Digital Lifescapes

Smart card technology use-cases typically include the authentication and identification of users across multiple applications and vertical sectors. This technology is most often associated with the financial services, telecom, government and transportation markets, but the application scenarios are evolving as other sectors explore the benefits. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, in 2014 a total of 454 million government ID smart card credentials -- primarily consisting of driver licenses, healthcare, national ID cards, and passports -- were issued, resulting in a year-over-year growth rate of 2.4 percent. Over the past two years the government ID market has been evolving slowly, reflecting short-term expectations. The worldwide market continues to be affected by ongoing prior project delays, along with an overall lack of new projects or contracts awarded in 2014. Russia and Japan placed a hold on their respective smart national ID card projects. Moreover, Fran...

In many markets across Western Europe, pay-TV services have already reached saturation. That's why Eastern Europe is so attractive to video entertainment service providers. It's a huge upside opportunity. The number of digital pay-TV subscribers will increase from 26.1 million (21.5 percent of TV households) in 2010 to 45.0 million (36.6 percent) in 2013 and eventually reach 73.6 million (58.2 percent) by 2020, according to the latest market study Digital TV Research. As Eastern Europe recovers from the region's economic recession, the number of digital TV homes will triple between 2010 and 2020 -- that's up from 41.0 million to 124.7 million. From the 52.3 million digital TV homes to be added between 2013 and 2020, DTT will supply 24.9 million, digital cable 15.3 million, IPTV 6.6 million and pay satellite TV 5.8 million. Digital TV penetration crossed the halfway mark of TV households in 2012, up from a third at end-2010. Fast adoption will push digital TV pen...

While the big news may be China's active participation in the global networked economy, there's yet another interesting storyline unfolding. By the end of 2008, Russia will be the second largest Internet market in Europe. eMarketer predicts that Russia will have more than 40 million Internet users by the end of the year. In Europe, only Germany will have a larger online population. Russia is projected to have nearly 43 percent of its population using the Web by 2012 -- up 72 percent from the 2007 level. "Russia, Poland and the other Eastern European countries are the growth drivers for Internet adoption in Europe," said Ben Macklin, senior analyst at eMarketer. The rapid increase in Internet adoption has apparently taken many researchers by surprise. Macklin said that although the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries have reached Internet usage saturation within their populations, Central and Eastern Europe were the next growth markets to watch. "Telecommun...