Digital Lifescapes

Mobile communication remains a dynamic market that is enabled by a number of wireless technologies that are still evolving. The interior of commercial vehicles and consumer automobiles is yet another emerging frontier for the Internet of Everything. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, connected automotive infotainment systems will exhibit a CAGR of 33.8 percent over the next five years, with a rapid expansion in connected navigation and in-car Wi-Fi driving growth. Developed regions, which accounted for over 60 percent of system shipments in 2014, will account for only 37.4 percent of shipments in 2020. According to the ABI assessment, just over half of all connected automotive infotainment systems shipping in 2020 will do so in the Asia-Pacific region. "This growth in connected infotainment is largely consumer driven, with OEMs and Tier One suppliers both recognizing the need to provide an integrated digital experience which is consistent and compatible ...

More Americans are using a smartphone, with a slight increase in adoption since the end of last year. comScore  has released the data on key trends within the U.S. smartphone industry for February 2015. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 41.7 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform with 52.8 percent platform market share. Facebook continues to rank as the top individual smartphone application in America. Meanwhile, a variety of Google apps dominate the top 15 software applications list, and Snapchat entered the list for the first time. Smartphone OEM Market Share 186.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (76.6 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in February 2015 -- that's up by 5 percent since November 2014. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 41.7 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Samsung ranked second with 28.6 percent market share, followed by LG with 8.3 percen...

The growing popularity of watching online video entertainment has become a more common activity worldwide, particularly with the younger generation. As a result, these shifting video consumption trends have created a few market share gainers and many losers. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research , subscriptions from Over-the-Top (OTT) video entertainment providers -- such as Netflix and Amazon Prime -- will generate $31.6 billion by 2019, that's up from just under $8 billion in 2014. Continued growth in the established markets of West Europe and North America, along with the emergence of key OTT players in the Far East and Asia-Pacific, will bring a surge in the adoption of OTT subscriptions over the next four years. Assessing the Threat to Legacy Pay-TV Juniper observed that OTT services are seeing a rapid uptake by all people who want to view content, when and where it suits them. Mobile devices, such as notebook PCs and media tablets, are responsibl...

The Technology, Media and Telecom ( TMT ) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals are off to a slow start this year, according to the latest worldwide market study by Mergermarket . Market activity so far in 2015 was not able to match the performance of 2014. Case in point: the 612 M&A deals worth $144.3 billion in Q1 2015 were a 20.5 percent decrease by value and 61 fewer deals, when compared to the 673 deals valued at $181.5 billion in Q1 2014. Although global M&A activity share for the TMT sector has fallen from the 28.6 percent share in Q1 2014 to a 19.2 percent share in Q1 2015, the consolidated sector has still been the strongest globally, closely followed by the Consumer industry with $143.2 billion. Regional TMT M&A Market Trends European TMT targets, with a total of M&A activity valued at $61 billion, experienced a 33.1 percent increase over the $45.8 billion in Q1 2014 -- representing the highest Q1 value on Mergermarket record, and constituting 42.3 ...

Juniper Research believes that the next-generation smartphone -- enabled by an associated software application -- is set to become a means of linking external Smart Wireless Devices to the mobile cloud. These smartphones will form a central point for a Wireless Personal Area Network, thereby connecting to a wide range of peripheral software apps, web-based portals or cloud-based services. Put simply, a smart wireless device is a stand-alone piece of hardware which can link to a nearby smartphone, often via a short-range wireless technology such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The device will typically have a companion app, which will add value to the data received from the hardware device. In addition, data from the device may be uploaded to an online site for data analysis. Juniper has unveiled their list of recent smart technology developments that they believe will positively impact the smart wireless devices sector during 2015. The Apple Watch launch is a potential game-changer. Not...

