Digital Lifescapes

Many silicon valley venture capital firms would prefer to forget the epic dot-com bubble that lasted from 1997 to 2000. But who can forget their naive rush to invest in some of the most absurd Web 2.0 start-ups and silly Social Media companies? It was truly unprecedented. Granted, the people who would most like to erase those memories are the senior executives at large corporations who helped to orchestrate the acquisition of a dot-com flop, at ridiculous market evaluations, then close the failed business within a year to eighteen months of the purchase. That fiasco would never happen again. Or, could it? Technology-related mergers and acquisitions (M&A) spending in 2015 is likely to continue at the record pace that was set last year, according to the latest market study by 451 Research. Bullish sentiment from corporate acquirers and bankers, combined with an optimistic macro-economic environment and a re-energized private equity market, is fueling the current M&A outlook

Not that long ago, internet access via a mobile phone was considered a novelty. Today, as more mobile network operators continue to achieve breakthroughs in broadband upload and download speeds, the growth in total mobile data traffic is rising exponentially. ABI Research now predicts that the average monthly data consumed per mobile service subscriber will increase from 445 megabytes in 2014 to 2,289 megabytes by 2019. In early December 2014, Nokia Networks unveiled its carrier aggregation solution with Ooredoo and China Mobile which was capable of reaching 300 Mbps uplink and 3.8 Gbps downlink. Earlier on, ZTE demonstrated the world’s first 40 MHz LTE uplink carrier aggregation solution. These breakthroughs and stability of upload and download throughput, once commercially deployed, will enable service subscribers to rely on their mobile devices as entertainment and productivity solutions, in addition to basic voice and data communication. "Therefore, it is not surprisin

As more over-the-top (OTT) video is consumed by Americans in their homes, this trend has created a positive upside for certain types of consumer electronics -- in particular, streaming media players. Moreover, low-cost on-demand access to video entertainment has disrupted the legacy pay-TV industry. By the first quarter of 2017, 40 percent of U.S. Internet homes will have a streaming media player, bringing the total number of homes with these devices to 39 million, according to the latest market study by NPD Group. At the beginning of 2014 (Q1) only 16 percent of U.S. Internet homes had a streaming media player. Ownership is on track to climb to nearly one-quarter of homes, 24 percent, by Q1 2015 when consumers report device ownership that takes into account their holiday purchases. In its infancy, the streaming media player market was driven by growth from Apple and Roku, but over the past year and a half Amazon and Google have made a significant impact. In addition to streami

While much of the prior research about applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) tend to focus on the developed nations, we're starting to see more interesting opportunities in emerging markets -- particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and in Latin America. The ongoing development of practical transportation-related use-cases is very promising, given the anticipated return on investment. Commercial vehicle fleet management, specifically the use of sensors and telematics, is an area that's evolving rapidly. According to the latest market study by Berg Insight, the number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in China was 2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9 percent, this number is expected to reach 5.9 million by 2019. Track and Trace systems dominate the market and the installed base so far includes a significant share of low-end systems with comparatively limited func

The mobile phone has long since graduated from being a device that purely enables person-to-person voice communication. The role of the smartphone is far more expansive, as it has become embedded into lifestyles -- used to surf the web, take photos, connect to social networks, get directions, etc. The proliferation and adoption of the smartphone in particular has been a game changer -- totally redefining what a personal telephone device is capable of doing for the owner -- as well as raising expectations for the user interface (UI). Handset manufacturers have had to innovate in new modes of device control that allow users to operate it without having to touch, or indeed, look at it. Moreover, as these devices enable access to a wealth of personal information about the user, new forms of security are required. Juniper Research  has found that that more than 770 million biometric authentication applications will be downloaded per year by 2019 -- that's up from just 6 million th

