Digital Lifescapes

According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), 3.2 billion people, or 44 percent of the world's population, will have access to the Internet in 2016. More than 2 billion will be using mobile devices to do so. Growth in Internet access is taking place around the world, but some countries are seeing particularly rapid growth. Furthermore, the world's Internet users are performing a variety of activities online. China, India and Indonesia lead the way -- they will account for almost half of the new user gains in Internet access globally over the course of the next five years. The combination of lower-cost mobile devices and inexpensive wireless networks are making accessibility easier in countries with large low-income populations that could not previously afford to use the Internet. The total number of mobile Internet users is forecast to rise by approximately 2 percent annually through 2020, unless significant new methods of acces...

Market development activities for connected vehicle applications will increase dramatically during 2016, once automotive cyber security concerns are finally addressed, and those offering assurances are certain that deployment won't negatively affect the functional safety of vehicles. In its recent worldwide market study, ABI Research analyzed all the available security solutions for automotive embedded capabilities, security software and secure wireless network connectivity. They concluded that the emerging global hardware security module (HSM) market -- including both consumer and commercial vehicle applications -- will reach 2.3 billion units by 2020. "In a car, there are typically about 100 different electrical control units, and right now, most cars do not contain secure-enough hardware," said Michela Menting, research director at ABI Research . Automotive manufacturers acknowledge the vast upside potential for the Internet of Things (IoT) use cases, but it’s ...

Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow at a 17 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $698.6 billion in 2015 to nearly $1.3 trillion in 2019, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC ). To date, the Asia-Pacific region is the global leader of IoT spending, with more than 40 percent of the worldwide total coming from this region in 2015. North America and Western Europe are the second and third largest regions with combined spending of more than $250 billion in 2015. Looking to the future, the regions that will experience the fastest growth in IoT spending over the five-year forecast period are Latin America (26.5 percent CAGR), followed by Western Europe, also Central and Eastern Europe. "The Asia-Pacific region's robust IoT spending outlook is due to the developing country technology investment needs that are not fully met with traditional IT, which is allowing IoT investments to accelerate, and a burgeon...

Looking back on 2015, the personal computer industry had yet another period of transition, as most vendors either missed the shifting market demand or they had products that were perceived as obsolete. That said, the low-cost high-value Chromebook category actually gained new momentum in the market. In its recent report on notebook PCs, ABI Research analyzed current market trends in Chromebooks, laptops and ultraportable PCs and offered a forward-looking, five-year forecast on industry trends. Chromebooks will continue to lead growth for the notebook PC category, with Google Chrome OS systems (based upon Linux) expected to ship more than 8 million units by the end of 2015, increasing with a 22 percent CAGR over the next five years. "Industry professionals can expect the notebook PC market, including Chromebooks, laptops and ultraportable PCs, to remain roughly flat year-on-year in 2015, with flat to slightly positive growth projected through 2020," says Jeff Orr, resear...

Smart watches will drive the wearable device growth trend in 2016. The Apple watchOS will continue to lead the smartwatch market, with a growing software application selection. While there's already demand for design improvement and more features, there's also momentum to keep it ahead of the rest of the market. The overall worldwide wearable device market will reach a total of 111.1 million units shipped in 2016 -- that's up by 44.4 percent from the 80 million units expected to ship in 2015. By 2019, total shipments will reach 214.6 million units, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 percent, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). "The most common type of wearables today are fairly basic, like fitness trackers, but over the next few years we expect a proliferation of form factors and device types," said Jitesh Ubrani , senior research analyst at IDC . Smart Wearables Market Develop...

Community services within the world's major metropolitan areas are under stress as more people from rural areas continue to migrate toward inner-cities. Local government leaders are responding by making detailed space optimization plans to accommodate the population growth. One approach that has gained momentum over the last decade is the adoption of smart technologies that ease urban expansion by automating routine support services. This approach is empowered by the utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) methodologies and the associated vendor ecosystem. It's now estimated that 1.6 billion connected things will be used by smart cities in 2016 -- that's an increase of 39 percent from 2015, according to the latest worldwide study by Gartner, Inc. Automation in Commercial Real Estate "Smart commercial buildings will be the highest user of IoT applications until 2017, after which smart homes will take the lead with just over 1 billion connected things in 2018,...