If you're one of those American consumers that learned how to configure your Wi-Fi router to add various new devices to your wireless home network, then consider yourself one of the many who are self-sufficient techies. Parks Associates reports that, based on the findings from their recent market study, 84 percent of U.S. broadband households set-up their entertainment and computing devices on their own, while 60 percent set-up their smart home devices on their own. The Parks study found that despite this independent on-boarding process, the need for vendor technical support persists and will increase as consumers bring more connected devices into the home. "Consumers’ home networks are rapidly expanding through the adoption of complex connected devices," said Patrice Samuels, research analyst at Parks Associates . Tech support is a key factor in tying together the Internet of Things (IoT), according to Parks Associates. For example, 27 percent of U.S. broadband ...

Leaders of large corporations appreciate the significance of thoughtful investment in the future of their business. Most CEOs agree, the competitive advantages of tomorrow hinge on the strategic application of open source software-defined technologies -- such as enterprise mobility, cloud computing and big data. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that, including internal IT spending, the world's largest companies spent $895 billion on business technology during 2014. All the leading IT vendors should now have a better understanding of the key business imperatives that are driving investments in these large global companies -- clearly, they set the pace of new technology adoption across their industries. Moreover, the activities of the largest IT spenders provide a glimpse into how these industry leaders are taking steps to use targeted investment to transform their businesses for 2015 and beyond. As we enter the Innovation Stage of Digital Business Transformati...

The Internet of Everything (IoE) is the next evolutionary stage of the Internet of Things (IoT). It's a concept that sees all manner of previously unconnected objects and processes being converged with the ones that are already online. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, this convergence of physical and digital domains is set to potentially disrupt individual organizations and entire industries. The IoE is being enabled by advancements with standardized, ultra-low-power wireless technologies -- such as Bluetooth and ZigBee -- which are enabling sensor and node implementations. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity serve as a backbone for transferring the collected data to the Cloud. ABI Research estimates that the volume of data captured by IoT-connected devices exceeded 200 exabytes in 2014. The annual total is forecast to grow seven-fold by the end of the decade, surpassing 1,600 exabytes -- or 1.6 zettabytes -- in 2020. "The data originating f...

Information Technology (IT) spending growth was moderate last year, according to most industry analyst assessments. Regardless, senior executives continued to approve the strategic investment in digital transformation projects. Worldwide, the cloud computing sector blossomed in 2014. The combined total of all cloud computing IT infrastructure spending -- server, disk storage, and ethernet switch -- grew by 14.4 percent year-over-year to $8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), accounting for 30 percent of all IT infrastructure spending, that's up from about 27 percent the prior year. Private cloud infrastructure spending grew by 18.3 percent year over year to $2.9 billion, while public cloud infrastructure spending grew to $5.0 billion -- that's 12.3 percent higher than one year ago, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Meanwhile, for the full year of 2014, cloud IT infrastructure spending totaled $26.4 billion, that's ...

Ever since the first clickable banner ad was produced in 1993, advertising on digital platforms has evolved. The growth in digital advertising has been aided by several improvements, such as programmatic media and big data. The potential for targeted, personalized advertising -- enabled by new mobile device adoption -- is a key area of interest for digital marketers. Advertising spend on smart watches will reach $68.6 million by 2019, that's up from an estimated $1.5 million this year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research . The study found that market growth will be fueled by the entrance of high-profile brands, such as Apple, into the smart watch arena, combined with the ongoing mainstream acceptance of wearable technology. Juniper believes that the emergence of an additional mobile screen would stimulate interest among advertisers. However, until a significant user base is reached, most ad-spend is likely to take the form of ad-hoc marketing campaigns. ...

Over-the-Top (OTT) content distribution has been a disruptive force in an otherwise status-quo video entertainment market. As the viewership of traditional linear broadcast TV continues a slow decline in mature markets, advertisers are seeking other ways to reach consumers. Revenue from OTT television program advertising -- that is, commercial advertising placed in full-length TV-quality programming delivered via broadband -- is expected to grow nearly four fold between 2015 and 2020, according to the latest market study by TDG. Their worldwide market study produced what represents the first publicly-available advertising forecast associated exclusively with the delivery of OTT TV content. According to the TDG assessment, the average ad load for a 30-minute legacy linear program will decline by 38 percent between 2014 and 2020, from approximately eight minutes to around five minutes. During the same forecast period, average OTT TV ad loads will increase 63 percent, from 3.2 min...

