Emotion artificial intelligence (AI) systems are becoming so sophisticated that Gartner (www.gartner.com) predicts that by 2022, personal devices will know more about an individual's emotional state than his or her own family. AI is generating multiple disruptive forces that are reshaping the way we interact with personal technologies, adds the research group. 

"Emotion AI systems and affective computing are allowing everyday objects to detect, analyze, process and respond to people's emotional states and moods to provide better context and a more personalized experience," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. "To remain relevant, technology vendors must integrate AI into every aspect of their devices, or face marginalization." 

The current wave of emotion AI systems is being driven by the proliferation of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and other AI-based technology for conversational systems...

MusiComms, an organization “dedicated to the future of music distribution,” has announced the results of its latest industry research. The survey, which was conducted in quarter four of 2017, polled 5,000 consumers across all demographics and regions across the U.S.

How much will consumers pay for music? Will they ever pay more? How will this type of information impact music business strategy? Those are the types of questions MusiComms posed to consumers in their latest survey. Here’s what they learned:

° Most people get their music for free today. Fifty-two percent of people indicated that they don’t pay anything currently for their music. Of that number, 29% said their primary source is free AM/FM radio. That number was followed by 15% who listen to free Internet-based music services, and 7% referred to Internet video sites.

° Forty percent of consumers polled will never pay more for music. When asked what would motivate consumers to pay more, a whopping 40%...

A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that the number of QR code coupons redeemed via mobile will reach 5.3 billion by 2022, up from an estimated 1.3 billion in 2017. The report finds that the use of QR codes to deliver coupons and discount offers will increase substantially, as in-built QR functionality on mobile devices drives usage, with Apple leading the way.

Recent changes by Apple, to include QR code reader functionality as part of the camera application on iPhone devices, has lead Juniper to revise upwards our mobile coupon forecasts. Juniper forecasts that over one billion mobile devices will access coupons through QR codes by 2022.

"Apple’s addition of QR code reading facilities directly addresses a major barrier for use in Western markets,” says research author Lauren Foye. “The lack of an in-built reader had been a hindrance, with consumers needing...

Digital transformation (DX) in the worldwide banking industry is characterized by the ability to use technology to break out of the constraints forced by legacy systems and processes and enable a more efficient and responsive institution.

While all banks worldwide acknowledge the importance and complexity of transforming their businesses to compete in this new digital economy, nearly 40% have not yet executed on a sustainable digital transformation strategy, according to a new survey from International Data Corporation (www.idc.com). Key findings of this study include:

° All banks worldwide acknowledge the importance and complexity of transforming their businesses to compete in the new digital economy. However, nearly 40% are still at the ad hoc or opportunistic stages of maturity, meaning that they have not yet executed on a sustainable digital transformation strategy. Fewer than 10% can claim that they are in a...

An Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) system locates, navigates and tracks objects inside any indoor environment by using magnetic fields, radio waves, acoustic signals collected by mobile devices.

The global indoor positioning and indoor navigation market is expected to grow with a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of about 55% during the forecast period of 2016-2023, according to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkes.com). Increasing adoption of IPIN solutions and services in healthcare, commercial buildings, hospitality, etc., is fueling growth in the global IPIN market, adds the research group. Also, increasing adoption of radio frequency identification is boosting the growth of the global IPIN market during the forecast period.

However, large processing time and delays is the factor restraining the growth of the global IPIN market during the forecast period,...

The global smart fitness devices market is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2025, according to a new report from Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

The research group notes that the smart fitness devices market has witnessed a rising demand among the growing urban population in a bid to enhance their fitness goals. Advantages such as accessing fitness activities data in remote and real-time operations have resulted in an increased penetration of the market.

Additionally, there are tremendous opportunities for advancements in the smart fitness devices owing to the increasing usage of smartphones and enhanced internet accessibility, which, in turn, would fuel the growth of smart fitness market. The growing adoption of the smart fitness devices to keep track of sleep, steps, calories, heart rate, and other bodily stats is anticipated to revolutionize the market by 2025....

Canalys (www.canalys.com) forecasts that standalone smart VR headset shipments will pass 1.5 million in 2018, and grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 140% to reach 9.7 million units in 2021.