The manufacture and distribution of energy is evolving, just like all the other sectors that adopt Industry 4.0 production methodologies. Across the globe more utility companies are seeking ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency in their infrastructure operations. The most progressive have applied smart technologies. In its latest study on smart metering, ABI Research estimates that smart meter deployments -- led by energy and water utilities -- will result in a global installed base of more than 1.1 billion smart meters within the next five years. Smart electricity meters will constitute the largest share, occupying more than 72 percent of the overall installed base of smart meters, but research suggests water meters are on track to witness the most overall growth. "The global smart meter market for electricity and gas is reaching a degree of maturity, as utilities in most regions are either in advanced stages of rollouts or have laid out plans for phased deployment,...

The enterprise software market changed dramatically in 2015. Case in point: software applications revenue grew by only 3.9 percent year-to-year in 3Q15 for the 23 vendors tracked by Technology Business Research (TBR). Meanwhile, worldwide cloud service adoption generated software subscription revenue growth of 39.9 percent year-to-year in the quarter, and caused new license sales decline to accelerate to -25.3 percent among the same 23 vendors. As these two market segments balance each other, total product revenue grew 7.6% year-to-year. According to the TBR assessment, while cloud compresses revenue per solution and the associated margins, some mature cloud models begin generating profits despite investments in portfolio and global expansion. Most notably, Salesforce reached its second quarter of positive organic operating margin, beginning to prove the profitability potential of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud applications. However, as these proof points multiply, greate...

Applications for a variety of video-based communication and collaboration use-cases have grown significantly over the last decade. Overall market adoption has been fueled by free services -- such as Microsoft Skype and Google Hangouts -- which enables more people to become familiar with the process of impromptu or scheduled online face-to-face meetings. That being said, there are still issues with market shifts that increase the volatility for vendors of enterprise products and services. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC ), there were mixed results in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15) with overall videoconferencing equipment revenue increasing 0.8 percent quarter over quarter but declining -3.3 percent year over year. The total worldwide enterprise video equipment market revenue in 3Q15 was over $511 million -- that's up from $507 million in 2Q15. The total number of videoconferencing units sold in 3Q15 decreased both quarter...

Shipments of connected wearables reached 72.5 million in 2015, that's up from 25.3 million devices in the previous year, according to the latest worldwide market study by Berg Insight. Many of these devices have become a significant part of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) phenomena. Increasing by a compound annual growth rate of 25.8 percent, total global shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, people monitoring & safety devices and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 228.3 million units in 2020. Moreover, Bluetooth will remain the primary M2M wireless connectivity option in the coming years. However, a total of 17.8 million of the wearables sold in 2020 are forecasted to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and people monitoring & safety categories. Apple entered the connected wearables market in Q2-2015 and quickly became the leading smartwatch vendor. The ...

The Internet of Things (IoT) will have numerous home-related use cases. One application that may seem futuristic is residential connected robots. In this context, a consumer-oriented robot can be programmed by the owner via an interface to the device. Besides, consumer robots will be controlled through a mobile software app or by a link to a personal computer. In some cases, the robot will also incorporate embedded connectivity to enable it to communicate directly with an online service. As a general rule, the more complex the function of the robot, the greater reliance it will have on parallel processing and storage capabilities offered by cloud computing infrastructure. It's forecast that one in ten American households will own a consumer robot by the end of the decade, that's up from under one in twenty-five this year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. At this early stage in the market, shipments are expected to be dominated by relatively simp...

More applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) will translate into a significant demand for semiconductors. The emerging IoT market drove demand for 150 million units of multicore microcontroller unit (MCU) chips in 2015 -- that will rise to 1.3 billion units by 2020, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Industrial IoT, wearables and smart home are the current key market drivers, with the majority of future growth coming from the smart home industry, which will represent 450 million of the total multicore MCU shipments -- that will account for 36 percent of market share by 2020. ABI analysts believe that this growth will be driven by more integrated connectivity and sensor processing hubs and an ongoing shift toward implementing innovative software solutions. "Traditionally, device manufacturers tend to use multiple single-core MCUs to handle a device's multiple sensor functions and connectivity solutions," says Malik Saadi, vice president at AB...

Momentum within the cloud computing services arena continues to drive a shift in demand for a variety of storage solutions. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), total worldwide enterprise storage systems revenue grew 2.8 percent year-over-year to $9.1 billion during the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15). Total capacity shipments were up 31.5 percent year-over-year to 33.1 exabytes during the quarter. Revenue growth was strongest within the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) that sell directly to those organizations building hyperscale data centers . This portion of the market was up 23.4 percent year over year to $1.3 billion. Sales of server-based storage solutions were up 9.9 percent during the quarter and accounted for $2.1 billion in revenue. External storage systems remained the largest market segment. However, the $5.8 billion in sales represented a decline of -3.1 percent year-over-year. "The enterprise storage market co...

Why are today’s savvy CEOs more deeply involved in marketing strategy? We know from prior market research that digital marketing adoption is often the precursor to the creation and execution of a broad corporate-wide digital transformation agenda. That’s why. Moreover, the latest global market assessment by IDC concluded that all CEOs now need to better understand what the corporate marketing role can do to further their business technology adoption. Therefore, they also believe that the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) working relationship is now the key to strategic goal attainment. Besides, CMOs that lead a traditional marketing organization have a mandate to move beyond merely achieving digital marketing ‘competency parity’ with their more progressive competitors. Optimal Environment for Marketing Exploration While it’s still a requirement that digital marketing skills training and mentoring of legacy staff continues into 2016, senior ma...

Sensors are an essential component of most Internet of Things (IoT) use-case scenarios. Sensors also enable the key applications in wearable devices. This is why made-for-wearable sensors are being developed around the world, and the market is already primed for significant growth. According to the latest worldwide market study by IDTechEx Research , made-for-wearable sensors will represent 42 percent of all sensors in wearable devices in 2026 -- that's up from just 7 percent in 2015. There will be a $5.5 billion market for sensors used in wearable technology applications by 2025. However, several key challenges must be overcome before these sensor technologies can realize their full potential. Wearable sensor systems will help to drive market development. The textile and electronics industry has started to merge together around e-textiles. High-value sport and fitness applications are the current focus. Vertical industry apps will also include healthcare, home textiles, and ...

Savvy retailers will create a connected in-store shopping experience. They'll also extend their online engagement with consumers -- moving beyond creating awareness and facilitating payments, to a deeper integration of their customer loyalty programs. The pursuit of this agenda has seen digital coupons evolve from merely being a means of driving consumers to storefronts, to becoming a core element of promoting and reinforcing retail brand loyalty. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, nearly 1.6 billion coupons will be delivered annually to shoppers via in-store beacon technology by 2020 -- that's up from just 11 million this year. In 2016, more retailers will develop proximity marketing programs for deployment in and around their stores. The Juniper study found that several leading U.S. retailers have already deployed beacon networks, with Macy’s having installed more than 4,000 within its retail stores. The research findings demonstrate that in-sto...

Mobile internet adoption has been on a path of exponential growth across the globe, as more low-cost smartphones and media tablets join the millions of new notebook computers entering the marketplace. Many of those devices will connect via Wi-Fi access. Moreover, wireless access to the public internet is a key component of the essential infrastructure that will enable emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Therefore, significant new investment in Wi-Fi access points will likely become an indicator of market development activity. The combined consumer and enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market segments increased 2.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC ). The overall enterprise segment growth rebounded by 4.3 percent over the same period last year. "The growth seen in 3Q15 is relatively weak compared to 2014 and before, but still represents a pos...