The volume of mobile and online ticketing in both the developed and developing parts of the world is increasing. Online ticketing, along with the increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets, has revolutionized the way consumers purchase e-tickets. Global ticket purchases via mobile and desktop devices -- including smartphones, media tablets and PCs -- are forecast to reach 32 billion by 2019, that's up from an estimated 16.2 billion this year. This represents a two-fold growth over the next 4 years, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. The new study found that with digital ticketing services developing fast across the transport and events sector, mobile handsets will account for more than 50 percent of all digital tickets purchased by 2019. Airlines often use their mobile boarding pass facility as a stepping stone to mobile ticket purchase and further mobile service features. Typical examples include seat selection, actual arrival and depar...

​Traditional pay-TV service providers in the developed markets have been reacting to ongoing customer churn. Overall growth is now forecast at only 3.7 percent CAGR through 2020, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. In contrast, over-the-top (OTT) video services continue their strong growth, and should experience 26 percent total revenue growth in 2015 -- with a 24 percent CAGR through 2019. With the growing popularity of independent OTT services, such as Netflix and HBO Go, customers are starting to demand a similar experience from their pay-TV subscriptions -- including features such as content search, recommendations and mobile device support. Informed consumers will no longer accept legacy television offerings, as is. The bar of expectations has been raised by the OTT service providers that dared to re-imagine the video entertainment experience. "Comparatively high priced pay-TV bundles are losing customers to more inexpensive, IP-delivered content,...

Worldwide personal computer (PC) shipments totaled 68.5 million units in the first quarter of 2015 (1Q15) -- that's a year-on-year decline of -6.7 percent, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Following a strong second half of 2014, the PC market in the first quarter of this year faced multiple headwinds -- including inventory build-up of Windows Bing based notebooks, commercial slow down following the Windows XP refresh and constrained demand in many regions due to unfavorable economic conditions. As a result, growth and volume declined with Q1 2015 shipments below 69 million units -- that's the lowest recorded volume since Q1 2009. "Despite the decline, PC shipment in the United States declined at a slower rate than all other regions in first quarter, outperforming worldwide trends for the eleventh consecutive quarter. The strength from key vendors, adoption of emerging products, improvements in the consumer market an...

The evolving Internet of Things (IoT) sector within the Asia-Pacific region will continue its rapid expansion, with the number of units connected to increase from 3.1 billion today to 8.6 billion by 2020, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Over this same period, the total Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) market size will increase from $250 billion to $583 billion in revenue. "The Internet of Things industry has matured considerably over the past year, with a number of large government initiatives across APeJ, and China in particular, driving demand," said Charles Reed Anderson, associate vice president at IDC . "This increase in market demand has led to an increased focus on IoT from the leading ICT vendors." China will continue to dominate IoT within the Asia-Pacific region -- accounting for 59 percent of the APeJ market opportunity by 2020 -- and is one of the leading markets globally with nearly 1 out of every 5...

The seventeen largest cable and telephone service providers in the U.S. -- representing about 94 percent of the market -- acquired 3 million net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 2014, according to the latest market study by Leichtman Research Group . Annual net broadband additions in 2014 were 114 percent of the total in 2013. These top broadband providers now account for 87.3 million subscribers -- with cable companies having 51.9 million broadband subscribers, and telephone companies having 35.4 million subscribers. Other key findings from the market study include: The top cable companies netted 89 percent of the broadband additions in 2014 – compared to 82 percent of the broadband additions in 2013. The top cable companies added 2.65 million broadband subscribers in 2014 – 123 percent of the total net additions for the top cable companies in 2013. The top telephone companies added about 345,000 subscribers – 72 percent of the total net additions for the top tele...