Oculus, HTC and Lenovo are launching new standalone headsets aimed at different market segments, which will drive rapid market growth. Standalone VR headsets are expected to help push the VR headset market to 7.6 million units in 2018, twice the shipments forecast for this year, according to Canalys. The research group says Oculus made a big move by unveiling the Oculus Go, its first consumer-ready standalone smart VR headset during Oculus Connect 4 on 11 October 2017.

“Oculus Go, while a great move by Facebook to mobilize VR, will fail to get consumer attention when launched,” said Canalys Research Analyst Vincent Thielke. “The extra cost of the headset and the fact that a smartphone-based solution, such...

Worldwide spending on digital transformation (DX) technologies (hardware, software, and services) is expected to be nearly $1.3 trillion in 2018, an increase of 16.8% over the $1.1 trillion spent in 2017, according to IDC (www.idc.com).

The research group forecasts DX spending to maintain a strong pace of growth over the 2016-2021 forecast period with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.9%. In 2021, DX spending will nearly double to more than $2.1 trillion.

The majority of DX spending in 2018 ($662 billion) will go toward technologies
that support new or expanded operating models as organizations seek to make their operations more effective and responsive by leveraging digitally-connected products/services, assets, people, and trading partners, according to IDC.

The second largest DX investment area in 2018 ($326 billion) will be technologies supporting omni-experience innovations that transform...

2020 will be a pivotal year in AI-related employment dynamics, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com), as artificial intelligence (AI) will become a positive job motivator.

The research group says the number of jobs affected by AI will vary by industry; through 2019, healthcare, the public sector and education will see continuously growing job demand while manufacturing will be hit the hardest. Starting in 2020, AI-related job creation will cross into positive territory, reaching two million net-new jobs in 2025.

"Many significant innovations in the past have been associated with a transition period of temporary job loss, followed by recovery, then business transformation and AI will likely follow this route," said Svetlana Sicular, research vice president at Gartner. AI will improve the productivity of many jobs, eliminating millions of middle- and low-level positions, but also creating millions more...

The worldwide IT security market maintained momentum in Q3 2017, growing 9% to reach US$8.0 billion, according to the latest Canalys (www.canalys.com) estimates.

“High-profile ransomware attacks and increasingly sophisticated phishing techniques have proved the need for businesses to reinforce their IT security to safeguard data assets and ensure continuity of operation,” said Claudio Stahnke, analyst at the research group.

Content security was the fastest-growing segment, with investment up 13% year on year. Network security grew 8%, while security management increased 5%.
The top five security vendors accounted for 34% of total spend, with Cisco accounting for the most, at 9%.

“Cisco grew 7% year on year, thanks to its strong channel partner focus and a broad product portfolio boosted by acquisitions,” said Stahnke. It was followed by Symantec, Check Point, IBM and McAfee, which all grew...

A report by Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) finds that revenues from smart audio devices like the Amazon Echo and Sonos One will grow from an estimated $2.5 billion in 2017 to over $10 billion by 2022, as more audio brands integrate voice assistants into their devices.

The research group sys that the smart speaker market is largely divided by sector and brand. Tech companies are building from a digital assistant perspective, while audio vendors see them as a way to make their products more relevant and feature rich. Only Apple is breaking this pattern, with the HomePod positioned as an intelligent audio device rather than a platform for Siri.

These different approaches affect several elements of product design, with a large impact on prices. The research shows how devices costing over $200 will take over 40% of sector revenue while being only 16% of shipments in 2022, as voice...

In the third quarter of 2017, worldwide server revenue increased 16% year-over-year, while shipments grew 5.1% from the second quarter of 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com).

"The third quarter of 2017 produced continued growth on a global level with varying regional results," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at the research group. "A build-out of infrastructure to support cloud and hybrid-cloud implementations was the main driver for growth in the server market for the period.”

x86 servers increased 5.3% in shipments for the year and 16.7 % in revenue in the third quarter of 2017. RISC/Itanium Unix servers declined globally, down 23.5% in shipments and 18.3 percent in vendor revenue compared with the same quarter last year. The “other” CPU category, which is primarily mainframes, showed a decline/increase of 54.5%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) continued to lead in the...

The cloud delivery and consumption model has revolutionized the entire IT industry over the past decade, as evidenced by the dramatic rise of public cloud services, according to IDC.

