Digital Lifescapes

The global financial services market continues to evolve. With the rise of digital payment options, the ability to facilitate payments quickly became a vital element in the current convenience-driven Fintech landscape. Payment cards have previously been the end products of complex payment systems. They have also been instrumental in advancing the underlying payments technology infrastructure, constituting the cornerstone of a fully functioning payments ecosystem. Regardless of their evolution and popularity, plastic cards now stand at a crossroads and face new competition from purely digital payment platforms. The most prominent examples of such platforms are Digital Wallets and Superapps.  Fintech Payments Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of payment cards issued via digital platforms will reach 1.3 billion annually by 2027 -- that's up from just 500 million in 2023. This growth of 170 percent reflects the growing int...

Ever since the first clickable banner ad was produced in 1993, advertising on digital platforms has evolved. The growth in digital advertising has been aided by several improvements, such as programmatic media and big data. The potential for targeted, personalized advertising -- enabled by new mobile device adoption -- is a key area of interest for digital marketers. Advertising spend on smart watches will reach $68.6 million by 2019, that's up from an estimated $1.5 million this year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research . The study found that market growth will be fueled by the entrance of high-profile brands, such as Apple, into the smart watch arena, combined with the ongoing mainstream acceptance of wearable technology. Juniper believes that the emergence of an additional mobile screen would stimulate interest among advertisers. However, until a significant user base is reached, most ad-spend is likely to take the form of ad-hoc marketing campaigns. ...

​As the mobile service provider's traditional sources of communications revenues decrease, the move towards 4G LTE enables new potential streams of revenues -- including in-store retail applications, big data analytics, customer experience management (CEM) and personalized advertising. Location-based technologies are at the center of these market developments. According to their latest global market study, ABI Research has considered the applications, industry verticals and technologies that will drive new location-based revenue growth for mobile carriers worldwide. "Location for carriers is no longer about navigation applications. Location will become an essential tool in network optimization and CEM, as we move to LTE, HetNets, and personalized subscriber packages," said  Patrick Connolly, senior analyst at ABI Research . While these advances gives a clear return on investment, ABI says that there is also significant upside on new areas -- such as retail/indoor ...

Three-dimensional (3D) printers, with the ability to print a variety of objects, have evolved significantly over the past few years and are currently re-shaping the future for industrial and consumer applications. With the ability to print solid objects ranging from high-end mechanical devices to a variety of children's toys, consumer 3D printing has gained early adoption among the do-it-yourself and hobbyist communities. Findings from the latest market study by Juniper Research reveal that sales of consumer-grade 3D printers will exceed 1 million units by 2018, rising from just over an estimated 44,000 this year. While shipments of 3D printers are at relatively low levels, representing a limited opportunity in the medium term, Juniper expects them to increase significantly beyond the five-year period. This will be a result of an ever widening scope of application scenarios, driven by the entry and growth of the more established printing vendors. This, in turn ,will likely ...

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...

  Why do so many of today's service providers still cling to legacy mass-media marketing practices, when they know that there's an alternative? It's puzzling, especially to those who track current marketing trends. eMarketer reports that service providers in several industries are not meeting customer needs for personalized offerings, or even fulfilling relevant communication needs, according to a recent U.S. market study. Customers are increasingly frustrated a lack of basic personalization or targeting and believe that many businesses simply don't care about their preferences. In fact, despite the wealth of options enabled by digital media channels, most internet users are dissatisfied. Research from customer engagement firm Thunderhead found that the banking industry was most likely to use a customer's preferred digital channels -- with 54 percent of respondents reporting positive experiences. But just 27 percent of internet users said gas companies com...

Legacy marketers in the U.S. rarely invest the time and effort to understand the interests and needs of their customers, which would enable them to segment the addressable marketplace -- and thereby personalize their offerings. Why is target marketing uncommon? It's hard for someone schooled in traditional mass-marketing methods to make the transition. eMarketer reports that it requires having the market data that can be applied in relevant ways to personalize the marketing creative for each of the target groups. But for those that do the market assessment work and make the transition -- the pay-back can be significant, with personalized offers consistently outperforming the mass-market ones. March 2011 research from web content management provider EPiServer found that a third of U.S. marketers considered personalized campaigns to be highly effective and measurable, with another 14 percent reporting a better response rate than traditional campaigns. But the vast majority ...

