Digital Lifescapes

The leading organizations that create a digital transformation plan will gain the most from their use of public cloud computing. However, some CIO and CTO leaders still struggle with how to build a modern cloud migration strategy. The worldwide cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market grew 41.4 percent in 2021, to a total of $90.9 billion -- that's up from $64.3 billion in 2020, according to the latest market study by Gartner. "The IaaS market continues to grow unabated as cloud-native becomes the primary architecture for modern workloads," said Sid Nag, vice president and analyst at Gartner . Cloud IaaS Market Development Cloud supports the scalability and composability that advanced technologies and applications require, while also enabling enterprise leaders to address emerging needs such as sovereignty, data integration, and enhanced customer experience. In 2021, the top five IaaS providers accounted for over 80 percent of the market. Amazon AWS conti...

Personal computer (PC) manufacturers will find no relief from the latest overall industry assessment. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 67 million units in the third quarter of 2017 -- that's a 3.6 percent decline from the third quarter of 2016, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Note, this is the twelfth consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments. Optimistic industry analysts continue to seek an upside for this historically weak technology market, but some of the largest regions still show no sign of a meaningful recovery. Personal Computer Market Development "While there were signs of stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America, the relatively stable results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw a 10 percent year-over-year decline in part because of a very weak back-to-school sales season," said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner . Business PC demand, led by Windows 10 upgrades, conti...

The worldwide media tablet market contracted in the first quarter of 2017 (1Q17) with total shipments of 36.2 million -- that's a year-over-year decline of 8.5 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The first quarter contraction marks the tenth straight quarter that tablets have experienced a decline over the same quarter a year earlier, with the previous five quarters recording double-digit drops. Meanwhile, the market for Google Chromebooks continues to rise, and phablets continue to gain market share. Media Tablet Market Development The tablet market is comprised of two different product categories. Devices offering a keyboard, which IDC refers to as detachable tablets, continue to grow. The other product category is slate tablets (those lacking this keyboard option), which saw shipments peak in 2014 and is now in a steep decline. "As far as most are aware, the tablet market was created in 2010 with the launch of the o...

As more people around the globe discover that they don't need a personal computer (PC) to participate in the Global Networked Economy, the market for smartphones and phablets has satisfied the demand for internet access and web browsing. This is now the pervasive trend worldwide. Besides, the ongoing adoption of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps meant that mainstream users learned what has become common knowledge -- just about anything you need to accomplish can be done in the cloud. The impact of this disruptive trend on traditional PC manufacturers has been devastating. "The global PC market had a bad start to 2016 and it is difficult to see any bright spots for vendors in the coming quarters. The tablet boom has faded in the distance and the market is fully mature. Global shipments declines are expected to continue unless vendors bring some remarkable new innovation to the market," said Tim Coulling, senior analyst at Canalys . Market Declines Dominate the PC Lan...

Seasonality combined with disinterested customers led to an annual decline of 14.7 percent in worldwide tablet shipments during the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16). Global shipments of tablets reached 39.6 million, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Slate tablets continued their decline while still accounting for 87.6 percent of all shipments. More importantly, the slate tablet segment has become synonymous with prices at the low-end of the market. While this may bode well for vendors like Amazon that rely on hardware sales to increase their overall ecosystem size, it has not helped other leading vendors who rely solely on greater margins for hardware sales. Ongoing Gains for Detachable Tablets Meanwhile, detachables experienced triple-digit year-over-year growth on shipments of more than 4.9 million units, an all-time high in the first quarter of a calendar year. But that performance won't result in a celebration. Many challenges rem...

Personal computer (PC) demand is still a major concern. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 60.6 million units in the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16) -- that's a year-on-year decline of 11.5 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). IDC also anticipated slow progress during the first half of 2016, as Microsoft Windows 10 enterprise upgrades largely remained in a pilot deployment phase. IDC believes that the global volatility in stocks, commodities and currencies has depressed PC shipments. Moreover, the outlook remains a problem. Inventory reductions in the channel now seem to be over. A rebound in economic conditions could support both commercial and consumer activity going forward. Nevertheless, channels, vendors, and users remain cautious about new PC purchases. Overall, Asia-Pacific and EMEA performed slightly better than forecast, while the Americas pulled down worldwide results. Overcoming Market Development Stagnation "In the...

If there's a 'new-rule' the consumer electronics and PC industry learned from the successful rise of low-cost Chromebooks in the global marketplace, it's that less product capabilities can equate to significant new upside market opportunity. With the recent introduction of the compute stick form-factor -- such as ASUS Chromebit, Intel Compute Stick, and Lenovo Ideacentre Stick 300 -- key players in the PC sector have uncovered yet another gap in which existing devices are sub-optimal for specific use cases. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, compute stick shipments are forecast to top 5 million units by 2021. Truly, this would be a meaningful accomplishment, when you consider the other potential growth alternatives. "With 2015 concluding compute stick's first full year of shipments, we anticipate the devices to show an impressive CAGR of 49 percent between 2015 and 2021 as the ecosystem continues to grow," said Jeff Orr, ...