But the research group adds that cloud opportunity extends well beyond the public cloud — which makes up less than half of all cloud-related spending today — and includes private and hybrid clouds, as well as managed cloud services, cloud-related professional services, and hardware and software infrastructure for building clouds. In its first forecast of the "whole cloud" opportunity, IDC estimates that worldwide whole cloud revenues will reach $554 billion in 2021, more than double those of 2016.

"The most obvious takeaway from this forecast is that the shift to the cloud consumption model – in all its forms – is a mass movement, and will continue to be such over the forecast period," said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC. "Equally important, though, is the...

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Q uarterly Server Tracker, vendor revenue in the worldwide server market increased 19.9% year over year to $17.0 billion in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17).

The server market has strengthened recently after several slow quarters, in which much of the market waited for the Purley and EPYC launches, according to IDC (www.idc.com). While demand from cloud service providers has propped up overall market performance, other areas of the server market are beginning to show growth now as well, adds the research group. Worldwide server shipments increased 11.1% year over year to 2.67 million units in 3Q17.

Volume server revenue increased by 19.3% to $14.2 billion, while midrange server revenue grew 26.9% to $1.4 billion. High-end systems grew 19.4% to $1.3 billion, benefitting from IBM's z14 launch this quarter. IDC expects continued long-term secular declines...

A survey from the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) looking at the origin of film content in the EU has revealed the persisting dominance of American content within the region, according to RapidTV News (www.rapidtvnews.com).

The study, sampling 131 TV channels from 18 different EU member countries, found that overall, films produced in Europe made up 28% of movies broadcast by a sample of TV channels during the 2015/2016 season. The figure breaks down into 14% for national films and a further 14% for European non-national films, indicating, said the observatory, the “significant’” circulation of European films. However, this drops to 23% during prime time.

Public channels tended to broadcast more European films than their private counterparts. Taking a full day on public television, the EAO found that European films accounted for 44% of all films broadcast. This figure fell to 24% for the...

U.S. consumers are locked in a vicious circle with brands over customer experience, according to new research from Accenture (www.accenture.com).

While 44% are frustrated when companies fail to deliver relevant, personalized shopping experiences, nearly half (49%) are concerned about personal data privacy as they subscribe to intelligent services designed to understand and anticipate their needs. Poor personalization and lack of trust cost U.S. organizations $756 billion last year, as 41% of consumers switched companies. Without deeper customer insight, companies can’t deliver the experiences they crave, according to Accenture.

The thirteenth annual Accenture Strategy Global Consumer Pulse Research gauged the attitudes and expectations of more than 25,000 consumers around the world, including 2,000 U.S. consumers, about their appetite for more intuitive, technology-driven brand experiences. As...

Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts that the number of mobile users adopting NFC ticketing will exceed 375 million by 2022, up from an estimated 122 million in 2017.

While there is rapid growth in NFC ticketing in European markets, there search group has scaled back NFC ticketing adoption in many other markets, such as the U.S., India, and Africa, due to the lack of available services and infrastructure. However, driven by open standards and the adoption of OEM wallets such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, mobile NFC ticketing will witness higher growth rate in comparison to mTicketing over the next five years, representing an average annual growth of 25%, Juniper forecasts.

The new research found that the continued failure to persuade transport operators of the NFC value proposition is proving a severe constraint on the sector, except in Japan and Korea where adoption has been...

Canalys (www.canalys.com) forecasts that 93.7 million cars will be sold worldwide in 2017, up just 1.7% on 2016.

Low single-digit percentage sales volume growth will continue for the next five years, peaking at 99 million cars sold in 2022, according to the research group. Annual global sales will then decline as the urban mobility revolution, already affecting the market, gathers pace.

“The convenience of owning a car comes at a cost. Cars are under-used – they sit idle for more than 90% of the time. The wider availability of urban mobility services, such as ride-hailing, car-sharing and robotaxis, will further reduce car ownership. With the expectation of everything on demand, these services will revolutionize how people travel,” said Chris Jones, chief analyst, Automotive at Canalys.

“There are already too many cars on our heavily-congested roads, and most pollute the air and only carry one person...

