Digital Lifescapes

For two decades, enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has been the dominant force reshaping how organizations consume business applications. Yet as artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities accelerate, a critical question emerges. Will AI apps render the SaaS model obsolete? The answer, as with most paradigm shifts, is far more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Enterprise SaaS isn't dying, but it's growing much older. And maturity, while a testament to success, brings its own set of challenges. Enterprise SaaS Market Development The U.S. enterprise software market is now highly saturated, and the momentum that once seemed unstoppable has definitively slowed. And yes, AI is a contributing factor. The B2B SaaS expansion era that defined the last decade, characterized by rising customer counts and reliable growth within existing accounts, has reached its natural limits. What's particularly telling is the shift in CIO priorities. While SaaS vendors were racing to expand their...

As new app demand grows, we're witnessing a surge in mobile data traffic.  This trend, driven by the proliferation of bandwidth-intensive services such as video streaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and next-generation cloud applications, is reshaping the telecommunications industry. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, global mobile data traffic is set to triple by 2030, challenging network operators to keep pace with this escalating demand and evolving user expectations. Mobile Data Market Development The exponential growth in mobile data usage is a function of more devices being connected -- it also reflects fundamental shifts in how mobile subscribers and enterprises use technology. The ubiquity of smartphones, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the adoption of immersive digital experiences are all contributing to this surge in mobile data. Mobile network operators now find themselves at the center of a data-driven economy, where t...

There is a pivotal shift within the global smartphone market. Recent data from IDC highlights a more cautious outlook for 2025, with projected worldwide smartphone shipments seeing a significantly reduced growth rate. This revised forecast underscores the intricate interplay of global economic factors and geopolitical dynamics on pervasive personal communication devices. IDC's latest update projects a mere 0.6 percent growth in worldwide smartphone shipments for 2025, a stark reduction from the earlier 2.3 percent expectation. Global Smartphone Market Development This recalibration is largely attributed to prevailing economic uncertainties, including inflationary pressures and rising unemployment, alongside the persistent specter of tariff volatility. Despite these global tensions, it's interesting to note that the United States and China are still identified as the primary drivers of this modest growth. China, a critical market, is forecast to achieve a 3 percent year-over-yea...

The BaaS model has been adopted across a wide range of industries due to its ability to streamline financial processes for non-banks and foster innovation. BaaS has several industry-specific use cases, where it creates new revenue streams. Banking as a Service (BaaS) is rapidly emerging as a growth market, allowing non-bank businesses to integrate banking services into their core products and online platforms. As defined by Juniper Research, BaaS is "the delivery and integration of digital banking services by licensed banks, directly into the products of non-banking businesses, commonly through the use of APIs." BaaS Market Development The core idea is that licensed banks can rent out their regulated financial infrastructure through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to third-party Fintechs and other interested companies. This enables those organizations to offer banking capabilities like payment processing, account management, and debit or credit card issuance without...

Soon you will start to experience Artificial Intelligence (AI) benefits everywhere -- in the public cloud, at the edge of mobile networks, and on many personal digital devices. Generative AI (GenAI) workloads have moved beyond the bounds of cloud environments and can now run on-device supported by implementing heterogeneous AI chipsets. Combined with an abstraction layer that can efficiently distribute AI workloads between processing architectures and compressed LLMs with under 15 billion parameters, these advanced chipsets can enable us to run generative AI inferencing locally. On-Device AI Market Development ABI Research estimates worldwide shipments of heterogeneous AI chipsets will reach over 1.8 billion by 2030 as personal computers, smartphones, and other form factors will increasingly ship with on-device AI capabilities. "Cloud deployment will act as a bottleneck for generative AI to scale due to data privacy, latency, and networking cost concerns. Solving these challenges...

Mobile communications applications continue to evolve in response to new technology use cases. Telecom service providers and software vendors are now exploring applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities. Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images, audio, and video assets. Applications of GenAI within the communications sector include generating personalized messages for each customer, chatbots that can answer customer queries, and creating targeted marketing campaigns to generate leads and sales for brands and enterprises. Telecom GenAI Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, enterprise spending on GenAI over mobile messaging channels will grow by 1,250 percent over the next four years -- that's from $830 million in 2024. Juniper predicts that the ability to automate the personalization of content, including marketing efforts and customer interactions ov...

The exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications will create demand for new devices that are purposely enabled and enhanced to deliver superior end-user experiences. Worldwide shipments of AI PCs and Generative AI (GenAI) smartphones are projected to total 295 million units by the end of 2024 -- that's up from 29 million units in 2023, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Gartner defines AI PCs as devices equipped with dedicated AI accelerators or cores, neural processing units (NPUs), accelerated processing units (APUs), or tensor processing units (TPUs), designed to optimize and accelerate AI tasks on the device. GenAI-Enabled Device Market Development This new device platform provides improved performance and efficiency in handling AI and GenAI workloads without relying on external on-prem servers or public cloud services. GenAI smartphones are designed and equipped with hardware and software capabilities that enable integration and efficie...