The migration of IT workloads to public cloud service providers continues in 2015. Meanwhile, the forward-thinking enterprise CIOs are making plans to transform their data centers to accommodate the applications they intend to keep. Maturation of cloud computing infrastructure and demand for sustainable benefits will drive the marketplace for new hardware and software components to a 14 percent CAGR from 2014 to 2018 -- reaching $36.8 billion -- according to the latest market study by Technology Business Research (TBR). "Customers are increasingly integrating public and private cloud resources into day-to-day, mission-critical workloads and processes," said Krista Macomber, analyst at TBR . However, TBR believes that securing, managing and integrating these complex heterogeneous cloud environments is very challenging. For cloud components vendors, this means embracing more systems integrator partners and expanding their adoption of popular open-source cloud management

Leichtman Research Group ( LRG ) latest market study has found that 79 percent of U.S. households get a broadband Internet service at home -- that's an increase from just 20 percent in 2004. Broadband adoption reached 95 percent of all households with Internet service at home -- that's an increase from 94 percent last year, 89 percent in 2009, and 33 percent in 2004. The mean reported time spent online at home per day is 2.8 hours among all individuals online at home -- that's up from 2.2 hours per day in 2009. Given these findings, why is President Obama now seeking to increase internet service provider (ISP) competition in America? It's about ensuring that the U.S. is prepared for the next wave of disruption in the Global Networked Economy. In order to compete globally, he believes that America requires infrastructure that's at parity (both capabilities and retail price) with the recognized broadband market leaders around the globe. Challenging the Broadb

Throughout 2015 there will be a groundswell of practical new Internet of Things (IoT) related applications within many municipalities across the globe. We have mentioned public parking automation previously. Another emerging scenario is the enhancement of public street lighting. The installed base for Smart street light luminaires is set to grow rapidly, with network controlled nodes set to rise from 2 million today to 40 million by 2019, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. "Alongside the energy savings, lifespan, and quality of light improvements that LEDs offer, the enhanced controllability of this technology through the adoption of intelligent networking solutions has the ability to revolutionize the way cities utilize their street lighting infrastructure in order to deliver an attractive, sustainable, and safer living space," said Andrew Zignani, research analyst at ABI Research . The technology choices are also evolving. Power Line Communication

Thoughts of Mobile Cloud leadership are top of mind, as software apps become the battle ground of the American smartphone marketplace. And, new mobile enterprise applications are going to be the focus of further research during 2015. Meanwhile, comScore released data from their latest market study, reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for November 2014. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 41.8 percent OEM market share. Once again, Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform with 52.6 percent platform market share. Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone app in America. Google has, by far, the most smartphone applications within the top ten ranking positions. Smartphone OEM Market Share 178 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (73.6 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in November -- that's up by 2 percent since August. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 41.8 percent of U.S. smartph

There once was a time where Information Technology (IT) professional services was a high-growth sector of the global economy. Organizations in all regions of the world were engaged in the deployment of monolithic CRM and ERP applications. Teams of software engineers and consultants were hired to manage these expensive projects. The results were often disappointing. Today, the traditional IT Services business models have been disrupted by the transition to X-as-a-Service models, which combined with longer decision cycles around emerging complex hybrid cloud computing environments leads to continued pressures on vendor revenue growth. According to to the latest market study by Technology Business Research (TBR), cautious client spend on transformational projects and extended decision cycles are occurring in the IT Services market, with average trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue growing 1.5 percent year-to-year in 3Q14. That's slightly higher than the 1.2 percent year-to-year grow

Smaller declines in personal computer sales around the globe are a welcomed change. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), that's a year-on-year decline of -2.4 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Total shipments were slightly above expectations of -4.8 percent growth, but the market still contracted both year on year and in comparison to the third quarter. IDC reports that although the holiday quarter saw shipment volume inch above 80 million for the first time in 2014, the final quarter nonetheless marked the end of yet another difficult year -- it was the third consecutive year with overall volumes declining. On an annual basis, 2014 shipments totaled 308.6 million units, that's down by -2.1 percent from the prior year. Besides, the forward-looking trend doesn't indicate any meaningful improvements. Although the U.S. and Europe remained stronger than other markets,

