Digital Lifescapes

There are now more than 6.4 billion mobile phones in circulation worldwide. They've evolved far beyond a simple means of two-way communications. They're now a multifaceted enabler of numerous day-to-day online activities made possible by mobile internet access. Clearly, there are both opportunities and challenges associated with this trend. As people increasingly complete more digital transactions via smartphones and other mobile devices, the need to verify their identity -- and protect it from theft -- becomes paramount. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, the increased rollout of contactless payment services using fingerprint scanners will increase the number of biometrically authenticated transactions to nearly 5 billion by 2019 -- that's up from less than 130 million in 2015. Juniper observed that at present, only two services -- from Apple and Samsung -- used fingerprint scanners for authentication, with availability currently limited to the

The growing applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) within the commercial vehicle marketplace has reached an inflection point where numerous benefits are increasing adoption. New eCommerce shipping logistics optimization apps are just the beginning. The commercial telematics industry is now primed for growth in the next five years, especially in the enterprise and SMB segments, with players such as Telogis and Fleetmatics leading the way in these respective verticals in the United States market. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, it's just a matter of time before the first vendor exceeds one million vehicles under management -- with Fleetmatics having set a target of 1.2 million subscriptions by 2020. "We are witnessing the emergence of a very dynamic ecosystem characterized by cut-throat competition, aggressive marketing, mergers and acquisitions galore, and high levels of equity investment with high expectations about quick returns," said

All leaders must now understand the critical forces driving open digital transformation and learn how to remap their industries, remodel their enterprises and remake themselves -- to take digital to the core of their leadership methodology, according to Gartner, Inc. In the new book launched this month, Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner Fellow, and Graham Waller, research vice president at Gartner, offers insightful guidance on how savvy executive leaders can achieve their bold digital transformation goals and objectives. To delve into the secrets of today's successful digital leaders, the authors supplement Gartner's research base and annual executive survey data with more than thirty interviews of CEOs, CIOs and other C-level executives from recognized multinational companies. Mr. Raskino and Mr. Waller have outlined some of their key research findings, that they describe in greater detail within the book, at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo series of events around

Although the fundamental ideas of applied automation in a residential setting were conceived long ago, progress to a technology-rich 'smart' home have remained somewhat elusive. Nonetheless, market development should improve as vendors utilize more effective product adoption strategies. By definition, a Smart Home is one that is designed to deliver or distribute a number of digital services within and outside the home environment, through a range of networked devices. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, consumer spend on Smart Home services -- including entertainment, health, energy and home automation -- will reach $100 billion by 2020. That's well over twice the estimated spend for 2015, at $43 billion. Entertainment services, such as Netflix and Spotify, are playing a key role in boosting the Smart Home market size -- driven by a universal appeal, and the relatively low cost of these services. However, emerging Smart Home segments,

The public internet has been an enabler of growth within the global networked economy. The next wave of connectivity applications will greatly expand internet use-cases, but complexity within the technology ecosystem has also increased. There are now many mutually dependent participants. IDATE has released its latest forecast for the global Internet of Things (IoT) market. They decided to examine the overall market which still raises a host of questions. Such as, is the IoT market development really progressing as anticipated, and how long will it take to gain significant momentum? They also considered which IoT business models seem the most reliable? Which market players and countries are in the best position to benefit from this latest development in the Internet's evolution? "Although the Internet of Things is a powerful concept, it is not necessarily a market in and of itself. IoT encompasses a very disparate array of fields that need to be examined separately, to ob

Retailers are adopting a new wave of wireless technologies that could transform the shopping experience in numerous ways. Wireless in-store beacons are a key component of this strategy. These tiny beacon devices broadcast small pieces of information to nearby shoppers via their smartphones, which are enabled to receive the message via a retailer's software app. What's in these messages? Personalized advertising promotions that are targeted at consumers. ABI Research now forecasts that dedicated Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon advertising networks will be worth over $2 billion in revenue by 2020. ABI has been studying the use of BLE beacons, audio/ultrasound and LED/VLC for advertising purposes across large third-party networks, Out of Home (OOH) and in-store brand advertising. "What is clear is that BLE beacons are not enough, and already many of the most successful advertising networks are using audio/ultrasound technologies," said Patrick Connolly, principal