Generative AI is revolutionizing the way organizations work, boosting growth and unlocking unprecedented levels of productivity. From crafting hyper-personalized marketing campaigns that resonate with individual customers to automating tedious tasks and fostering seamless workforce collaboration, GenAI's applications are rapidly expanding across diverse industries. This evolution is particularly evident in areas like marketing, where GenAI can generate targeted ad copy and content that drives conversions, and in workforce collaboration, where it can automate repetitive tasks and streamline communication channels. However, unlike the broader AI landscape, GenAI's implementation has faced challenges in heavily regulated industries like banking and new fintech services. Adapting its capabilities to comply with strict regulations and ensuring data privacy remain key hurdles to overcome. As these challenges are addressed and GenAI's potential is further explored, we can expect e...

Digital wallets are a rapidly growing segment of the fintech market, which has accelerated since the global COVID-19 pandemic. They're important in the fields of financial inclusion, and movement towards a cashless Global Networked Economy. There are many types of digital wallets, fulfilling different use cases. Digital wallets enable users to pay for both online and offline transactions via either stored payment credentials -- such as debit cards, or currency stored in the wallet -- by utilizing apps on smartphones and mobile wearables. Digital Wallet Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the total value of digital wallets transactions will rise from $9 trillion in 2023 to surpass $16 trillion in 2028 -- that a CAGR of 77 percent. This trend is driven by growth across both developed and developing markets across the globe, as the increased adoption of advanced services such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), micro-loans, and personal fina...

Mobile Money is the most basic form of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in emerging markets, which is comprised of a variety of offerings. It's a good model, due to the lack of infrastructure that supports access to services for the un-banked population of numerous nations. Where building and sustaining traditional financial institutions is very costly, landline telecom and mobile network operators offer a near-ubiquitous and reliable alternative to banking establishments. The concept is reliant on mobile handsets, taking the form of simple domestic money transfers, or micro-finance services that involve risk decision elements, such as lending and insurance. Mobile Money Market Development According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, the total value of mobile money transactions in emerging markets will reach $2 trillion by 2027 -- that's an increase of over $500 billion from 2023. Growing by 33 percent, the market is being driven by the transition to Payments-as-a-P...

Online payment solution development continues to evolve. To date, blockchain has had a mixed impact across payments and banking, but the rise of Stablecoin and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will accelerate the impact. Fundamentally, Stablecoins and CBDCs are two ways of solving the same inherent problem -- how to offer a better and more trusted digital payments solution. To date, most existing payment types have been designed around traditional systems intended for in-person or telephone payments, such as credit cards, or even cash. Therefore, Stablecoins and CBDCs are providing a system that's a significant payment use case transformation. Digital Payment Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the value of payments via CBDCs will reach $213 billion annually by 2030 -- that's up from just $100 million in 2023. However, this significant market growth opportunity of over 260,000 percent reflects the early stage of the sector,...

In the Business-to-Business realm, credit cards provide access to working capital and offer rewards with enhanced controls over spending. Looking ahead, payment networks and card issuers will collaborate with Fintechs to capitalize on this growing opportunity. Virtual cards are financial tools that exist only in digital form and are utilized for online payments. Unlike physical cards, issuers can create a disposable, one-time card, whose unchangeable account numbers are randomly generated for a specific transaction. These digital cards can be linked to either debit or credit accounts, but account information is never shared with merchants. The underlying technology of these cards was first introduced to the consumer payments market almost two decades ago. Today, digital cards are used for corporate accounts. Digital Card Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of credit cards issued via digital card issuance platforms will excee...

Organizations are now in the digital business transformation era, where acting as a digital-first enterprise is a CEO mandate, and a strategic differentiator to ensure future prosperity and growth. Enterprise investment in business technology and related digital application growth initiatives has been remarkably robust, in spite of the currently projected outlook of global economic headwinds. Worldwide information technology (IT) and business services revenue will grow by 5.7 percent this year and is forecast at 5.2 percent for 2023, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Business Technology Market Development IDC has maintained its outlook for the worldwide Services market against the backdrop of a potential global recession. Worldwide GDP growth worsened since earlier in the year and is now expected to grow by 2.7 percent this year and 2.4 percent in 2023. IDC remains cautiously optimistic based on reported results from vendors in the ...

