Digital Lifescapes

Over the past three years, mobile money services have blossomed across a range of markets in developing Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Encouraged by the astonishing success of Safaricom’s M-PESA in Kenya, other mobile network operators have sought to emulate it by deploying their own range of transfer and remittance options, thereby reaping substantial rewards from their deployments. Nearly 400 million mobile phone users worldwide are expected to use their handsets for mobile money transfer by 2018, that's up from just under 150 million this year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. Growth is expected to be driven primarily by deployments of domestic money transfer services, with multinational network operators increasingly launching products on a group-wide rather than an ad hoc basis. Findings from the market study stressed the need for mobile network service providers to ensure that support infrastructure -- including an extensive agent network -- neede...

China is now a significant market opportunity for new connected consumer electronic devices, as more people adopt mobile internet access. Local Chinese vendors are lining up to deliver smartphones and media tablets specifically targeted at the needs and wants of this growing user population. Coolpad, Lenovo, and Xiaomi have something special in common -- all were able to beat Apple in the battle for China’s second quarter (Q2) 2013 smartphone market leadership. While Samsung retained its leading smartphone market share of 17 percent, Lenovo took second place with 13 percent, Coolpad was third with 10 percent, and Xiaomi edged out Apple with 6.5 percent share, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. "Even though these OEMs are only selling into the Chinese market, the size of the market has allowed them to achieve shipment volumes that place these OEMs in the top 12 globally," says Michael Morgan, senior analyst at ABI Research . It is not hard to imagin...

More smartphones in the workplace typically mean more challenges for IT managers. Mobile workspace management describes a set of technologies and services that securely separate enterprise applications and content from personal applications and content. Currently, the two main technologies that comprise mobile workspace management solutions are application wrapping and containers. Application wrapping solution adoption is predicted to edge out application containers, according to the latest comprehensive market study by ABI Research. "Application wrappers will win out because of the perceived simplicity of the solution," said Jason McNicol, senior analyst at ABI Research . "Even traditional MDM (mobile device management) vendors are packaging app wrapping as a value-added solution to retain existing customers as the enterprise mobility market continues to evolve." Globally, application wrapping adoption will grow at a healthy 27 percent through 2018 whereas...

The worldwide smart connected device market -- comprised of PCs, tablets, and smartphones -- is forecast to grow 27.8 percent year-over-year in 2013, that's slightly lower than the 30.3 percent growth in 2012. The growth will be driven by tablet and smartphone shipments, while the PC outlook has been lowered by 10 percent in 2013. As a result, the International Data Corporation (IDC), now expects tablet shipments to surpass total PC shipments (desktop plus portable PCs) in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13). PCs shipments are still expected to be greater than tablet shipments for the full year, but IDC forecasts tablet shipments will surpass total PC shipments on an annual basis by the end of 2015. Smartphones will continue to ship in high volumes, surpassing 1.4 billion units in 2015 and accounting for 69 percent of all smart connected device shipments worldwide. Moreover, the worldwide smart connected device market will again exhibit double-digit year-over-year growth of 1...

4G Americas reports that HSPA and LTE mobile broadband has grown to 192.5 million subscriptions in North America, representing 52 percent of the more than 373 million total mobile subscriptions in the region at the end of the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media . The North American market remains in the leadership position of LTE market share worldwide with 51 percent of the world’s 126 million connections at the end of June 2013. In Latin America, the HSPA and LTE mobile broadband market share has risen to 21 percent with 147 million connections of the total 693.7 million mobile connections, with the latter mostly GSM technology. North America’s LTE penetration rate is significantly higher than the rest of the world -- with 18.3 percent LTE penetration compared to the next leading world regional market of Asia-Pacific with a penetration rate of 1.4 percent. All other world regions, including Western Europe at 0.7 percent...