If you're thinking that all the commentary you have read about the rise of the tablet computing era is pure hype, then think again. There's much to be learned by following the development of this evolving trend. eMarketer reports that research on tablet usage has found that they're primarily being used for entertainment, and the availability of media content on the devices is still driving purchase intent. A March 2011 market study by mobile ad network AdMob amplifies those findings further, with survey results showing that for many owners tablets are fast becoming a primary source of digital entertainment. Nearly seven in 10 tablet owners reported spending at least 1 hour per day using the device, including 38 percent who spent over 2 hours on the device. And, while just 28 percent consider it their primary computer, 77 percent are spending less time on desktop or notebook PCs -- since they acquired a tablet. More than two in five respondents now spend more time ...

If you really like banal auto dealership commercials, then you would enjoy the typical American broadcast radio station. However, eMarketer reports that a recent Edison Research study highlights the trends in media usage among U.S. teens and young adults -- the results aren't encouraging for legacy marketers. Waking up to the radio was a routine for this young demographic a decade ago, but usage has sharply declined. Also, as many young people have reduced their traditional media use, the Internet has replaced much of that activity. The trend is apparent in total time spent with various media. In 2000, teens and young adults were spending close to 2 hours and 45 minutes listening to broadcast radio each day. By 2010 it had fallen to an hour and a half. In contrast, time spent online had risen from an hour a day to almost 3 hours. Alternative music listening services have also emerged. In 2010, 36 percent of consumers surveyed by Bridge Ratings ages 12 and over had listene...

Strategy Analytics recently conducted in-depth interviews across five countries with early-adopters who already use over-the-top (OTT) video services with their television sets. This group accesses OTT video content via a variety of methods. Some own new connected TVs, BluRay players or gaming consoles. Others have purchased digital media center PCs or purpose-built low-cost digital video players. Despite this diversity, the market study found that people's needs an wants are often surprisingly similar. The study also uncovered that while saving money is a deciding factor for consumers (especially in Spain or China), the majority are also using OTT video services as a way of increasing the variety of content available to them -- providing greater convenience and flexibility. According to the Strategy Analytics assessment, OTT video typically supplements broadcast TV viewing. Broadcast TV and OTT content serve different purposes. Watching broadcast TV is likely to be consider...

Thousands of TV programs currently compete for "passive consumer" audiences. With such a huge range of traditional linear TV content, the electronic program guide (EPG) is being promoted as a viable solution -- according to the latest market study by Screen Digest and consulting firm Goldmedia. It's estimated that 59 million households in Western Europe were equipped with EPGs at the end of 2008 -- a penetration of 36 percent of all TV households. This number will grow 19 percent yearly between 2008 and 2014 so that nearly three quarters of all TV households will have access to EPGs in 2014. The analysts report has identified about 300 EPGs on the different platforms in Western Europe. These include EPGs in set-top boxes from pay-TV and infrastructure providers, online EPGs from TV guide magazines, TV platform providers, online providers and mobile EPGs. The research results indicate that market volumes from direct revenues in Western Europe will triple by 2014. Direct E...

Consumer social networks are mainstream applications, so people are now demanding similar applications in the workplace that provide personalized online experiences for creating, publishing, locating, and sharing content internally and externally with colleagues, customers, and partners. If these applications are not provided by an IT organization, IDC observes that employees are bringing them in through their own initiatives. This emerging business need has created a suddenly crowded market of online community software providers aiming to make the business world a more social place. IDC forecasts that the U.S. online community software market will grow from $278.4 million in 2008 to $1.6 billion in 2013 at a CAGR of 41.8 percent. While the U.S. online community software market was not immune to the recession, dominant vendors in this space reported double-digit growth rates in 2008 and higher-than-expected growth in the first half of 2009. Overall, the U.S. online community software ...

Like most segments of the mobile phone services industry, the Asia-Pacific region leads the world in mobile marketing and advertising. Accelerating growth will see nearly $7.7 billion -- and more than $16 billion globally -- spent there in 2011. "Spending on mobile marketing and advertising in 2009 worldwide is at least flat compared to 2008 if not slightly growing," says ABI Research senior analyst Jeff Orr. That's very encouraging compared to the numbers for advertising in most other media. It's less money per campaign, spent more intelligently, with greater benefit per dollar. Why has mobile marketing and advertising been more widely adopted in some Asian countries than elsewhere? Particularly in the most broadband-enabled countries -- Japan and South Korea -- SMS text messaging, the downloading of ad-supported games and applications, and the mobile web were adopted widely and quickly by consumers. People understood how to use these services and rapidly built them ...

