Digital Lifescapes

The mobile gaming market continues to be a high-growth opportunity. International Data Corporation (IDC) released the findings from its latest market study, a comprehensive assessment of the current state and future direction of smartphone, tablet, and gaming-optimized handheld (GOH) hardware and software. Their forecast details the outlook for Apple, Google Android, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and a wide range of game software developers and publishers from a mobile device and portable gaming perspective through 2017. The GOH market category -- typified by the Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita -- has recently been overshadowed by gaming-capable smartphones and media tablets and this trend is likely to continue. IDC research shows, for example, that the number of paying smartphone and tablet gamers will surpass the number of paying GOH gamers worldwide in 2013 and rise at a rapid rate through 2017. The number of GOH bundles shipped, meanwhile, should fall at an ...

Smartphone shipments exceeded 200 million units in Q4 2012, with the annual total reaching 671 million -- representing a growth of almost 42 percent year-over-year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research . Samsung continued its phenomenal growth over the year shipping a record 63 million smartphones and accounting for over 30 percent of all smartphone shipments in the quarter. Once again, sales of the Galaxy S3 drove growth, with sales surpassing 40 million in November 2012. However, despite the holiday season boost and iPhone 5 sales, Apple posted lower than expected iPhone sales -- at around 47.8 million, but still a record quarter for the company. With Samsung leading the market, Juniper believes that Apple will need to continue focusing on innovation, while retaining its brand leadership. Meanwhile, Nokia shipped 6.6 million smart devices in the fourth quarter, with the new Lumia device line still to make a significant impact with shipments of 4.4 million....

It's now forecast that a total of 1.95 billion near field communication (NFC) enabled devices will ship in 2017 -- a combination of both mobile handsets and consumer electronics (CE) Devices -- according to the latest market study by ABI Research. The majority of NFC enablement will continue to be focused in the mobile handset market, although ABI says that they are expecting a surge of NFC functionality included within CE products -- for simple pairing of devices, exchange of data, and online authentication functionality. In total, 395 million CE devices will ship in 2017, predominantly into media tablets, PC accessories, and gaming consoles. NFC inclusion into devices other than handsets shows market development and an understanding that NFC will be more than payments. Added value will be provided through the enablement of convenient online/offline authentication, retail and loyalty applications, reader functionality, AFC, and advertising as a host of value added opportun...

The video game industry is currently going through the next phase of its apparent ongoing evolution. That is, even since smartphones and media tablets became part of the market equation. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, over 38 million handheld gaming devices from Sony and Nintendo are expected to ship in 2013 -- that's significantly lower than the previous peak of 47 million units in 2008. Unit shipments following 2013 are expected to decline slightly, but dedicated handheld gaming devices are a sustainable niche, with forecasts relatively flat through 2017. Smartphone and media tablet use for gaming continues to expand, making the mobile gaming market an increasingly important companion to dedicated handheld gaming. "Mobile devices will compete with dedicated handheld gaming devices, but select consumer segments like core gamers and those individuals who do not want or have a smartphone or media tablet will still provide some demand," said ...

As more consumers transition to smartphones that are intended for internet access, their device performance expectations evolve -- sometimes in ways that were not anticipated by device manufacturers or mobile network service providers. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , the rapid adoption and growth of smartphones -- and of other mobile computing devices -- have pushed the expectation needle for the ideal feature set to new levels. As a result, most handsets today already include a multitude of features like a digital camera, GPS, email capability, touchscreen, and speakerphone, among others. In-Stat's latest study of U.S. mobile phone service subscribers provides some insight into what features are included in respondents’ ideal phone. Surprisingly, 75 percent of the surveyed respondents included 4G in that category. It appears that the perceived need for greater broadband speed is apparent to most users. “Although 4G is an important feature for ...

comScore released results of a U.S. market study of mobile map usage. The study found that 48 million people accessed online maps via their mobile device during the three month period ending May 2011 -- that's an increase of 39 percent from the previous year, driven in large part by the increase in smartphone adoption. The study found that map usage via mobile applications (apps) was the primary access point for smartphone owners -- as the map app audience doubled in size over the past year. A comparative look at map usage among fixed-Internet users (i.e. accessing from a home or work computer) found that map visitation saw a slight decline in total audience in May 2011 versus the previous year, dipping 2 percent, while still maintaining a substantially larger audience of 93.8 million visitors. "The strong growth in mobile map usage and flattening of desktop map usage is indicative of broader behavioral shifts being wrought by smartphones," said Mark Donovan, comSc...

The popularity and anticipated growth in the media tablet sector has upset the portable consumer device world marketplace. That said, the latest market study by In-Stat indicates that tablet demand isn't quite as global as you might think. The top three world regions -- North America, Asia-Pacific, and Western Europe -- will be responsible for 91 percent of all media tablet unit shipments in 2015. "There is obviously strong potential for tablets, as there has been with other mobile electronic devices. One key difference, however, is that the commercial market also represents a potential revenue opportunity for tablet OEMs," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat. Usage models and user requirements will differ in the commercial market, but as the overall tablet market becomes more defined, the opportunities for tablets within business markets will become more apparent. In-Stat's latest market research findings include: - At over 129 billion units, ...

