Digital Lifescapes

Employee sentiment toward workplace AI is shifting fast. Gartner's HR survey makes one thing clear: enthusiasm is no longer the constraint.  The real bottleneck is leadership’s ability to translate that energy into disciplined governance, thoughtful deployment, and measurable business outcome value. Executives have blamed employee resistance for underwhelming AI outcomes in HR and broader business workflows. The latest market research tells a different story. Sixty‑five percent of employees now say they are excited to use AI at work. That is not a grudging tolerance of automation; it is a clear signal that the workforce is ready to experiment, learn, adapt, and integrate AI into daily work. Enterprise Applied-AI Market Development Yet, according to the research, 37 percent of employees do not use Generative AI tools even when they have access, simply because their coworkers are not using them. This 'peer inertia' effect highlights a social adoption challenge rather than a ...

As we approach 2025, the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) market is poised for significant growth. Traditional AI spending is rising, while Generative AI (GenAI) struggles to meet lofty expectations. This apparent dichotomy presents challenges and opportunities for vendors and business leaders navigating the complex world of AI implementation. Let's explore the overall situation. Traditional AI: A Pragmatic Approach In the coming year, we expect to see a surge in traditional AI spending as enterprises seek pragmatic, ROI-driven solutions. This trend is driven by a growing recognition of the limitations and risks associated with GenAI projects, which have shown alarmingly high failure rates of 80 to 90 percent in proof-of-concept stages. The trend towards traditional AI is further supported by data from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which revealed that over 85 percent of AI projects in 2024 were not based on GenAI.  This insightful statistic underscores the continued relevance and ...

While the vast majority of CEOs anticipate a significant upside growth potential from artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, there are others in the C-suite who are fearful of the impact. Rapid Generative AI (GenAI) adoption is the top-ranked issue for the next two years for Legal, Compliance, and Privacy leaders, according to a recent survey by Gartner. "Increases in capability and usability have prompted rapid and widespread company adoption of GenAI," said Stuart Strome, director of research at  Gartner . Generative AI Market Development While AI regulation is still being developed, however, uncertainties and unforeseen risks abound. Businesses will have to contend with these challenges to ensure the ethical and legal use of this powerful new technology. Gartner identified four areas that business leaders need to address: Limited Visibility into Key Risks The ease of adoption, widespread applicability, and the ability of GenAI tools to perform a range of different busines...

The rapid adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) is the top-ranked issue during the next two years for Legal, Compliance, and Privacy leaders, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. In a recent survey of enterprise business leaders, 70 percent of respondents reported rapid GenAI adoption as a top concern for them. "Increases in capability and usability have prompted rapid and widespread company adoption of GenAI," said Stuart Strome, director at Gartner . However, uncertainties and unforeseen risks abound. Leaders will have to contend with these challenges to ensure the ethical and legal use of this powerful technology. Generative AI Market Development Gartner industry analysts have identified four key areas that these leaders need to address. Limited Visibility into Key Risks -- The ease of adoption, widespread applicability, and the ability of GenAI tools to perform a range of different business tasks mean that assurance teams will have limited visibility in...

Google Android smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are taking advantage of a solid presence among all mobile network service users to drive more smartphone purchases by businesses -- and thereby expand on the growing number of mobility applications within the enterprise. ABI Research predicts that shipment revenues from Android smartphones used by mobile business customers will grow from $54 billion in 2013 to over $92 billion globally by the end of 2018. They have analyzed Android OEM enterprise features and market presence to provide mobile business customer adoption forecasts for six OEMs -- including HTC, Huawei, LG, Motorola Mobility, Samsung, and ZTE. "Despite a significant presence among employees in the workplace, businesses have not allowed or have limited the access of Android devices to enterprise applications and systems," said Jason McNicol, senior analyst at ABI Research . Fearing the potential loss of this large, high-margin market segmen...

Wearable devices have been in existence for a number of decades, but it is only recently that they have captured the imagination of the public. Findings from the latest global market study by Juniper Research has revealed that wearable Smart Glasses shipments will reach 10 million per year by 2018 -- that's compared to an estimated 87,000 units this year. Juniper notes that as the retail price for Smart Glasses declines toward the end of the forecast period, the adoption level of the devices among consumers will significantly increase. The Path to Achieve Critical Mass Juniper argues that in order for wearable devices -- such as smart glasses -- to reach their full potential in the marketplace, they need to be much more than complementary devices or secondary screens. "These devices would need to incorporate intuitive and user-friendly functionality and capture the imagination of the general public making the technology seamless within their daily routine," said N...