Awareness of the need for improved sustainability in densely populated urban areas has been greatly heightened in the 21st century, particularly as the information age has enabled mankind to measure quantitative data in relation to the environment. Furthermore, many cities do not have the ability to add infrastructure and expand horizontally. This can lead to increased levels of traffic congestion, or excessive crowding on public transportation. That said, the findings from a recent market study by Juniper Research indicate that Smart City traffic management and parking projects will reduce cumulative global emissions by 164 million metric tonnes of CO2 between 2014 and 2019 -- that's equivalent to the annual emissions produced by 35 million vehicles. Smart City initiatives can benefit the environment, while also positively impacting the quality of city dweller lives. With about 700 million automobiles projected to be on city roads across the globe by 2019, demand for innovat

In the coming years, the deluge of data from internet connected sensors and other devices will be significant. The revenues generated from integrating, storing, analyzing, and presenting Internet of Things (IoT) data will reach $5.7 billion in 2015, according the the latest global market study by ABI Research. In the next 5 years, ABI believes that the market will expand dramatically, to an extent that in 2020 it's estimated to account for nearly one-third of all big data and analytics revenues. "About 60 percent of this year’s revenues come from three key areas -- energy management, security management, as well as monitoring and status applications," said Aapo Markkanen, principal analyst at ABI Research . Within these segments, there are analytic applications that reduce the cost base of asset-intensive operations (condition-based maintenance), automate routine workflows (surveillance), or even enable new business models (usage-based insurance). According to AB

According to the latest market study by 451 Research, a variety of acquirers increased their mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the Internet of Things (IoT) marketplace during 2014, spending a combined $14.3 billion to acquire 60 companies. By comparison, that spending is almost eight-times the total spent by acquirers prior to 2014 -- representing a forty-fold increase over 2013. Meanwhile, the ongoing interest in the IoT-related venture capital investment market is likely to blossom during 2015. The number of corporate M&A deals increased more than twofold, with companies such as Google, Samsung, Cisco, Intel, PTC, Qualcomm and others increasing their effort to position IoT as a key contributor to business growth strategy. 451 Reserach analysts believe that the sharp rise in deal-making activity in 2014 suggests that market forces surrounding IoT have become sufficiently compelling, which has simulated major IT vendor action. "Acquirers don’t want

During the course of 2015, more people will watch broadcast television, pay-TV programming and a variety of other video content on a greater range of consumer electronics devices. The commercial implications of this transition will impact the whole Technology, Media and Telecommunications sectors in numerous ways. In some markets it creates a significant new upside opportunity, in others the incumbent video entertainment service providers will experience subscriber declines. In particular, advertiser supported programming will experience some disruption, as more marketers continue to shift their budgets from traditional broadcast media channels to online digital media. In addition, the growth of connected consumers accessing the internet for the first time -- many enabled by low-cost smartphones and media tablets -- in the Asia-Pacific region will increase the significance of this rapidly emerging consumer marketplace. For the 51 countries covered in the latest worldwide market

The spectrum of possibilities for device applications within the Internet of Things (IoT) may be limited more by our own imagination than any other factor. As an example, consider the variety of demonstrations for small drone aircraft technology at the International CES 2015 this week in Las Vegas. Imagine capturing live video from a drone aircraft and streaming it over the internet, via a 4G LTE wireless network connection. This is just one of the emerging applications for this new technology category. The Small Unmanned Arial Systems (sUAS) market  -- that's the formal name for a class of drones -- will surpass $8.4 billion by 2018, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. By 2019, the Commercial sector will dominate the overall sUAS market with revenues exceeding $5.1 billion (that's a 51 percent CAGR from 2014 to 2019), or roughly five times larger than the Prosumer/Hobby market, and 2.3x greater than the Military/Civil market segment. Moreove