Seamless Wi-Fi access in public locations has heightened fixed and mobile network operators' interest in Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) Wi-Fi service offerings. The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced the findings of a market study conducted with research firm Senza Fili . Interest in this technology has been fueled by the world’s largest operators and vendors recently completing a number of advanced trials of NGH which led to the introduction of critical features such as seamless authentication; automatic network detection selection, adoption and secure access. This will ultimately give mobile device users easier access to a far greater number of public Wi-Fi access points around the world -- without the need for usernames and passwords. With an increasing number of sophisticated and data hungry mobile devices now available on the market, mobile network operators have been forced to address the capacity conundrum and Wi-Fi has proven to be a viable solution. However...

Underpinning the emerging mHealth and mFitness markets are two sectors, healthcare and health & fitness. The trends in those two industries define how the adjacent mHealth and mFitness markets develop. Together, they form the basis for a multimillion dollar global market opportunity. The next five years will see a major shift towards smartphone-based mHealth, where hardware attachments link to companion app on the smartphone, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. They now forecast that by 2018 there will be 96 million users of app-enabled mHealth and mobile-fitness hardware devices, that's up from 15 million this year. In the healthcare sector, app-enabled mHealth will be used to provide services ranging from remote patient monitoring to mobile ultrasound services. How mFitness will Set the Pace However, the market study found that it will be the mFitness sector that will experience strongest growth in the short and medium term. This growth wi...

Smart home installations can include multiple networks -- both wired and wireless. Typically, the wireless standard used for device interconnection is either Wi-Fi or ZigBee, depending on the application. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, ZigBee enabled device shipments will grow to almost 400 million units per annum in 2018 -- with demand being driven by the adoption of this wireless technology to enable new smart home services. "Since 2006 we have seen steady growth in ZigBee enabled device shipments. The initial major growth engine was the smart meter market which adopted ZigBee, particularly for U.S. smart meter rollouts," said Peter Cooney, practice director at ABI Research . While smart meters still account for a significant amount of the market, today it is home entertainment devices -- in particular pay-TV set-top boxes, which are the main driver of ZigBee market growth. In 2012 home entertainment took over from smart meters as the largest...

The development of the smartphone and app store model has in turn created an ecosystem of applications within which hardware peripherals can enhance the functionality of the smartphone for specific purposes. Juniper Research has revealed that hardware and service revenues from app-enabled smart wireless accessories will exceed $23 billion in 2018 -- that's compared to $2 billion this year. The key areas driving this growth will be fitness, health, consumer clectronics (CE), payments and enterprise devices. This revenue growth will be propelled by four key elements: An increase in the adoption of the software as a service proposition; the development of additional services delivered within the app; the emergence of a freemium model in fitness and healthcare wearables; and the rise of payment transaction revenues. Robust Ecosystem needed for Service Model Development According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, several business models exist within the smart wir...

We now live in a world where a flood of customer data is all around us. Extracting meaning from that data deluge is a strategic imperative for business leaders. Global spending on 'big data' applications by organizations will exceed $31 billion in 2013, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. The spending will grow at a CAGR of 29.6 percent over the next five years, reaching $114 billion in 2018. The latest ABI forecast includes the money spent on internal salaries, professional services, technology services, internal hardware, and internal software. "We estimate that in big data initiatives salaries account for about half of the current spending, with the other half allocated to vendor products and services. What we're now seeing is quite significant overspending on salaries, as organizations turn to data scientists and other specialists in order to leverage big data in the first place," said Aapo Markkanen, Senior analyst at ABI Research . Si...

The mobile communications sector in America continues to advance, as smartphone demand drives new growth. comScore released data that outlines key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for July 2013. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 40 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform -- with 52 percent platform market share. Google Sites ranked as the top mobile media property, while Facebook was the top individual app. Smartphone OEM Market Share 143.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (60 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in July, that's up 3 percent since April. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 40.4 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1.2 percentage points from April). Samsung ranked second with 24.1 percent market share (up 2.1 percentage points), followed by HTC with 8 percent, Motorola with 6.9 percent and LG with 6.8 percent. Smartphone Platform Mark...