Public cloud computing continues to impact all other forms of IT spending. Few enterprise CIOs and IT managers will increase spending on traditional data center servers, while many plan to increase their spending on converged infrastructure, according to the latest market study by 451 Research. Moreover, those organizations that have the skilled technical staff are starting to make the switch to lower-cost open hyperscale infrastructure for the compelling economic advantages. This recent market study also shows that nearly 17 percent of survey respondents are 'very likely' to switch vendors over the next 90 days. "Commoditization of x86 systems is catalyzing competition as decision-makers increasingly consider alternatives, including white-box (unbranded) servers. A growing opportunity exists for those vendors that can position their offerings to address key customer needs," said Nikolay Yamakawa, senior analyst at 451 Research . Fifty-two percent of 'Stand

Hybrid IT environments will fuel the growing demand for experienced digital transformation talent that's currently in short supply. In particular, CIOs and IT managers have filled the void by engaging a variety of consulting firms to help them meet their near-term cloud computing specialist requirements. That being said, the cloud professional services market is now forecast to grow at a low-double-digit CAGR through 2019, reaching $59 billion in revenue, according to the latest Technology Business Research (TBR) forecast. Accelerated demand for managed services will continue to increase opportunities for cloud professional services vendors, and the leaders will continue capitalizing on longer-term, ongoing consulting opportunities, relying less on software applications development and maintenance. Enterprise customers seek to build best-fit, multi-cloud environments, but increasing cloud security concerns could prevent these organizations from adopting and implementing cloud

While most people in developed markets around the world prefer online digital banking, some customers still prefer an in-branch session -- when compared to the potential for a long wait during a voice call to the bank's customer service center. Today, given the options, the outlook is more likely to be centered on leveraging smartphone adoption, as banks move to a mobile channel approach to customer service automation -- it's a trend supported by the ongoing decline of physical bank branches. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, over 1 billion smartphone users will have used their devices for banking purposes by the end of this year. This global user base is forecast to reach 2 billion by 2020, by which time it will represent 37 percent of the global adult population. Growth in adoption has been particularly aggressive in emerging markets, leading Juniper to revise their prior estimate upwards. Under their revised forecasts, mobile banking u

If you're thinking of holding on to your current smartphone because there's no compelling reason to upgrade, well you're not alone. The smartphone market in America has plateaued, now that most mobile network service providers removed phone subsidies and Apple offers unlocked iPhones directly to consumers (bypassing the U.S. wireless carriers). In addition, the ongoing use of Facebook Messenger app is negatively impacting the legacy SMS revenue stream. When you combine that with the ongoing adoption of other popular mobile messaging software -- such as WhatsApp -- the trend is really troubling to mobile operators. Besides, considering the outlook for Voice over Wi-Fi apps -- such as Google Hangouts Dialer -- the escalating OTT bypass trend now has the potential to cause a major market disruption. More mobile subscribers could downgrade to calling plans with fewer bundled cell network voice minutes. That being said, comScore released data from its latest study of key

As the video entertainment market evolves in America, the traditional pay-TV service providers are seeking to maintain their subscriber base in the face of rising operational costs related to content, which often directly translates into higher service fees for their customers. Meanwhile, short-term promotional discounts are still being applied to attract potential new customers to the traditional pay-TV offerings. But it's becoming increasing difficult to compete with the value-based pricing of the over-the-top (OTT) streaming video services (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) . According to the latest market study by Leichtman Research Group (LRG), 83 percent of all U.S. households nationwide subscribe to some form of pay-TV service. That being said, the percentage of households that subscribe to a pay-TV service is down from 87 percent in 2010. "Changes in the dynamics of the pay-TV industry are not driven just by those exiting the category, but also those coming into the category,