Demand for mobile devices also drives the associated software upside potential. Recent estimates show that 1.74 billion smartphones, media tablets, two-in-one PCs and notebooks shipped in 2015 -- that's a year-on-year increase of 5 percent, according to the the latest worldwide market study by Canalys. Growth was driven by two-in-ones and smartphones, while tablets and notebooks declined. According to the Canalys analyst assessment, Microsoft has experienced the greatest challenge from the pivotal shift to mobility. Its share of the total mobility market was just 12 percent, against Google (Alphabet) at 70 percent and Apple at 17 percent. Shipments of mobility products running the Linux-based operating system (OS) increased by over 200 percent. This was primarily driven by YunOS shipments, which became the third largest smartphone platform in China within the fourth quarter of 2015. In the notebook PC space, there are similar shifts in the OS landscape. Open Source OS Ga...

Software as a Service (SaaS) applications continue to lead the ongoing enterprise migration to cloud-based service offerings. Given the recent trends, corporate email is a SaaS application that's likely to experience significant new growth during 2016. The cloud email market is still in the early stages of adoption with 13 percent of identified publicly listed companies globally using one of the two main cloud email vendors, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Gartner found that 8.5 percent of public companies use cloud email from Microsoft's Office 365 service, while 4.7 percent use Google Apps for Work. The remaining 87 percent of companies surveyed have on-premises, hybrid, hosted or private cloud email managed by smaller vendors. These findings are based on an automated examination of a large number of publicly available email routing records. Gartner used the email server addresses in the domain records of nearly 40,000 public companies globall...

The Personal Computer (PC) market has been very volatile for several years. Meanwhile, each new year an industry analyst predicts a small recovery, but the forecast results fail to materialize. We've seen this cycle of refutal over and over again. Case in point: worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015 (4Q15), reaching a year-on-year decline of -10.6 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC ). Although total shipments were similar to analyst expectations, 2015 still ended as the first year below 300 million units since 2008. The holiday quarter achieved a small boost compared to the prior quarter, but the year-on-year decline in 2015 shipments was the largest in history -- surpassing the decline of -9.8 percent in 2013. The PC market continued to face persistent challenges from longer-PC lifecycles and competition from mobile phones and media tablets, despite the slowing growth in those markets...

The personal computing (PC) market has now undergone numerous attempts to stimulate a high-growth revival, without success. Back in March of 2014, I shared a market update entitled " Final Closure: End of the Wintel Era is Now Undeniable ." To some market observers, that perspective may seem overly pessimistic. And yet, here we are in August of 2015 and the outlook doesn't appear to have materially changed. Granted, there's some pent-up demand that exists in the PC marketplace, but the real solution is unlikely to be 'more of the same' vendor response. ​The recent launch of Microsoft Windows 10 during the second half of 2015 now has many PC OEM vendors hoping that the revamped operating system software will trigger a replacement opportunity for aging laptop and notebook computers. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, total system shipments for portable computing are predicted to reach 165 million units for full-year 2015 -- which is esse...

The CIO at a typical large enterprise has a difficult task today. They're expected to perform procurement due diligence, in a professional and comprehensive manner, before selecting a cloud computing service(s) for their organization's many workload requirements. More often than not, they look to one of the leading IT industry analysts for guidance. From a CIOs perspective, the industry analysts that they subscribe to (i.e. pay them an annual fee for their analysis) are expected to provide market clarity and a candid assessment of the various players. Honest and informed analyst guidance is particularly important when most of the primary vendors and service providers tend to deliver the same basic offerings, or make very similar claims about their company's cloud-related capabilities. Moreover, viewed through the lens of the collective IT technology trade media, a CIO can be excused for thinking that the current cloud infrastructure marketplace appears to be an undif...

While Microsoft and Intel were busy planning the introduction of a high-price Ultrabook PC concept -- that was focused on vendor needs for higher profit margins -- Google was working on developing a low-price Chromebook model that was targeted at an under-served market. What's the primary benefits of a Chromebook? They're cloud-centric, budget-friendly, fast-booting, battery-efficient, secure computing devices that are more functional than media tablets and less expensive than the typical notebook PC. Besides, the Chromebook is a forward-thinking device, enabled by a software platform that has already transformed server computing -- the operating system is based on open-source Linux. Built for the Mobile Cloud Era In 2014, Chromebooks gained more traction in the North America market, and are set to continue growing as online streaming devices become more popular among consumers and business buyers. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, Chromebooks exp...