According to a new forecast from IDC (www.idc.com) overall smartphone shipments will steadily grow from 1.5 billion units in 2017 to 1.7 billion units in 2021.

And “phablets" (smartphones with a screen size of 5.5 inches to under-7 inches) will far outpace total market growth by climbing from 611 million units in 2017 to one billion units in 2021, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.1%, according to the research group. In comparison, the total smartphone market is expected to grow at a 3.0% CAGR during the same period, while normal smartphones (under 5.5 inches) will decline 7.4%. Overall, IDC lowered its previous forecast for 2018-2021 by 1.1%-1.5%,depending on the year.

Android-based phablets have been the primary driver of large-screen smartphones and IDC expects this trend to continue in the years to come. Samsung's early dominance of the phablet category has been short lived as...

The global smart fitness devices market is expected to reach USD 29.4 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research.

The smart fitness devices market has witnessed a rising demand among the growing urban population in a bid to enhance their fitness goals, according to the research group. Advantages such as accessing fitness activities data in remote and real-time operations have resulted in an increased penetration of the market.

Additionally, there are tremendous opportunities for advancements in the smart fitness devices owing to the increasing usage of smartphones and enhanced internet accessibility, which, in turn, would fuel the growth of smart fitness market, according to Grand View Research. The growing adoption of the smart fitness devices to keep track of sleep, steps, calories, heart rate, and other bodily stats is anticipated to revolutionize the market by 2025.

The smart fitness devices market has been segmented based on product...

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global 5G smartphone shipments will grow from two million units in 2019 to reach an impressive 1.5 billion in 2025. The 5G category will be the fastest-growing sector of the global smartphone industry for the next decade. Growth opportunities are huge for companies such as Qualcomm, Intel and Apple, according to the research group.

“We forecast global 5G smartphone shipments to grow from 2 million units in 2019 to an impressive 1.5 billion in 2025,” Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said. “We forecast global 5G smartphone shipments to grow at an average annual rate of 250% between 2019 and 2025. The 5G category will be the fastest-growing sector of the worldwide smartphone industry for the next decade.”

Ken Hyers, Director at Strategy Analytics, added: “The next generation of smartphones that can access high-speed 5G mobile networks represents a huge growth opportunity for carriers,...

Flexera (www.flexera.com), the company that’s “reimagining how software is bought, sold, managed and secured, has announced an IDG Research/Flexera CIO QuickPulse poll revealing that IT execs remain extremely concerned about the visibility of applications deployed in the cloud – specifically Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) implementations.  

“Organizations are spending millions on software running on the cloud,” said Walker White, vice president of Data Platform at Flexera.  “Yet, many have no idea that moving their applications to the cloud often exposes them to the same security and compliance risk they faced with on-premises.  IT executives are rightfully concerned.  Bottom line?  Without visibility into their IT assets on the cloud, companies can’t reduce those risks and make sound business decisions.”

Among the poll’s findings:

° Nearly all (98%) of respondents say it’s highly important to...

International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that the worldwide managed cloud services market will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 18% with spending reaching $62.8 billion in 2021.

"The managed cloud services market is creating fundamental changes in the outsourcing industry involving the entrance of new providers, partnership ecosystems, investment requirements and opportunities, though also bringing with it some critical challenges to players shifting from a world of non-cloud (legacy) outsourcing to managed cloud services," said David Tapper, vice president, IDC's Outsourcing and Managed Cloud Services program.

The study by IDC (www.idc.com) provides a forecast of managed cloud services involving private, public, and hybrid markets across eight major regions. The study also includes advice to providers of IT services, an analysis of market and industry trends by key managed...

The global smart TV market is expected to reach $292.55 billion by 2025, according to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com). The introduction of 4K resolution-equipped televisions, coupled with the shifting preference toward OLED and QLED displays, is expected to emerge as a major trend in the smart TV industry, according to the research group.

Streaming devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast are changing the consumers' viewing experience. Several manufacturers are teaming up with OTT content and device providers to provide built-in features with no further requirement of a set-top box. For instance, TCL Corporation has teamed up with Roku. and introduced a 4K HDR Roku TV. The China-based vendor is using the Roku platform for its television product line. Additionally, Hitachi, Hisense, and Sharp have also teamed up with Roku to provide such features.