Those of us that follow trends in the global consumer electronics market knew that this day would come.  ​Media Tablets will overtake Notebook PCs as the largest mobile computing category this year, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. Tablets, now viewed by many analysts to be in direct competition with all forms of notebook PCs, will gain a 52 percent majority share of the mobile computing market by the end of 2015. ABI Research forecasts the flat overall growth of the notebook PC segment, due to longer replacement cycles and device competition, causing notebook devices to drop from 51 percent market share in 2013 to 48 percent in 2015. Moreover, the current downward trend will continue beyond this year. Notebook PC market share is forecast to decline again to 47% by year-end 2016. Although some tablets are competing for share of wallet with notebook PCs, most tablets serve a niche that emphasizes portability and connectivity to the Internet -- ...

The market for mobile software applications has evolved dramatically over the past 6 years. However, just 1 percent of applications are now paid for at the point of download. The vast majority of mobile apps are monetized through advertising, or through either subscribing to content post-download, or through a series of one-off purchases of premium content. Annual revenues from mobile apps accessed via mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach $99 billion by 2019, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. The research found that while games would continue to account for the largest share of revenues for the next five years, highest growth would be experienced in areas such as lifestyle applications -- such as dating and navigation -- and via eBook sales. Mobile App Payment Evolution According to the Juniper assessment, a significant proportion of online dating activity is now migrating to mobile devices -- with dating accounting for four of t...

Vending in its earliest known form dates back to 215 BC in ancient Egypt, where a device has been identified that dispensed holy water at places of worship when a coin was deposited. In the U.S. market, vending is generally conceded to have begun in 1888 with the Adams Gum company and their penny gum dispensing machines. Today, the vending machine industry is a global phenomena, and it is now part of the growing Internet of Things (IoT) connected device market opportunity. There are more than 17 million vending machines worldwide. The world's vending operators have either installed or are now considering adding Internet connectivity. The global installed base of connected vending machines grew by 18.4 percent to 1.16 million units in 2014, according to the latest market study by Berg Insight. Around 0.56 million of these machines have been installed in North America, whereas 0.15 million of the machines were located in Europe. The number of connected vending machines in ot...

Wearable technology is about to evolve. The explosion of wearable devices was originally led by fitness bands. However, a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater end-user awareness will now drive the worldwide wearables market higher in 2015. Vendors will ship a total of 45.7 million units in 2015, up a strong 133.4 percent from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014, According to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). By 2019, total shipment volumes are forecast to reach 126.1 million units, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.1 percent. Propelling the market higher in 2015 is an increased focus on smart wearables, or those devices capable of running third-party applications. These include devices like the Apple Watch, the Motorola Moto 360, and the Samsung Gear watches. The total volume of smart wearables will reach 25.7 million units in 2015 -- that's up by 510.9 percent from the 4.2 million unit...

Network connectivity and wireless communication technologies are essential for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions -- they provide the basic infrastructure for connected assets, such as sensor modules. Most vertical markets are dependent on innovation in device and communication technologies to lower long-term enablement costs -- to enhance services, and to offer new services. In particular, the generation and distribution of electrical power is a market that's already primed for change. A case in point: growth of the solar and wind energy industry will increasingly rely on IoT-based technologies and services, according to the latest global market study by ABI Research. They forecast that IoT connected wind and solar installations will grow at a CAGR of 21 percent between 2014 and 2020 -- with the total number of connections growing from the almost 2 million in 2014 to 6.3 million in 2020. "With the expected decline of government incent...

Despite having been demonstrated to the masses via the medium of Cinema, as well as the fact that the Augmented Reality (AR) concept has been in development for a long time, the technology has yet to gain significant market traction. That said, AR software applications in the mobile games market are forecast to generate 420 million downloads annually by 2019 -- that's up from 30 million in 2014, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. The emergence of Head Mounted Devices (HMDs) used in the home -- such as the Microsoft Hololens -- will bring a surge in interest for AR games over the next five years. For the time being however, Juniper believes that most AR downloads will likely occur via smartphones and media tablets. Market Development Opportunities Juniper also observed that there had been little traction in the consumer AR market over the past two years. They cited the apparent lack of compelling apps to captivate consumers, and hence a limited level...