The personal computing (PC) market is a source of concern for most of the established consumer electronics vendors, where chromebooks and 2-in-1 tablet devices seem to be the only bright spots for an upside. That being said, this is an opportune time for someone to introduce a breakthrough product concept. Meanwhile, the downward slide continues. Worldwide PC shipments totaled nearly 71 million units in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). This volume represented a year-on-year decline of -10.8 percent -- that's slightly worse than projections for a decline of -9.2 percent. Across many regions, the PC channel remained focused on clearing out the old Windows 8 inventory, before a more complete portfolio of models incorporating Windows 10 and Intel Skylake processors comes on the scene. While Windows 10 has generally received favorable reviews and raised consumer interest in PCs, IDC believes t

Mobile internet users in North America have endured high-cost services (compared to other global regions) as a result of market consolidation -- where fewer service providers compete for customers. That all changed when the status-quo was broken by T-Mobile's lower prices. People rejoiced. Well, most people. Some mobile network operators struggle to generate new wireless communication service revenue growth in the U.S., due to the ongoing pricing war and the saturated smartphone market, according to the latest study by Technology Business Research (TBR). In an attempt to offset declining service revenue, some American mobile network operators are focused on expanding their connected device offerings and increasing equipment revenue through un-subsidized smartphone purchases. However, the smart ones also prepared for this scenario by lowering the inherent high costs within their operations. "Verizon remained the top-ranked U.S. wireless carrier in 2Q15 and led the industr

The video entertainment industry has experienced many changes during the last decade, but few were as dramatic as the shift in global pay-TV growth prospects. While many developed nations reached market saturation, emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region assumed the market development leadership position. Pay-TV subscriptions for 338 operators across 89 countries will increase by 200 million from a collective 704 million in 2014 to 904 million by 2020, according to the latest worldwide market study by Digital TV Research . That being said, China Radio & TV is the world's largest pay-TV operator, by a wide margin. Chinese government policy to consolidate cable TV means that China Radio & TV quickly became the world's largest pay-TV operator -- with 198 million subscribers by the end of 2014. They will soon represent every cable TV home in China, with a forecast 252 million subscribers expected by 2020 -- that's an upside increase of nearly 54 million compar

The combined Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sector has continued to evolve throughout this year, as ongoing consolidation results in some huge deals. Furthermore, in the near future, we could see more private equity transactions. "Entire private equity funds have formed in recent years around a tech acquisition strategy," according to Mergermarket intelligence, highlighted by a 21.2 percent increase in the value of American technology buyouts ($32.8 billion) compared to the whole of 2014. TMT market activity during the first quarter through the third quarter of 2015 has reached the second highest annual value on Mergermarket record (since 2001) with transactions valued at $534.2 billion, only beaten by 2006’s full-year total at $600.9 billion. Compared to the whole of 2014, Q1-Q3 2015 accounts for 804 fewer deals (2,168 vs. 2,972), but has already seen a $10.8 billion higher deal value (vs. $523.5 billion), according to their latest worldwide market study. The

If there's one compelling point to take away from the Amazon " AWS re:Invent 2015 " keynotes and commentary this week, then it's this -- the leading public cloud service providers know that the current economic trends favor their business model. Moreover, the leading IT industry analysts are providing the statistical evidence that validates the notion that lower-cost hyperscale hardware and open source software is dramatically altering the underlying foundation for enterprise computing. Therefore, the ongoing rapid shift to cloud computing by the bold trailblazers is assured. When the CIOs of traditional IT organizations -- such as General Electric and  Capital One -- say that their wholesale transition to a public cloud solution is now inevitable, the doubters prior questions about security seem like a moot point. Whether it's a large domestic financial services provider or a huge multinational industrial company, the path to progress has become vividly cl

The near ubiquitous inclusion of Wi-Fi on smartphones ensures that this wireless technology is becoming a key component of forward-looking mobile service provider business strategy. Wi-Fi will likely support much of the data-intensive wireless traffic, but emerging applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) creates new challenges. Wireless broadband subscriber demand has already driven changes in market development approaches. Mobile network operators are now increasingly relying upon public Wi-Fi hotspots to support their broader commercial goals and objectives. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they forecast that included within the massive global Wi-Fi coverage anticipated in 2020, at least 6 million public locations will support Hotspot 2.0 technologies and associated capabilities. Although a number of mobile service providers have already upgraded, or committed to upgrade, their public Wi-Fi networks to support next generation Hotspot 2.0 technologies,