Healthcare, and closely related pharmacy services, are due for disruption. Online pharmacies can deliver pharmaceuticals direct to customers, potentially changing the way they compare prices. These patients can now order their medications from registered pharmacists via the Internet. Patients can simply upload a copy of their prescriptions. Each medication request is controlled by registered pharmacists who direct them to the pharmacy warehouse in the region of the patient. Patients can access an ePharmacy through a software app, or through a website. Each ePharmacy will provide a variety of different services -- including online consultations, repeat prescriptions, lab tests, and over-the-counter (OTC) medication. Global ePharmacy Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of ePharmacy users will reach 1 billion globally by 2027 -- that's increasing from 795 million in 2022, a growth of 28 percent. This increase is partly due ...

Forward-thinking retailers now have a bright future. In contrast, those that failed to enhance their business model via digital transformation have struggled, declined, and their assets were eventually liquidated. The key difference between these two business outcomes is applied strategic foresight. Even as the world continues to emerge from a global pandemic, retail is growing at levels not seen in the last two decades. Retail sales grew by 7 percent in 2020 and by over 14 percent in 2021, which is in stark contrast to the 3.7 percent annual growth between 2010 and 2019. The increased demand for retail has put a strain on supply chains and retail operations worldwide. As a result, retailers and stakeholders are turning to automation solutions such as mobile robotics for operational ease. Retail Transformation Market Development According to the latest market study by ABI Research, worldwide commercial robot revenue in retail stores will have a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of o...

The telecom marketplace continues to change as more CIOs and CTOs seek ways to improve voice services and cut costs. Moreover, the mobile telecom market has been prone to digital disruption, as voice over IP (VoIP) communication has evolved. The use of fixed-line telephone services has declined steadily, while there have been significant increases in the use of mobile phone services, Wi-Fi calling services, and over-the-top (OTT) mobile voice. Plus, the roll-out of superior mobile network connectivity modes -- such as 4G LTE, 5G, and in the foreseeable future, 6G networks -- will continue to transform the global communications market. Mobile Telecom Market Development The decline in fixed-line telephone services is reducing for a number of reasons, but it is primarily due to a significant increase in mobile phone and media tablet device ownership supporting data-intensive applications -- such as mobile games, mobile videos, and location-based services.  According to the latest worl...

Let's get real, and update this market outlook. What's the overall size of the Augmented and Mixed Reality market, for both devices and the value chain? We have the answer. With investment and interest growing exponentially, the augmented reality market is set to grow at a significant rate over the next five years. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, nearly 40 million Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses will ship in 2027, with the total augmented and mixed reality market surpassing $220 billion in the same year. According to the ABI assessment, much of this growth will stem from the consumer AR market on the back of new hardware and content, but the enterprise AR space will also continue to show strong growth. Augmented Reality Market Development "It is impossible to miss news surrounding the augmented reality market today, both from the fascinating metaverse side and the more grounded and short-term augmented reality opportunities and investme...

Digital identity is constantly evolving and increasingly combined with allied areas, such as online security, privacy, and the management of identity-related data. Digital identity is essentially an online persona of a subject, or a unique representation of a subject, engaged in an online transaction. However, digital identity presents a more complex picture when current multi-use ecosystems that are heavily dependent on the sharing of identity credentials are considered. Such an identity is made up of identifiers and patterns that are unique to the subject of identity, which is broadly described as attributes. These attributes (inherent or ascribed) are core biographic data (e.g. name and address) and certain biometric features (e.g. fingerprints, iris scan) electronically captured in the context of personal digital identity. Digital Identity Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, revenue for digital identity vendors will exceed $53 bill...

Cloud computing solutions continue to move closer to the edge of networks across the globe, where compute and storage are located near the source of the data. Worldwide spending on edge computing is forecast at $176 billion in 2022 -- that's an increase of 14.8 percent over 2021. Enterprise and service provider spending on hardware, software, and services for edge solutions is forecast to sustain this pace of growth through 2025 when spending will reach nearly $274 billion, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). IDC defines edge as the technology-related actions that are performed outside of the centralized data center, where edge computing is the intermediary between the connected endpoints and the core IT environment. Characteristically, the edge is distributed, software-defined, and flexible. Edge Computing Market Development "Edge computing continues to gain momentum as digital-first organizations seek to innovate outside of...

Building on significant advances in disruptive mobile app technology, ride-sharing services have emerged to become a popular means of urban mobility. This is unsurprising given the advantages of ride-sharing options over traditional transport modes, such as buses and more expensive taxis. Innovative ride-sharing platforms enable app users to customize their journeys according to real-time phenomena, such as nearby traffic conditions, time of day, and rider demand. However, this is not to say that ride-sharing services are perfect. The popularity of ride-sharing has resulted in some additional traffic congestion in major cities already struggling to control this issue, while the widespread disruption caused by the pandemic affected most stakeholders within the local transportation value chain. Ride-Sharing App Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, ride-sharing spending by consumers globally will exceed $937 billion by 2026 -- that's c...