Digital Lifescapes

The traditional point-of-sale (POS) terminal has traveled a remarkable journey since IBM's first mainframe-connected models emerged in the 1970s. What began as clunky screen interfaces tethered to distant computers has evolved into a diverse ecosystem of payment solutions. Today, we stand at the precipice of the most significant transformation yet: the rise of soft POS technology that promises to democratize digital payments for businesses of all sizes. At its core, this evolution reflects a broader shift from hardware dependency to software flexibility. Global POS Market Development With their dedicated terminals, fixed installations, and substantial upfront costs, traditional POS systems have long served as gatekeepers to in-store or mobile payment acceptance. Small businesses, micro-enterprises, and mobile retailers often found themselves locked out of the digital economy, forced to rely on cash transactions or make significant capital investments in POS hardware. Soft POS techn...

Payments on smartphones via the mobile internet will boost global online retailers. The entry of OS-Pay (Apple Pay and Android Pay) to the market is likely to play an important role in retailer business strategy, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. Moreover, with biometric authentication becoming more common as a means of avoiding password or PIN entry, purchase friction can be further reduced. New findings from the Juniper study indicate that the value of digital and physical goods purchased through mobile 'OS-Pay' platforms will increase by fifteen times in the next two years. A combination of in-app purchases and website retail payments is projected to drive worldwide annual spend via Apple Pay and Android Pay to $8 billion in 2018 -- that's up from just $540 million this year. Simple Transactions Key to Mobile Success Their study also found that the integration of OS-Pay into North American eRetail apps will be welcomed by software devel...

According the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), total smartphone shipments are expected to grow by 10.4 percent in 2015 to reach 1.44 billion units. This new forecast is lower than IDC's previous smartphone forecast of 11.3 percent year-over-year growth in 2015. Smartphone shipments within China will now join North America and Western Europe in a more mature growth pattern. However, the ongoing fall of average selling prices (ASPs) will fuel steady growth through the end of the forecast period, with global shipments forecast to reach 1.9 billion units in 2019. As the largest market for smartphones -- China consumed 32.3 percent of all new smartphone shipments in 2014 -- its importance is still significant, even if its growth has begun to slow. Shipments are forecast to grow just 1.2 percent year-over-year in 2015, which is down from 19.7 percent in 2014. China will remain the largest market for smartphone volumes throughout the forecast perio...

Worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to grow by 11.3 percent in 2015, which is down from 27.6 percent in 2014, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). While overall smartphone growth will continue to slow as mature markets reach saturation, some markets will experience robust growth in 2015 and beyond. As a result, worldwide shipment volumes are forecast to reach 1.9 billion units annually by 2019. IDC now expects 2015 to bring two notable milestones. First, they predict that this will be the first year in which China's smartphone growth, forecast to be 2.5 percent in 2015, will be slower than the overall worldwide market. Second, Google Android smartphone growth is also expected to be slower than the worldwide market -- now forecast at 8.5 percent in 2015. IDC believes both trends will persist throughout the forecast period, which now goes out to 2019. "Smartphone volume still has a lot of opportunity in the years t...

The competition to become the third mobile device Operating System (OS), behind Google and Apple, has evolved. Introduction of the  Internet of Things (IoT) has shifted the focus. Now, savvy OS vendors need to be concerned with supporting wearables, smart cars, and smart home devices. "For both new and incumbent OS vendors, capturing the next wave of users will require support of new device types, a strong focus on developing markets, and support for universal development processes," said Eric Abbruzzese, research analyst at ABI Research . As Google expands Android Wear, and Apple launches its Apple Watch, other OS vendors must capitalize on not only wearables, but all smart device categories requiring an OS that supports apps. This emerging market is a tremendous upside opportunity for open-source solutions. Why the Developer Community Matters The Apple Watch is getting the news headlines, but it serves as an example of the current limitations of smart watches and t...

According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), Google Android and Apple iOS accounted for 96.3 percent of all smartphone shipments -- that's up slightly from 95.6 percent in 4Q13. In terms of year-over-year shipment growth, Android outpaced the overall smartphone market for 2014 (32.0 percent vs 27.7 percent, respectively) while iOS beat the market in 4Q14 (46.1 percent vs 29.2 percent, respectively). "Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market," said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC . "A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices – particularly for Android – drove volumes higher." What will bear close observation is how the two operating systems fare in 2015 and beyond. Now that Apple has entered the phablet market, there are few new opportunities for the company to address. Meanwhile, Samsung experience...

As the worldwide marketplace absorbed more low-cost smartphones for mobile internet access, a new era gained momentum in the Global Networked Economy. The worldwide smartphone market reached a new milestone in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14), moving past the 300 million unit mark for the first time in its history. According to the latest study by International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped a total of 301.3 million smartphones worldwide in 2Q14, that's up by 25.3 percent from the 240.5 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2013. The dominant smartphone operating systems (OS), Google Android and Apple iOS, saw their combined market share swell to 96.4 percent for the quarter, leaving little space for competitors. Android was the primary driver with its vendor partners shipping a total of 255.3 million Android-based smartphones in 2Q14 -- that's up by an impressive 33.3 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, iOS saw its market share decline despite posting...