When was the last time that you used a mobile phone to pay for a retail purchase? If you said never, well your answer to this question is likely to change in the foreseeable future. Here's the reasons why. The growing adoption of web-enabled smartphones is becoming a catalyst to develop the market for mobile payment transaction volume. In fact, transactions will actually increase at a pace greater than the number of users, as individuals adopt mobile payment solutions for an increasing portion of their payments. As consumers become more familiar with mobile payments, and as the number of retailers supporting these solutions increases, the rate of usage will increase exponentially. Therefore, it's expected that the number of annual mobile payment transactions will increase to 45 billion in 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Despite mobile payment's perennial failure to launch globally, 2011 will be a significant year for market growth,...

Mobile payment transactions are an emerging opportunity to make purchases while using a mobile handset. While it's already a success in the leading countries and with advanced users, mobile payments have not yet achieved success on a global scale. However, according to the latest market study by In-Stat , it is anticipated that this situation will begin to change in 2011 as the number of mobile payment users starts a significant upswing -- from 116 million this year to over 375 million in 2015. "There appears to be consumer demand for mobile payments," says Amy Cravens, Market Analyst at In-Stat. People surveyed already recognize the pain points with some current payment systems and indicate support for a cleaner, easier alternative. Moreover, mobile devices with built-in near field communications (NFC) capabilities will create the potential for new applications. If mobile operators are able to push beyond the infrastructural challenges, and introduce these servic...

Due to advancements in autostereoscopic 3D technology, it's now being utilized to view a variety of video content in mobile devices -- such as high-end smartphones and handheld game consoles. Autostereoscopy is any method of displaying stereoscopic images (adding perception of 3D depth) without the use of special headgear or glasses on the part of the viewer. Because headgear is not required, it is also called glasses-free or glasses-less 3D. As an example of the applications, Nintendo plans to release its first 3D-enabled handheld game console -- called the 3DS -- in the first half of 2011. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , this will be the beginning of what will result in over 11 million unit shipments of 3D-enabled handheld game consoles by 2014. "The uptake of 3D in handheld game consoles will happen more rapidly than in other mobile device segments over the coming year," says Stephanie Ethier at In-Stat. Apparently, this is primarily because t...

While the local venue growth of Wi-Fi hotspots has been, and continues to be, a leading market indicator, usage growth has been phenomenal. As an example, in the U.S. market AT&T reported a fivefold increase from 1Q09 to 1Q10. Other broadband service providers have experienced similarly strong growth in usage. In-Stat now forecasts that worldwide annual hotspot connects will grow to over 11 billion by 2014. "Venue growth will begin to wane over the next several years as operator networks reach a critical mass and desirable locations become saturated. Growth in usage is expected to remain strong over the forecast period," says Amy Cravens, Market Analyst at In-Stat. In the past, usage growth has largely been tied to venue growth -- i.e., the more venues the more usage -- and the rate of usage per venue was fairly constant. Going forward, however, usage growth will be driven by increases in connects per day at each venue. This usage and application is a result, at...

Total shipments of mobile phone handsets are expected to total 1.34 billion by 2010 and should maintain their momentum all the way to 2015 -- with more than 1.7 billion in handset shipments. "The Asia-Pacific region currently makes the largest contribution to global handset sales," says ABI Research industry analyst Celia Bo. Handset sales are projected to increase 9 percent this year compared to 2009, and will account for 38 percent of total shipments. China is clearly a major source of handset demand, but it is not the only one. India and Indonesia are also expanding their domestic demand. The Indian handset market is expected to grow from 84.3 million handsets in 2009 to 104 million in 2010, a Year-over-Year growth of 24 percent. Within Indonesia, many of its 240 million people confidently purchased 33 million handsets in 2009 -- that figure is expected to surpass 37 million by the end of 2010. Both markets have traditionally been fertile ground for Nokia distribu...

Wi-Fi has achieved consumer electronics device ubiquity, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . The number of applications and devices where Wi-Fi technology is integrated continues to expand. Not only is Wi-Fi now in nearly every smartphone sold, but the wireless connectivity technology is in almost every handheld game, tablet, netbook or notebook computer sold. Now, include new wireless network applications such as automotive, digital cameras, E-readers, Blu-ray and personal video recorders -- plus, new medical and industrial applications -- and with every type of device, there is likely a Wi-Fi chipset inside. As a result, it should come as no surprise that In-Stat's latest forecast for Wi-Fi chipsets will pass one billion units shipped annually by 2012. "Overall the Wi-Fi chip business has never looked stronger," says Allen Nogee, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. While traditional products like routers, wireless access points, and business gateways a...