Over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment had a banner year in 2012. It became a turning point for legacy pay-TV service providers. The savvy companies acknowledged the OTT phenomenon and have learned to adapt to the new market realities. The laggards are slowly coming to the conclusion that nothing will halt the market fragmentation caused by the adoption of OTT content. Meanwhile, it looks like 2013 will be just as disruptive as last year. comScore released data from its latest market study which demonstrates that nearly 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.2 billion online content videos in January, while the number of video advertising views reached 9.1 billion. Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in January with 150 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook.com with 57 million, VEVO with 50.1 million, NDN with 49.1 million and Yahoo! Sites with...

Some of the largest traditional PC manufacturers reported record revenue and profit declines in the last quarter, as desktop and notebook sales continue to slide downward. Clearly, the bright outlook for the media tablet upside will not benefit those vendors that failed to grasp the significance of this market transition. Moreover, some regions of the world will present greater challenges than others. Take Europe, as an example. According to the latest assessment by eMarketer , two countries in the EU-5 that are being impacted by the dramatic financial turmoil in the region are understandably posting the slowest adoption of tablets. Although tablet growth in each country was above 100 percent during 2011, and users will double again this year, that's considered minimal progress when compared to their peers in Western Europe -- according to the latest estimates by eMarketer. France grew their tablet user base by 173 percent in 2011. In 2012, Germany's base will grow 149...

The mobile smartphone business has been a key revenue-generating growth story that we've profiled over the last few years. The overall market outlook continues to be bright -- regardless of the continuation of regional economic uncertainties. Mobile network subscriber growth has slowed dramatically in the saturated markets, voice and text have reached commodity pricing and margins are shrinking -- yet around the world the appetite for new smartphones continues to gain momentum. Smartphones are fast becoming the device of choice for hundreds of millions of people, and during 2012 the worldwide smartphone shipments will have reached half a billion units in one year. According to the finding from the latest market study by Portio Research , the mobile handset industry is a $241 Billion business. The Key Ongoing Growth Drivers The worldwide mobile subscriber base is expected to reach 6.5 billion by end-2012, taking global mobile penetration to approximately 91 percent. The su...

The iPad Retina display -- combined with Apple's more liberal app submission policy -- have caused the file sizes of leading iOS applications to grow substantially, especially in the video games category. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the global average app size across all categories was 23 megabytes in September 2012, that's 16 percent more than in March. For the most popular app category, games, the average size was 60 megabytes, meaning a six-month increase of 42 percent. Meanwhile, the size of leading android apps for a similar sample was around six mega bytes in September -- that's representing an increase of 10 percent against March. The games, however, nearly quadrupled to over 40 MBs in reported size, as Google also revamped its own submission policies. The data confirms two important points. "First, Apple's decision in March to increase the maximum size of 3G/4G-downloadable apps from 20MBs to 50MBs has clearly had an unleas...

Continued demand and strong growth expectations for the fourth quarter has led International Data Corporation (IDC) to increase its forecast for the worldwide media tablet market to 117.1 million units -- that's up from its previous forecast of 107.4 million units for the year. In their latest tablet forecast update they also revised upward the 2013 forecast number from 142.8 million units to 165.9 million units. And by 2016 they estimate that worldwide shipments should reach 261.4 million units. Clearly, media tablet adoption will be the trend to watch, as it continues to influence the way that people consume new forms of digital media. "Despite ongoing economic concerns in most regions of the world, consumers continue to buy tablets in record numbers and we expect particularly strong demand in the fourth quarter," said Tom Mainelli, research director at IDC . Apple leads the market with its iPad, and IDC expects its dominance to continue in the second half of th...

We've reached a significant tipping-point for over-the-top (OTT) video consumption in the U.S. market. Now that online video user penetration surpassed 50 percent of the general population in 2011, it's truly become a mainstream pursuit. Americans are watching more video on more devices than ever before. What are the implications for the future outlook? While the accelerated growth of the last year may slow, we can anticipate continued expansion of the OTT video user population. By 2015, U.S. online video viewers will represent 60 percent of the general population and 76 percent of internet users, according the the findings from the latest market study by eMarketer. "Audience growth over the next four years will come from all demographic segments, but it will be more pronounced among preteen children, older boomers and seniors," said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. These groups have traditionally lagged teens and younger adults in their video viewing a...

Media tablets are the latest consumer electronics device to gain adoption at home and then slowly infiltrate the enterprise IT environment. I first noticed the growing use of tablets by numerous early-adopters at the SXSWi event back in March of this year. While media tablet devices have only been available for a couple of years, the Apple iPad early-adopters have applied their personal experience and brand evangelism to help drive the rapid increases in ownership and usage. eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2011, 33.7 million Americans will use a tablet device at least monthly -- that's a rise of 158.6 percent over last year, the year the iPad was released. Growth will slow to double digits beginning in 2012, but the number of users will rise to nearly 90 million, or 35.6 percent of all internet users, by 2014. eMarketer's previous media tablet forecasts have focused on unit sales and the total installed base of devices. Current estimates now highlight...