As the Internet of Things ( IoT ) evolves, and more wireless device applications require smartphone tethering in order to function, there's a key component that has the potential to severely limit progress -- the rechargeable battery. Batteries and charging capacity are two of the biggest limitations of most mobile devices. While the computing, display, audio and connectivity capabilities of these devices have accelerated at a rapid pace, power capacity of lithium-ion batteries has barely increased by around 6 percent each year. That said, battery-charging technology is about to get a boost. Juniper Research has found that wireless charging is poised to change the way consumers interact with their cars, with an estimated 50 million vehicles offering built-in wireless device charging by 2020, compared with only 4 million this year. The latest Juniper market study found that the technology will enable a range of new in-vehicle services, such as on-board audio streaming and cont

The Internet of Things ( IoT ) enables the potential for many new categories of connected devices. In the near term, smart wearables will likely be first to disrupt the consumer electronics landscape, as mind-share and eventually revenue shift from PCs and smartphones to these new devices. Connected device competition will intensify as vendors compete for the nearly $74 billion in new revenue that will be available by 2020, with smart watches accounting for more than $50 billion in revenue, according to the latest market study by Technology Business Research (TBR). "Most wearables require a mobile device, PC or both for users to gain the most functionality, helping keep PCs and smartphones in the purchasing conversation, especially in consumer markets," said Jack Narcotta, analyst at TBR . However, as component and chip makers -- such as Intel, Samsung and Qualcomm -- innovate in areas like processors, displays and batteries, smart wearables will become more advanced an

Vendors that are still focused primarily on the traditional data center environment will likely continue to experience shrinking market share, as cloud computing applications gain new momentum -- which, in turn, generates more demand for different IT infrastructure. According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC), vendor revenue from sales of infrastructure products (i.e. server, storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud IT, including public and private cloud, grew by 25.7 percent year-over-year to $6.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15). The overall share of cloud IT infrastructure grew by 31.4 percent in 2Q15 -- that's up from 26 percent a year ago. Revenue from infrastructure sales to private cloud grew by 19.5 percent to $2.8 billion, and to public cloud by 30.4 percent to $4.1 billion. In comparison, revenue in the traditional (non-cloud) IT infrastructure segment decreased by -3.5 percent year over year in the second quarter, with declines in all of the thr

Within the mainstream marketplace, the notion of an Internet of Things (IoT) still translates into having more potential applications in the home, popularized by innovations like smart thermostats that learn from the user's personal preferences. That said, this is very much a nascent market. Smart Home devices are supposed to make life easier for the people that use them, but according to the findings from the latest market study by Argus Insights, consumer satisfaction is slowly rising while overall demand continues to decline. Connectivity has been accomplished, but future success of the smart home market will depend on how smart the products can really be -- making life better for the user, in some perceived or quantifiable way. According to the new data, distrust from consumers about the reliability of these connected devices is obstructing growth in adoption and that, along with a steady drop in demand, may lead to a challenging holiday sales season for home automation c

According to the latest worldwide market study by Technology Business Research (TBR), total revenue for IT security hardware and software products -- including managed and hosted security services -- totaled nearly $50 billion in 2014 and will grow at an 18.9 percent CAGR to more than $118 billion by 2019. "Customers are opening their wallets in an urgent effort to protect their data and their reputations from increasingly sophisticated attacks," said Jane Wright, senior analyst and security research lead at TBR . According to the TBR assessment, cyber criminals and hackers are exploiting enterprise user endpoints to infiltrate and navigate customer infrastructures and steal data or disrupt business operations. To block the attacker entry points, enterprise IT managers will increase their spending for endpoint-based advanced threat detection and response solutions, which will propel revenue growth in the endpoint security segment to an estimated 23.2 percent CAGR throug