Now the U.S. smartphone market is saturated, quarter-to-quarter changes in market penetration are very small.  Reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for October 2015,  comScore  released data from their latest market study. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 43.3 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform with 52.9 percent platform market share. Once again, Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone software application. Mobile communication apps will continue to be disruptive in the telecom sector -- in particular, market development for the encrypted open-source  Signal  app from Open Whisper Systems will be the one to watch in 2016. Smartphone OEM Market Share 193.9 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (77.9 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in October -- that's half of one percent increase since the last quarter. Apple ranked a...

The Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem will gain new momentum next year, as the underlying technologies are deployed in new use-cases. That being said, 451 Research released their latest market study findings that highlight the key challenges facing this emerging sector. According to their assessment, 46 percent of enterprise leaders expect to have IoT applications deployed by year-end 2016. These savvy executives are are already seeking guidance from qualified consultants that have proven IoT and M2M experience. While communications protocols, security, competing WAN approaches and data management remain concerns, the early adopters are focusing on the business process changes that are required to fully exploit Internet of Things opportunities. The key challenges and the six top trends are: Business process changes will continue to be the largest barrier to IoT adoption. Communication protocols at the edge will remain fragmented. LTE-M timing gap and new LPWAN upstarts will...

The ongoing shift to cloud services continues to impact the IT sector. Vendor revenue within the IT computer server market increased 5.1 percent year-over-year to $13.4 billion in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15) -- that's the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. During this quarter, revenue grew in rack optimized, blade, and density-optimized servers, while towers declined, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC ). Worldwide server shipments totaled 2.49 million units in 3Q15, an increase of 4.5 percent when compared with the third quarter of 2014. On a year-over-year basis, volume system revenue increased by 7.0 percent and high-end system demand increased by 1.2 percent in 3Q15 to $10.8 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. The volume segment was aided by a continued cloud provider expansion of x86-based hyperscale data centers coupled with enterprise and SMB refresh of x86-based platforms, while high...

The legacy online communication market has already been disrupted by mobile messaging apps -- such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Moreover, increasing competition and the ongoing upheaval of the telecom services industry will continue to transform the enterprise collaboration sector. The North American telecom conferencing services market is in a state of rapid transition as visual collaboration gains precedence over legacy audio conferencing. As emerging video communication services are driving expansion, the commoditization of mature technologies is tempering overall growth. As a result, the hosted audio, web, video and managed video conferencing service segments will each experience varying growth rates over the next seven years, according to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan. Their recent analysis found that the conferencing market earned revenues of $4.5 billion in 2014 -- it's estimated to reach $5.9 billion by 2021, at a compound annual growth rate (...

Your brand's message is most effective when it conveys real meaning and substance. That's what people value the most, and it's been a disruptive trend. Between 1999 and 2014, 47 percent of prior known brands fell off the top '100 Leader Brands' list, according to the latest worldwide market study by PwC. While the list used to be led by Media companies, today, the most progressive Technology companies are setting the pace of change. Besides, the millennial generation are also drivers of this shift, elevating these enlightened companies to the top of the list. In today's highly social, interconnected and transparent world, people look at everything from the company's stated mission to what the company actually does -- it's well beyond a quality product or service, a striking logo and obligatory advertising campaign. The world of branding has changed; so has effective marketing communications . Meaning and Substance Drive Profit The PwC study shows...

While much of the growth potential for cloud computing, agile software development and applied DevOps methodologies will continue to come from the large enterprise sector, there's also increasing demand for improving the outcomes of government IT environments. According to the latest market study by MeriTalk, 92 percent of Federal IT managers say it's urgent for their agency to modernize legacy software applications -- citing key factors such as security issues (42 percent), time required to manage and/or maintain systems (36 percent), and inflexibility and integration issues (31 percent). Their study surveyed 150 Federal IT managers familiar with their agency's applications portfolio to find out how modernization can breathe new life into legacy applications, and deliver much-needed efficiency and/or security benefits. Some legacy applications are already failing to keep up with agency requirements. In fact, 48 percent of Federal IT managers surveyed believe their le...