Personal computer (PC) vendors have a complex market development challenge in 2015 -- learn how to embrace ongoing demand volatility. Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -4.9 percent in 2015, while growth projections for 2016 and 2017 were raised slightly, according to the latest study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Fourth quarter 2014 (4Q14) results were 1.7 percent ahead of forecast, but economic and product changes will create more challenges in the short term. Total 2015 volume is projected at 293.1 million PCs, slipping a little further to 291.4 million in 2019. In value terms, the PC market reached $201 billion in 2014 -- that's a decline of -0.8 percent, and is expected to fall another -6.9 percent in 2015 with potentially smaller declines in subsequent years bringing the total to $175 billion by 2019. Furthermore, while recent processor updates have generated some positive momentum, more significant product refreshes -- such as Intel Skylake and M...

Smaller declines in personal computer sales around the globe are a welcomed change. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), that's a year-on-year decline of -2.4 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Total shipments were slightly above expectations of -4.8 percent growth, but the market still contracted both year on year and in comparison to the third quarter. IDC reports that although the holiday quarter saw shipment volume inch above 80 million for the first time in 2014, the final quarter nonetheless marked the end of yet another difficult year -- it was the third consecutive year with overall volumes declining. On an annual basis, 2014 shipments totaled 308.6 million units, that's down by -2.1 percent from the prior year. Besides, the forward-looking trend doesn't indicate any meaningful improvements. Although the U.S. and Europe remained stronger than other markets,...

Back in April of 2012, a key trend had emerged -- people were choosing lower-cost notebook PCs. The Wintel partnership was concerned. If the trend gained momentum, then profits would surely be impacted. Intel responded with the Ultrabook campaign , in an attempt to "correct" the market. The result of this huge marketing investment by Intel was " cinematic and epic " -- but clearly not in a way that was intended. The outcome from the campaign and the apparent lessons-learned are truly one of the most insightful marketing case studies of the decade. Why? This was an irrefutable example of how traditional mass-media marketing was no longer able to significantly influence buyer sentiment. Moreover, the size of an advertising and promotion budget won't translate into market development gains, if and when it rejects a compelling trend in the marketplace. The Reality: a New Era of Computing The Average Selling Price (ASP) of Ultrabooks and media tablets declin...

The worldwide media tablet market experienced a significant change in 2014 -- with year-over-year growth slowing to 7.2 percent, down from 52.5% in 2013, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). At the core of this slowdown is the expectation that 2014 will represent the first full year of decline in Apple iPad shipments. However, both the iPad and the overall market slowdown do not come as a surprise, as device lifecycles for tablets have continued to lengthen -- increasingly resembling those of PCs more than smartphones. "The tablet market continues to be impacted by a few major trends happening in relevant markets," said Ryan Reith, program director at IDC . "In the early stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring every 2-3 years. What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than 3 years and...

Once PC vendors let go of their great (unfounded) hope that high-cost Ultrabooks would deliver a huge windfall in sales, then they were able to focus more on the real demand for low-cost notebook PCs and Chromebooks in the marketplace. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 78.5 million units in the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14) -- that's a year-on-year decline of -1.7 percent and a sizable improvement over the forecast of -4.1 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Many of the trends from the second quarter remained relevant and contributed to the 3Q14 results. Commercial PC purchases played a key role in many markets, with the top three vendors -- Lenovo, HP, and Dell -- all showing solid year-on-year growth. Conversely, fierce competition and a spiral toward tablet-like prices helped to further consolidate the market. Shipments of entry systems, including Chromebooks, continued to inject an important source of volume and sustained imp...

While few people may remember the anticlimax that followed the huge marketing campaign for the launch of Intel-based high-cost Ultrabook PCs, industry analysts can't help but reflect upon that event as they review the impact of low-cost notebooks on the personal computing market today. Following a second consecutive quarter of softer than expected demand, International Data Corporation (IDC) has once again lowered its worldwide media tablet plus 2-in-1 forecast for 2014 to 233.1 million units. Based upon their latest market study, they now forecast a 6.5 percent year-over-year growth rate -- which is well below the 12.1 percent growth rate previously forecast. "When we look at the global picture, it would be easy to say that the tablet market is slowing down," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director at IDC . "But, when we start digging into the regional dynamics, we realize that there is still a good appetite for this product category." While matu...

Overall worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -3.7 percent in 2014, that's a slight improvement from the previous forecast of -6 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). PC shipments in emerging regions remain constrained by ongoing competition from alternative devices such as media tablets, and a number of economic challenges. However, commercial demand and even a rekindling of consumer interest in mature markets helped to boost results for the first half of 2014 as well as the outlook for the rest of the year. PC shipments in mature regions are now projected to grow by 5.6 percent in 2014 – the highest since 2010 -- with both consumer and commercial segments showing positive growth. On the other hand, the outlook for emerging market has been lowered slightly to reflect reduced stability and economic conditions in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMA). PC market drivers fo...