTML5 is making strides, but mainly through developers that take advantage of increasingly capable cross-platform development tools. Meanwhile, there aren’t many signs of full-blown web apps effectively challenging the native way. However, ABI believes that two parallel trends will help the web to catch up further. First, it’s expected that the support for HTML5 features

Will 2013 be the year that robots make their mark in mainstream society? The growing market for consumer robots has already reached $1.6 billion in 2012, which is dominated by the task and entertainment segments. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, it will grow to $6.5 billion in 2017 and will still be dominated by the same segments, with security and telepresence becoming more of a significant third segment. iRobot is still the main player, but more Asian-based companies are coming out with competing products and newer products like window-cleaning robots. "We are seeing more personal robot R&D from Western companies and more task robot development from Asian companies," said Philip Solis, research director at  ABI Research . That's an apparent reversal of past development trends. Application processors and the array of sensors used in smartphones and media tablets have achieved great economies of scale for components that consumer robotic

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest pay-TV subscribers market study and forecast -- which tracks IPTV, cable, satellite, hybrid set-top boxes (STBs) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers. "Contrary to popular opinion, the set-top box market is alive and well," says Julien Blin, directing analyst for consumer electronics and mobile broadband at Infonetics Research. STB revenue grew almost 10 percent in 2012, and that's a considerable rebound from a year ago. The global market will remain healthy in the near term as operators in China, India, and Latin America add new digital video entertainment services. Video gateways and media players will be the real standouts moving forward, as North American and European cable and satellite providers transition away from digital STBs. Infonetics says that they expect video gateways to grow from just 1 percent of total cable and satellite STB shipments in 2012 to 16 percent by 2017. They also expect to see s

comScore released data about the key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for the three month average period ending February 2013. 133.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones -- 57 percent mobile market penetration -- during the three months ending in February, that's up by 8 percent since November 2012. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 38.9 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers -- that's up 3.9 percentage points from November. Samsung ranked second with 21.3 percent market share -- that's up by 1 percentage point -- followed by HTC with 9.3 percent share, Motorola with 8.4 percent share and LG with 6.8 percent share. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 51.7 percent market share, while Apple’s share increased 3.9 percentage points to 38.9 percent. BlackBerry ranked third with 5.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.2 percent) and Symbian (0.5 percent). The market study currently includes the following: 8 countries of rep

The video entertainment industry status-quo has been disrupted by emerging service providers -- such as Netflix and Amazon -- that don't play by the old rules. The new market realities are forcing a much needed transformation in the distribution chain dynamics. The self-inflicted constraints of a bygone era are being swept aside. Content owners -- including HBO, Disney, and Fox -- are rapidly growing in importance as customers for video encoder and transcoders, which are used in online service delivery. Previously, content owners have always purchased some video encoders for primary distribution -- which feed into existing pay-TV systems. However, now their investment is increasingly in multi-format transcoders -- that support direct-to-consumer distribution. HBO Go is just one example of this phenomenon in action. "Content owners will grow from 11 percent of the total encoder and transcoder market in 2012 to 17 percent in 2017, having already passed the importance o

As more people use their smartphones and tablets to download software apps, they potentially become a security risk for their employers. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, mobile device malware has advanced to a new level of sophistication -- as more smart devices are adopted. The number of unique mobile threats grew by 261 percent in just two quarters. Increasingly complex malware is taking advantage of a wider range of mobile functionality to exploit vulnerabilities on the device and in the wireless communication networks that they're connected to. Organizations allowing bring your own device (BYOD) to work programs -- without proper mobile device management capabilities -- are at great risk from covert interception and corruption. More than simple security applications, the demand for specialized services is driving the market for mobile security; network security, managed and professional services are set to become the biggest category for business

The mobile applications (apps) business has reached maturity and is now growing exponentially. Apps generated impressive revenues of $12 billion in 2012, and in total 46 billion apps were downloaded in the year, taking the cumulative all-time total downloads to 83 billion. By comparison, the all-time cumulative total number of downloads stood at 37 billion at the end of 2011 -- which more than doubled by 2012, according to the latest market study by Portio Research . Moreover, during 2012, more apps were downloaded than in the previous 5 years combined. This doubling of the market is forecast to happen once again in 2013. Portio's forecasts show that 2013 will see 82 billion apps downloaded worldwide -- taking the cumulative total to 165 billion apps by the end of the year. Revenues are also forecast to grow rapidly. During 2012 app revenues reach $12 billion, in 2013 the forecast is for worldwide app revenues to reach $20.4 billion. From this doubling of the apps busine