The Google Android mobile device operating system reached a new milestone during the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). With a total base of 211.6 million smartphone units shipped during the quarter, Android accounted for 81.0 percent of all smartphone shipments -- marking the first time that Android topped 80 percent in its short history. Despite high saturation rates in a number of key mature markets, the overall smartphone space grew 39.9 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2013. Also reaching a milestone was Microsoft's Windows Phone, which grew by 156.0 percent year over year. Granted, volumes started from a small base of 3.7 million units a year ago and overall market share is still less than five percent. But Microsoft's efforts, with Nokia's support behind it, helped drive the platform into multiple tiers and price points. "Android and Windows Phone continued t...

The adoption of media tablets by more new users continued across the globe, but some product vendors were unable to benefit from the growing uptake of this very popular device. Worldwide shipments of tablets grew to 47.6 million units in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13) according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). While slightly below their prior forecast, the unit volume still represents 7.0 percent growth over the previous quarter and 36.7 percent growth compared to the third quarter of 2012. Google Android-based products once again drove much of the shipment growth in the global market as Apple iOS growth stalled and Microsoft Windows tablets continued to struggle to win over consumers. With no new Apple iPad product launches in the second or third quarter to drive volume, the company experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline in shipments from 14.6 million in 2Q13 to 14.1 million in 3Q13. Year over year, iPad shipments grew less than one per...

​There's been a big shift in product category leadership for media tablets in the mobile computing market. At the mid-point of 2013, ABI Research identified a trio of events signaling that the Apple iPad family of products had lost significant market share to the Google Android ecosystem. During the second quarter of 2013, the number of Android-powered tablets surpassed iOS-based slates for the first time, and tablet-related hardware revenues reached parity.  But the most important event was that the average selling price (ASP) of the iPad is rapidly approaching the market average. Overall tablet shipments in the quarter dropped 17 percent sequentially, while growing 23 percent year-over-year for the same quarterly period. "Smaller 7-inch class tablets are finally the majority of shipments," says Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI Research . The 7.9-inch iPad mini represented about 60 percent of total iPad shipments and 49 percent of iPad-related device re...

Proving once again that nothing lasts forever in the highly competitive mobile sector, Apple's share in the worldwide smartphone operating system market posted a year-over-year decline during the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). Meanwhile, Android and Windows Phone both managed slight increases during the same period. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped a total of 236.4 million smartphones in 2Q13 -- that's up 51.3 percent from the 156.2 million units shipped in 2Q12. Second quarter shipments grew 9.3 percent when compared to the 216.3 million units shipped in 1Q13. "Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple’s market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition," said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC . The market continues to evolve. Last quarter Windows Phone shipments surpassing BlackBerry and the trend has continued into the second quarter...

A surge of smaller and lower-priced media tablets has led International Data Corporation (IDC) to increase its 2013 forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 190.9 million -- that's up from its previous forecast of 172.4 million units. Increases in tablet shipments have been made throughout the forecast period with an average increase of 11 percent between 2013 and 2016. The latest IDC forecast estimates tablet shipments to be upwards of 350 million by the end of 2017. "One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. And in terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond," said Jitesh Ubrani, research analyst at IDC . Vendors are moving quickly to compete in this space as consumers realize that these small tablets are often more ideal than larger devices for their daily media consumption needs. Once again, Google android-based tablets expanded their share of the market in 2012, and IDC expects...

According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, almost two-thirds of the mobile phone handsets sold in China this year are powered by the Google Android operating system (OS). Did you know that China is the largest single market -- a third of all the Android devices sold in 2012 were to mobile network service subscribers in China? The U.S. is now the second-largest market for Android -- with an 11 percent share of the global market. Informa predicts that at least one in every two mobile phones sold in America in 2013 will be powered by the Android platform. "Despite the economic downturn, the global smartphone market is enjoying healthy growth and consumers are actually spending more to acquire more technologically-advanced devices," said explains Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media . It's estimated that around 786 million smartphone devices were sold in 2012 (including the devices powered by non-certified variants ...

Smartphones in the workplace are now considered to be one of the most significant trends that will further drive demand for new mobile business productivity applications. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they now estimate that by 2017 about 2.4 billion enterprise employees will be using smartphones. This represents a growth rate of 17 percent and is nearly three times more smartphones than employees use today -- in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) segment of the global marketplace. "Billions, not millions, is the size of the BYOD smartphone market. Mobility suppliers and enterprises need to think in terms of serving all employees with tools, apps, and services via their smartphones instead of only mobile employees or corporate liable employees," said Dan Shey, enterprise practice director at ABI Research . The most immediate opportunities are in the mobile business customer base which includes employees using their phone for business reasons. This g...

According to the latest market study by eMarketer, mobile phone penetration in Canada is not as pervasive or as fast-growing as in the U.S. marketplace, but the country that birthed the BlackBerry is rising rapidly when it comes to uptake of smartphones and media tablets. Canadian mobile device adoption is already inspiring more mobile internet usage as a result. Therefore, savvy marketers on both sides of the 49th parallel are taking note. The number of mobile internet users in Canada increased more than 28 percent in 2011 -- with an estimated 25 percent of the population using mobile internet access by the end of 2012. eMarketer forecasts that user penetration will continue to rise, albeit at a somewhat slower pace, through 2016 -- when nearly half of the population will be mobile internet users. "As adoption continues to increase, marketers are moving from getting their feet wet to executing more sophisticated campaigns,” said Paul Briggs, analyst at eMarketer . Ca...