Image projectors have been miniaturized over the past decade. Manufacturers are now actively embedding these pico projectors into a wide range of consumer electronics (CE) products, from cellphones to mobile TVs, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Forecast shipment growth of devices with embedded pico projector modules will grow to over 20 million devices by 2014, with mobile handsets share of that market moving from its current level of 15 percent to over 90 percent by 2014. "Although the integration of pico projectors will occur across the entire CE device spectrum, the biggest push will come from the mobile handset segment," says Frank Dickson, VP Mobile Internet Research. The mobile handset market is measured in billions, creating massive opportunities for component manufactures. For pico projectors, what makes it even more attractive is that the market is hyper-competitive, with manufacturers always aggressively looking to add new features to create ...

In 2015, 3.8 billion mobile handsets -- more than 60 percent of the total installed base worldwide -- will contain mobile web browsers, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . That doubles today's penetration rate. "Mobile browsers are evolving along two paths," says senior analyst Mark Beccue at ABI Research. On one hand, highly sophisticated browsers, which we are calling full Internet browsers, will be found in all smartphones and a growing number of enhanced (or feature) phones. Such devices can host these browsers because they have advanced application processors, expanded memory capacity and adequate screen size and resolution. These full Internet browsers typically require about 64 Mb of memory to run. A real key to the growth of full Internet browsers in higher-end feature phones is the falling cost of sophisticated applications processors. But there is also a second path. Parallel to this development, a new family of browsers has emerged:...

comScore released data about key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month period ending March 2010 -- compared to the preceding three-month period. Their report ranked the leading mobile manufacturers and mobile operators in the U.S. marketplace. The March report found Samsung, Motorola and LG separated by a mere fraction of a percentage point of market share among mobile handset manufacturers, while Verizon led among mobile service operators with 31.1 percent market share. 234 million Americans -- age 13 and older -- were mobile subscribers, with device manufacturer Samsung ranking as the top OEM at a 21.9 percent share of U.S. mobile subscribers, inching out Motorola by a fraction of a percent. LG (21.8 percent share) ranked closely behind them, with RIM (8.3 percent share) and Nokia (8.3 percent share) rounding out the top five. Verizon led the market with 31.1 percent of mobile subscribers. AT&T ranked second with 25.2 percent market share, up 0.2 ...

Despite the increasing overlap between mobile phone functionality and other handheld devices, people are still purchasing standalone cameras, satellite navigation, personal media and handheld gaming devices, according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting . "Right now, the functionality and quality of dedicated products can far exceed that of multi-function gadgets," says David Luu, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource. Features like optical zoom and image stabilization in cameras or embedded maps in personal navigation devices are seen as key value-add differentiators, and still drive consumers to make that purchase. However, it won't be long before the continued rise of the smartphone will have a major impact on the handheld device landscape. Last year, mobile phone ownership exceeded four billion users -- which equates to nearly 60 percent of the world's population. And in the face of a handset market which is slowing on the whole, smartphone sales...

Wi-Fi enabled handset shipments have exploded over the past year, and will continue to show strong growth over the next several years. With the increasing availability, Wi-Fi hotspot usage by handheld devices has increased significantly. As a percentage of total network connects, handhelds (mobile smartphones, etc.) increased from 20 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2009. By 2011 handhelds will account for half of hotspot connects, according to the latest study by In-Stat . Other factors are affecting handheld Wi-Fi usage growth as well. There are now a predominance of mobile carriers offering services within the hotspot market, resulting in the promotion of Wi-Fi enabled handset devices. New dual-mode Wi-Fi phones are coming to the market. Growth in applications, such as content download, or even more so VoIP over Wi-Fi (VoFi), will drive usage of handheld devices over the coming years. Emerging high-growth markets, such as China, are now witnessing the launch of new hotspot services ...

The weak economic environment is taking its toll across most consumer markets. Consumer electronics devices are no exception. Yet even economic pressure can't overcome a broader migration to mobile and portable devices, as indicated by the proliferation of portable electronics categories. Portable electronics device shipments will grow more than 10 percent in 2009 versus 2008 according to the latest market study by In-Stat . The category, which includes digital radio receivers, e-readers, edutainment toys, handheld game consoles, MP3 players, portable media players (PMPs), and personal navigation devices (PNDs), is expanding to over 400 million units in 2009. By 2013, it will approach 600 million units. While some segments, such as handheld game consoles and MP3 players, have hit maturity and peaked, other segments continue to emerge. "We're seeing significant growth in the e-reader segment, as it evolves from a nascent market," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst....

Augmented Reality (AR), the overlay of graphics onto a video stream or other real-time display, has existed for more than 15 years, with customized applications in industrial automation, theme parks, sports television, military displays, and online marketing. Recently, an entirely new mass market has opened up in mobile handsets, due to the availability of video cameras, processors, GPS data, compasses, and accelerometers on smartphone handset platforms. In particular, personal navigation applications for the Apple iPhone and Android platforms have seen strong early adoption, due to the intuitive nature of the real-time display. According to an ABI Research study, handheld platforms will transform the Augmented Reality ecosystem, with revenue growing from about $6 million in 2008 to more than $350 million in 2014. As advertisers learn to insert tags into navigation displays, mobile advertising revenue will grow slowly, representing a large portion of sectoral revenues in the 2013-2014...