There are people in developed nations who simply don't want broadband access to the Internet -- clearly, they're now in the minority. Increasingly the most significant barrier to further broadband adoption around the world is affordability -- or the lack thereof. Now leaders across the telecom sector are working together to bring broadband services into the reach of the digitally deprived, according to the latest market study by Point Topic . With superfast broadband solutions finally reaching the marketplace, it is more important that infrastructure suppliers are able to align their network offerings -- and service providers implement delivery solutions -- that are cost effective. Standards are core to the effort says Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson. "The next wave of broadband, commonly entitled Superfast, is gathering momentum." With more than half a billion fixed lines already in use and many markets extending the reach of fixed broadband across thei...

The latest global market study by Point Topic has revealed that the apparent differences in affordability of broadband services around the world highlights the stark contrast in prices -- and the resulting impact on local service adoption. Clearly, the challenge for broadband service providers and government policymakers will be to seek out ways to make broadband internet access more affordable -- as national leaders attempt to increase their market penetration and resulting economic impact. “Broadband prices can be over a thousand times higher in real terms in the poorer countries,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic . Analyzing tariff data from the middle of 2011, Point Topic has compared the cost of 12 months of subscription to the least-expensive, and usually slowest, fixed broadband service across various world markets. Converting prices to purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalents for over 2,000 tariffs from around the world and then combining the results with...

Many analysts predicted the demise of the e-reader product category when Apple launched the iPad -- igniting the media tablet competitor frenzy. The analysts assumption, an erroneous one, was that the buyer of each product was essentially the same. Now, as the reality sets in, opinions have evolved. While the tablet market’s growth has had some impact on expected e-reader shipments worldwide, the two devices are inherently different. Each device segment targets a different type of consumer. Standalone e-reader devices target the avid book and periodical readers -- to whom the reading experience is central -- while tablets are targeted towards those consumers who prefer a richer multimedia consumption experience. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , device component vendors are benefiting from the demand in both categories. As an example, they're forecasting that the combined semiconductor opportunity for media tablets and e-readers will approach $16 billio...

The mobile web user population in the United States will increase by almost 25 percent this year -- as 97.3 million mobile device users access the internet from their device at least monthly, according to the latest market study by eMarketer . By 2015, more than three in five mobile device users -- and almost half the total U.S. population -- will be using the mobile internet, eMarketer forecasts. “The rapidly expanding smartphone and mobile internet user populations raise the stakes for marketers and make the mobile web more of an imperative than ever,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst for mobile. eMarketer’s estimates of mobile internet usage include people of any age who access the internet from a mobile browser or installed application at least once per month. Most of the growth in mobile internet usage will come from increased smartphone penetration, which will reach 38 percent of mobile users and 28.8 percent of the overall population by the end of this yea...

Here in the U.S. market, the notion that people would subscribe and pay for broadcast TV content delivered to their mobile phone was a classic example of unreal expectations -- based upon inconclusive market research. In contrast, on-demand mobile video consumption is apparently gaining new interest. Although many mobile video products have only recently launched, providers are experiencing significant growth in usage rates. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners have watched video on their device, while nearly 86 percent of media tablet owners have already done so. While the propensity to watch full-length premium video is only a portion of these video viewers, these numbers indicate the potential market demand. These examples are indicative of a larger trend of strong growth in mobile video consumption worldwide. As a result, In-Stat now forecasts that mobile video consumption will surpass 693 billion minutes by 2015. "...

Introduced last year, the Apple iPad quickly established a new market for media tablets. eMarketer estimates that 9.7 million U.S. consumers owned a tablet device by the end of 2010, and that 24 million will have one by the end of 2011. In a May 2011 survey on device ownership -- the first one taken by a research team at least a year after the iPad’s release -- the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that overall tablet penetration increased from 5 percent of American consumers in November 2010 to 8 percent in May 2011. According to an eMarketer report, device ownership increased the fastest among young adults ages 18 to 29, Hispanics, those with the highest incomes, and people who had attended some college -- all groups that now have the highest levels of tablet penetration. In addition, men are more likely than women to own a media tablet. By contrast, overall eReader penetration is higher -- at 12 percent of American consumers -- and has doubled since November...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research , users of enterprise B2E (business-to-employee) and B2C (business to customer) smartphone and media tablet mobile applications (apps) are forecast to grow at a CAGR of nearly 90 percent -- and exceed 830 million active users by 2016. The growth forecast includes B2E apps -- such as line-of-business apps -- and B2C branded company apps. In both cases, enterprises are leveraging their vast stores of corporate data to make employees more efficient and to foster greater customer intimacy. Enterprise smartphone and media tablet adoption is providing the foundation for enterprise app development and deployment. But, according to enterprise practice director Dan Shey, "Mobile suppliers are providing the critical enablers boosting app adoption." There are two important supply-side drivers. First, the supplier market offering mobile application platforms has exploded. With these platforms, an app can be written once and dep...