I recall when I first met Kam Star at the SXSW 2012 Festival, he shared his aspiration to make the Digital Shoreditch Festival as successful as the now infamous annual vent in Austin, Texas. After I attended the UK event that his team organized in 2012, I offered some suggestions for his consideration. I still believe that the creative culture in London is different -- and that's a good thing. London's creative digital talent strengths tend to be focused on the fashion, architecture and design sectors. The financial services sector also has a renewed focus on technology-enabled innovations. Digital Shoreditch Festival 2013 is expected to double in size, bringing together a community of 15,000 digital creatives to showcase and debate the latest advances in digital and technological innovation. The event held in East London last year attracted over 6,000 delegates with support from more than 40 sponsors and partners. This year the event is even bigger -- reflecting Lon

Worldwide shipments of all smart connected devices grew by 29.1 percent year-over-year in 2012 -- crossing 1 billion units shipped with a value of $576.9 billion, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The market expansion was largely driven by 78.4 percent year-over-year growth in media tablet shipments -- which surpassed 128 million in 2012. Looking specifically at the results for the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), combined shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, media tablets, and smartphones was nearly 378 million and revenues were more than $168 billion. In terms of market share, Apple significantly closed the gap with market leader Samsung in the quarter, as the combination of Apple's iPhone 5 and iPad Mini brought Apple up to 20.3 percent unit shipment share versus 21.2 percent for Samsung. On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple continued to dominate with 30.7 percent share versus 20.4 percent share for Samsung. Goin

Last year was very troublesome for the video gaming console vendors. After shipping over 3 million Wii U units during the 2012 holiday season, Nintendo’s next generation console is now facing a challenging market. 2012 saw just under 30 million game consoles shipped from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony (excluding PS2) -- that's roughly 10 million fewer than the previous year. Despite these results ABI Research looks at 2013 and beyond with cautious optimism, but the company expects Microsoft and Sony to determine the future prospects for the game console, not Nintendo. "The Nintendo Wii U’s troubles are not indicative of the expected market reception for the remaining 8th generation of consoles," said Michael Inouye, Senior analyst at ABI Research . In fact, the Wii U will likely prove a closer fit with the current generation than the next. The software released to date also bears out this assessment with many cross-platform games that were previously available fr

The development of personal broadband, mobile device applications and services are being enabled by the next generation wireless broadband technologies -- such as WiFi, 4G LTE and LTE Advanced. The rapid adoption of 4G LTE mobile broadband technology is likely in the next two years, with the subscriber number doubling from an estimated 105 million subscribers this year to nearly 220 million in 2014, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. The new study found that with 2012 being a breakthrough year for LTE and deployments gaining momentum, subscribers will begin to sign up for services in volume in 2013, but will still have a very limited global reach. The emerging factor that is driving the consumer adoption within the forecast period and beyond is the embedding of LTE technology in consumer devices. With LTE roll-outs gaining momentum, primarily in developed markets, Juniper Research acknowledges that while migration to 4G is expected to follow an evolutiona

Global mobile data service revenue -- including mobile internet and messaging revenue -- will rise by 21.4 percent between 2012 and 2014. It will then represent 40.4 percent of the $1 trillion mobile customers will be spending on their mobile phone services. Thanks to strong commitments to LTE network deployment in Latin America and Africa, not just the developed markets, growth rates in the regions will be substantially faster as the increase in usage outstrips mobile data pricing decline. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, this represents a significant opportunity for regional mobile content and application (app) developers -- which will stimulate a very nascent mobile apps and content market-place. North America will be the first region to see mobile data service revenue eclipse voice revenue in 2016. "By offering unlimited voice calls and texts, while making data the only component in a bundled plan with positive marginal costs to consumers, wireless

The two main silos in the telematics industry -- consumer automotive and commercial telematics -- remain the most active areas within the broader M2M (machine to machine) mobile communications industry. Advancements in entertainment head-units and higher smartphone penetration will result in software App capability reaching a fifth of all consumer vehicles in the developed markets of North America and Western Europe by 2017. According to the findings from the latest market study by Juniper Research, the success of new standards -- such as MirrorLink -- will be instrumental in creating the foundations for the connected car ecosystem to flourish. Though Juniper Research also forecasts robust growth in more traditional embedded consumer telematics services, the success of smartphone tethering and in-vehicle Apps is expected to exert downward pressure on the price of vehicle manufacturers’ own embedded telematics infotainment services. The Juniper study notes that Big Data deri