Mobile network service providers have good reason to be optimistic about the current market outlook. The global mobile phone market is forecast to grow 7.3 percent year-over-year in 2013 -- that's a sharp rebound from the 1.2 percent growth experienced in 2012. Strong demand for smartphones across all geographies will drive much of this growth as worldwide shipments are expected to surpass 1 billion units for the first time in a single year, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The overall mobile phone market is growing faster than previously forecast, thanks to a stronger-than-expected first half of the year driven by strong gains in emerging markets and the sub-$200 smartphone segment. IDC previously projected 5.8 percent growth for the year. Vendors are now forecast to ship more than 1.8 billion mobile phones this year -- growing to over 2.3 billion mobile phones in 2017. Worldwide smartphone shipments are forecast to grow 40.0 pe...

Big Data is a technology that can transform business operations around the world. Big data and analytics -- when applied correctly -- can be used to gain insights into customers, products, markets and improve operational efficiency. The introduction of big data and analytics enables savvy business leaders to identify market opportunities with the most upside potential and ensure that marketing investment is directed at the most profitable customer segments. The return on investment (ROI) can be significant. As an example, the continued deployment of analytics platforms is expected to deliver combined savings and incremental revenues to mobile network operators (MNOs) totaling more than $9 billion by 2018, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. Greatest savings are expected to result from reduced customer churn and more efficient capex allocation, with MNOs also able to derive significant revenues through the licensing of opted-in subscriber data to third partie...

Mobile communication networks have been instrumental in enabling basic economic development at the community and individual level within the African continent. At the end of 2Q-2013, the total mobile phone subscriptions in Africa reached 863 million -- that's a growth of 9.3 percent year-on-year (YoY), which is more than other regions around the world. Africa’s growth trajectory will continue up to 2018, with a CAGR of 6.6 percent, to reach 1.25 billion subscriptions. "What’s more, due to the lower comparative 3G penetration of 13.8 percent in Africa at the end of 2013, we forecast that Africa 3G subscriptions will grow rapidly from 114 million in 2013 to 210 million by 2015," said Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research . While the vast majority of African countries are still in the process of extending and enhancing their 3G networks, some major African markets -- such as South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria -- have launched 4G networks, notching up 0.2 million ...

​There is no dispute about the most accomplished global smartphone ecosystem. Recent market research shows that Google Android accounted for 80 percent of all smartphones shipped worldwide in Q2 2013. The next largest ecosystem, Apple’s iOS, reached its lowest share in three years -- with 13.6 percent of smartphones shipped in Q2, according to the latest market study by ​ABI Research. The slow race for a distant third place between Windows Phone (3.5 percent) and BlackBerry 10 (1.2 percent) is driven by the efforts of beleaguered companies -- Nokia and BlackBerry. "When you consider that even the Apple iOS ecosystem has lost share for three consecutive quarters, it is hard to envision a third ecosystem reaching critical mass, especially when its supporting OEMs are in dire straits," said Michael Morgan, senior analyst at ABI Research . Driven by billions of dollars in marketing and research, Nokia has pushed Windows Phone shipments from 6.5 percent shipment share in Q...

Waiting for the personal computer (PC) market to recover now seems pointless. Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -9.7 percent in 2013, further deepening what is already the longest market contraction on record, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). The new forecast reflects not only a continued expansion of mobile device options at the expense of PCs, but also marked the cessation of emerging market growth that the industry had come to rely on in recent years. The market as a whole is expected to decline through at least 2014, with only single-digit modest growth from 2015 onward. It's now believed that the PC market will never regain the peak volumes last seen in 2011. While the results of the second quarter were in line with forecast, a number of issues led IDC to further downgrade its PC outlook. Aside from stubbornly depressed consumer interest, 2013 also marks the first year where emerging regions are expected to contract at a steeper rate th...