Once again, the recorded music industry is at a pivotal juncture in their evolution. The recent recording artist royalty disputes with Spotify has intensified concern about the economic viability of streaming music subscription services. The latest market study by Strategy Analytics found that despite continuous growth in adoption of music streaming services, current providers are having difficulty turning music streaming into a profit. Given the ongoing financial challenges with this business model, the resolution is still unclear. "Technology is evolving and changing the way consumers discover, listen to, share, and interact with music, but it is also a significant factor in the decline of music industry revenues. Many artists feel they are under compensated by streaming services, but as currently structured the underlying economics won't support higher royalty payments by these service, particularly for free ad-supported services" said Leika Kawasaki, analyst at St

User demand for wearable devices has distinct demographic segments. Age, income, and gender vary greatly among fitness tracker and smartwatch owners, according to the latest American market study by NPD Group. Purpose-built fitness trackers, which have a strong presence in the wearables market, have gained a large mainstream following. According to their study, 36 percent of fitness tracker owners in the U.S. market are 35-54 years old, 41 percent had an average income of more than $100,000, and 54 percent were women. Moreover, one-in-ten U.S. adults now own a fitness tracker. Smartwatches haven’t caught on as quickly, with only two percent penetration, and appeal to a much different segment of the market. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of smartwatch owners are 18-34 years old, skew mostly towards the male population (71 percent) and nearly half (48 percent) had an income below $45,000. "There is no average consumer for the wearables market; the fitness tracker a

During the coming year, vague references to the Internet of Things -- and related big data analytics applications -- will start to evolve into very meaningful use-case scenarios. The metamorphosis of road transportation management is one example of this trend. Traditional smart transportation approaches to address traffic congestion, safety, pollution, and other urbanization challenges are expected to encounter scalability and efficiency obstacles by the end of this decade. Traveler information systems -- such as variable-message signs, intelligent traffic lights, camera-enforced urban tolling, and traffic monitoring centers -- will ultimately prove ineffective and prohibitively expensive. This will threaten to stall economic growth, especially in developing regions. Clearly, there's no shortage of investment in this market. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, global yearly spend on traffic management systems alone will exceed $10 billion by 2020. But both

Multinational company CEOs have approved large investments in regional data centers, because they were told it was a requirement. This is what a typical legacy IT organization does with their budget -- they build, operate and maintain facilities that house computing systems. These CEOs believe that data center facilities are wise investments. They're convinced there are compelling reasons why owning these expensive assets is beneficial to their business goals and objectives. There are some industries where this practice is commonplace. Meanwhile, other senior executives have followed the guidance of forward-thinking CIOs or IT managers that choose to house some or all of their corporate computing systems within the shared facilities of service providers. Collectively, these providers have built numerous  colocation centers around the globe. As more companies review their IT investment strategies and follow the path to adopting colocation facilities, several key tends have em

The need for Big Data solutions is becoming a reality for more companies. The market hype around big data is ending, signifying a long-term adoption trend that will expose many software application opportunities in the coming year. As the broader big data and analytics (BDA) products and services market approaches $100 billion in revenues, software vendors are faced with the need to address an increasingly fragmented enterprise buyer population. A new worldwide market study provides valuable insight into developer opinions about big data technologies, current database and analytics solutions, and the buyer motivations behind product and service choices. Data quality and growing volume are the primary problems affecting software developers while exploring the evolving concept of big data, according to findings from the latest survey by Evans Data Corp. This comprehensive market study measured and analyzed the IT buyer and business decision maker attitudes and perceptions, as wel

Back in April of 2012, a key trend had emerged -- people were choosing lower-cost notebook PCs. The Wintel partnership was concerned. If the trend gained momentum, then profits would surely be impacted. Intel responded with the Ultrabook campaign , in an attempt to "correct" the market. The result of this huge marketing investment by Intel was " cinematic and epic " -- but clearly not in a way that was intended. The outcome from the campaign and the apparent lessons-learned are truly one of the most insightful marketing case studies of the decade. Why? This was an irrefutable example of how traditional mass-media marketing was no longer able to significantly influence buyer sentiment. Moreover, the size of an advertising and promotion budget won't translate into market development gains, if and when it rejects a compelling trend in the marketplace. The Reality: a New Era of Computing The Average Selling Price (ASP) of Ultrabooks and media tablets declin