A new market study by Parks Associates finds worldwide growth in the number of 3G subscribers will motivate service providers, under pressure to maintain customer satisfaction and build revenues, to expand on traditional voice offerings to include converged fixed-mobile services. Their report predicts that the number of 3G subscribers will exceed 2.5 billion worldwide by 2013, with over one billion in Asia alone. The tremendous expansion of this large service population will catalyze the development of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), creating new service options where users can access video, audio, and community offerings via mobile devices once limited to traditional voice applications. "Service providers have to offer personalized services that fit individual needs, instead of uniform sets of services," said Jayant Dasari, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. "Consumers rely on their mobile phones for communications and for entertainment and social networking." Dem...

TV browsers and applications such as rich media widgets were hot themes at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, but according to a recent Strategy Analytics market study consumers see open and flexible Video on Demand (VoD) services as the most valuable features of Internet TV. The research, carried out for Oregan Networks by the Strategy Analytics Digital Home Obervatory, also found that downloading widgets and customizing TV screens with skins were seen as the least valuable features. The study concluded that users expect TV browsers to be video-centric and offer quality equivalent to regular television. Despite concerns about privacy, 91 percent of respondents wanted to be able to access any multimedia website via their TV browser. Seventy four percent of respondents indicated a preference for these sites to be specially adapted as TV web channels. According to David Mercer, VP Digital Consumer Practice, "It's perhaps not surprising that TV viewers want to be able to ...

The telco television headend equipment market is expected to grow substantially over the next five years, according to the latest study by In-Stat. This growth, driven by the expansion of video channels, the introduction of high-definition (HD) content, and the continued adoption of on-demand services will position telco operators to pursue highly-profitable personalized advertising and converged services business models, the high-tech market research firm says. "For operators to generate significant profitability from telco TV and related video services, they must find ways for the network to add value," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. This will dictate finding solutions to the challenges faced with personalized advertising, converged video services, and ultimately the integration of network and Web-based applications. The In-Stat research covers the worldwide market for Telco TV and headend equipment. It tracks the development of the worldwide telco TV market, and exami...

Infonetics Research predicts that mobile and wireline operators around the world will invest in subscriber data management (SDM) software and integration services to help them roll out new services to customers, reduce the cost of rolling out these new services, and deploy revenue-generating "mash-up" services. According to their market study, service providers spent $106 million worldwide in 2007 on SDM software and integration services, led by mobile operators in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. SDM software facilitates the collection and aggregation of subscriber data (identity information, service profiles, preferences, and device information) across a range of networks, applications, and databases, and serves as a centralized repository for aggregated subscriber data. SDM integration services combine SDM software and services into a service provider's network and business process infrastructure. A consolidated view of the subscriber's service profile and person...

Are mass-media adverts obsolete? TV advertising is being impacted by the Internet and by mobile services that provide highly personalized content delivery, according to a new market study by In-Stat. No longer does "one ad fit all" viewers -- and now the big trend is for all advertising to become more relevant to the people who see it, the high-tech market research firm says. New technology promises to do that via Set-Top Box (STB), PC and mobile device addressability. "Advertising buyers understand the current complex nature of the U.S. media delivery industry, and it will take them time, effort, and education to learn how to adapt what they already do to the new hardware-based opportunities that seem so promising," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "Customer-specific advertising that targets identifiable ethnic, cultural, language, or special interest audiences will see above-average growth rates through 2012. Geographic and hardware-based advertising fro...

Mobile advertising interest is developing worldwide, but revenues aren't likely to reach any significant volume until 2010, as market participants continue to wrestle with formats, standards, and pricing strategies, according to the latest study by Heavy Reading. "Mobile advertising offers some significant advantages over other media, but also has some limitations," says Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst with Heavy Reading. "Before selecting mobile as an ad medium, advertisers, vendors, and carriers will need to identify the objectives of their ad campaign, the requirements of the creative products and cost, and the responses required." Once technology and business model issues are worked out, mobile advertising revenues will show significant and sustained long-term growth worldwide, Kishore says, adding that mobile network operators stand to gain a large percentage of the mobile ad revenue stream. Mobile advertising offers carriers the greatest opportunity to inse...

The mobile advertising industry has become consumed by short term hurdles and must focus on long-term strategic issues, according to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media. Informa forecasts that the global mobile advertising market will be worth $12.09 billion by 2013. In 2008 mobile advertising will be worth $1.72 billion, with 80 percent generated by the mobile content providers. "The mobile content market is creating the mobile advertising opportunity, while the big brands remain skeptical about the return on investment that will justify the premium rate card already associated with this emerging medium," says report author Nick Lane. "The situation will change, but the plethora of companies looking to get a slice of the revenues must remain patient. Releasing the big brand's spend is key to unlocking the potential of mobile advertising." The report claims the majority of early-adopter big brands are yet to transfer more than 0.5 percent of ...