It seemed like nothing could temper the industry analyst enthusiasm for media tablet market demand. But faced with growing competition from smartphones with larger displays and the prospect of new mobile device categories diverting consumer spending, International Data Corporation (IDC) has lowered its tablet forecast for 2013 and beyond. IDC now expects worldwide tablet shipments to reach 227.4 million units in 2013 -- that's down from a previous forecast of 229.3 million, but still 57.7 percent above 2012 shipments. Despite the slight reduction for this year, the market will continue to grow at a rapid pace and by 2017 IDC expects worldwide shipments to be nearly 407 million units. The company also adjusted its regional outlook, with maturing markets such as the U.S. now expected to cede share more rapidly to emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific. "A lower than anticipated second quarter, hampered by a lack of major product announcements, means the second half of the y...

Mobile money services for the unbanked, popular in emerging markets, are showing both much faster adoption than m-wallets and related services addressing those with a bank account and a steeper revenue curve. According to the latest market study by Pyramid Research, mobile payments are becoming increasingly integrated into a broader range of mobile services. Furthermore, services such as marketing, advertising, loyalty cards, coupons and discounts are also becoming part of the broader mobile wallet. Mobile network operators in developed markets need to make a long-term commitment to the mobile payment opportunity and have access to large financial reserves to be able to reap long-term benefits. While adoption of NFC-capable mobile devices and readers is finally showing real growth, Pyramid believes that mobile network service providers still face major challenges in mobile contactless payments. The mobile commerce opportunity is becoming an increasingly attractive one, and oper...

Despite the surge in adoption of smartphones and media tablets over the past five years, until recently the projections of mobile commerce (m-commerce) growth had been overstated. But this past year appears to be an inflection point, with many people using their mobile devices for more advanced functions -- including digital commerce transactions. According to the latest market study by comScore, with m-commerce now accounting for about one out of every ten e-commerce dollars, it's time for retailers and marketers to start paying close attention to this platform shift -- so they can develop strategies to meet the evolving needs of their customers. comScore announced the availability of m-commerce sales estimates by product category occurring on both smartphones and tablets. This new capability aligns with comScore’s existing e-commerce sales estimates, enabling retailers, marketers, publishers and financial services companies to gain insight into the trends and market dynamic...

​The growth of leading smartphone ecosystems offers advantages for application software developers that want to reach the largest addressable market for their apps. As a result, Google Android smartphone mobile app revenues are projected to reach almost $6.8 billion by the end of 2013 -- nearly doubling the revenues from last year. The Android platform has some way to go before catching the Apple iOS smartphone revenues. Nevertheless, the smartphone app market will be Android’s most fruitful growth opportunity, when compared to other devices. According to the latest global market study by ABI Research, Android smartphone app revenues will increase from 59.1 percent to 65.9 percent when compared to iOS smartphone app revenues over the next twelve months. "Apple’s iOS still leads all the other mobile operating systems’ revenues by a significant margin; however, the greater number of Android smartphones in use is clawing back Apple’s lead in this market,” said Josh Flood, senio...

The wearable digital devices marketplace has gained new momentum in 2013. Moreover, Juniper Research has revealed that app-enabled smart watch shipments will reach 36 million per annum by 2018, compared to just over 1 million this year. Their latest global market study found that shipments of smart watches will be driven by a new multi-function segment capable of performing an array of additional functionalities -- such as tracking fitness and sports activities, payments and ticketing. According to Juniper's assessment, the multi-function smart watch segment will be propelled by the emergence of players such as Apple and Samsung. Why Apple and Samsung are Key Players Juniper contends that the entrance of Apple and Samsung into this sector -- as suggested by recent trademarks and patents -- will help to validate the category and act as the impetus for other competitors to enter the high-growth wearable devices space. "By educating and publicising this digital device ...