Parks Associates (http://www.parksassociates.com) says that, although a substantial number of consumers are starting to use digital tools to manage their health, they use them infrequently.

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. broadband households used digital communication tools—email, online portal, mobile phone and apps, and webcam—to communicate with their care providers in the past 12 months, but their average usage is only three times per year, says the research group.

"Thirteen percent of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a connected health device in the next 12 months, but these people are largely self-motivated," says Harry Wang, director, Mobile Product and Health Research, Parks Associates. "Nearly 50% of current and future owners of digital wellness devices like pedometers and fitness trackers made or are planning the purchase because they want to live healthier. These...

The MarketsandMarkets (www.marketsandmarkets.com) research group says the fiber optics market will be worth US$3 billion by 2019.

Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe dominated the fiber optics market in 2013 and accounted for over 90% of the market size in terms of value. The Asia-Pacific fiber optic market is currently at a growing stage. Government directives intended to increase and encourage national broadband applications which are among the main drivers of the market.

Country-wise, China is the top most consumer of fiber optics product, globally and is also the largest market for fiber optics products growing at a CAGR [compund annual growth rate] higher than the global average till 2019.

The U.S is the largest fiber optics consumer in the world. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth rate by 2019. The market in Asia-Pacific region is experiencing...

New data from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) says that by 2019 worldwide revenues from tablet games will reach US$13.3 billion – a threefold rise on the 2014 figure of $3.6 billion.

The research group says that growth will be fueled by a number of key factors including improved storage capacity of devices, better graphical capabilities, increasing mobile broadband penetration and consumers’ preference for convenience and ubiquity. Juniper says that the next year could be critical for smaller, independent games developers.

The research group says that, in marketplaces now containing over one million apps, greater funding would be required to optimize the opportunity to achieve consumer awareness, and suggested that crowdfunding would represent an increasingly popular option. Juniper also says that there will be strong growth in monetizaation of smartphone games across emerging...

In the first quarter (1Q) of 2014, the worldwide mobile service revenue increased 0.58% year-on-year (YoY) to US$264 billion according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com), and the aggregate service revenue for 2014 will grow 2.9% YoY to US$1.01 trillion, mainly driven by the robust growth of the mobile Internet market.

Proliferating mobile data subscriptions and enhanced network capacity will drive global mobile Internet service revenue to US$456.7 billion by 2019—44.7% of total mobile service revenue, says the research group. Despite global service revenue growth, the Western European market is declining: 1Q 2014 service revenue declined 5.2% YoY.

"Facing continued price pressure driven by the competitive mobile market, mobile carriers have had to take on higher subscriber retention and acquisition costs to support their market positions. This has affected profitability," says Marina Lu, research...

According to an updated market forecast from ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com), the installed base of active wireless connected devices will exceed 16 billion in 2014, about 20% more than in 2013. The number of devices will more than double from the current level, with 40.9 billion forecasted for 2020.

"The driving force behind the surge in connections is that usual buzzword suspect, the Internet of Things (IoT)," says ABI Research principal analyst Aapo Markkanen. "If we look at this year’s installed base, smartphones, PCs, and other ‘hub’ devices represent still 44% of the active total, but by end-2020 their share is set to drop to 32%. In other words, 75% of the growth between today and the end of the decade will come from non-hub devices: sensor nodes and accessories."

From every technology supplier’s strategic point of view, the critical question is how this plethora of IoT devices will...

New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) finds that roughly 25% of U.S. broadband households with smart home devices experience problems monthly. As a result, interest in tech support services among smart home device owners is strong-57% of consumers with an IP security camera and 58% of consumers with a smart electronic door lock or thermostat would value tech support services for these solutions.

"Smart home packages currently hold broad appeal among U.S. consumers, and last week, Parks Associates announced nearly 4% of U.S. households will have a smart home controller by the end of 2014, with an estimated increase to nearly 6% by 2015," says Patrice Samuels, research analyst, Parks Associates. "Support providers must be equipped to handle the growing demand for on-boarding and ongoing enablement services to ensure that consumers have optimal experiences with their smart home...

New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) says that nearly 4% of U.S. households will have a smart home controller by the end of 2014, with an estimated increase to nearly 6% by 2015.

The research group's study, which includes data from a 1Q 2014 survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households, also reports 64% of all smart devices currently in households operate as part of a security or home controls system. Smart devices include motorized door controls, lighting controls, networked security camera, and programmable thermostats, among other devices.

"The smart home is an emerging market with multiple channels, from service channels to retailers such as Staples and Lowe's," says Tom Kerber, director, Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates. "The majority of smart devices installed today were acquired as part of a security or home controls system deployed by providers...

New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) says that the number of connected digital trackers sold worldwide rose from 6.6 million in 2012 to 13.6 million in 2013 and will double again in 2014 to exceed 22 million. Factors driving consumer adoption of these device include the impact of new solutions such as the Fitbit, Google Fit, and Apple's HealthKit.

"Connected trackers will account for 52% of all digital fitness tracker unit sales in 2014 and reach 81% by 2018 (66 million units)," says Harry Wang, director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Smart watches are another wearables category poised for tremendous growth, with sales of almost 18 million units worldwide in 2014 and 121 million in 2018. These connected devices open new avenues for new fitness apps, health solutions, and data analytics. Connected Health Summit features multiple sessions with industry...

Cyber-attacks directed against enterprises have grown both in numbers and sophistication over the past decade to a point where breach and data theft have become inevitable, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). In 2013, more than 800 million records were exposed as a result of data breach incidents.

A number of organizations including online auction site eBay, U.S. retailer Target, telecom operator AT&T, and social networking sites Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn have reported massive data breaches in recent months, according to the research group. Hacking remains the leading cause for most attacks followed by malware and physical attacks such as point-of-sale intrusions and card skimming.

A data breach incident can have disastrous consequences on all businesses resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue and potential fines, not to mention the lingering impact on...

According to new data from the IDC research group (www.idc.com), recent volatility will gradually give way to a more positive outlook for IT spending in the second half of 2014.

With the U.S. and other mature economies mostly heading in the right direction and a significant commercial PC refresh cycle already underway, improvements in business confidence are set to drive a moderate infrastructure upgrade cycle over the next 12-18 months, while investments in software and services will continue to accelerate, says the research group.

Worldwide IT spending is now forecast to increase by 4.5% in 2014 at constant currency, or 4.1% in U.S. dollars. A significant proportion of this growth is still being driven by smartphones – IT spending excluding mobile phones will increase by just 3.1% this year in constant currency (2.8% in U.S. dollars).

Aside from smartphones, the strongest growth will come from software,...

The Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com) predicts spending on consumer mobile media services consumed via the handset (which excludes tablet spend) including handset browsing, mobile applications, mobile games, mobile music, mobile video, mobile TV, ringtones, wallpapers and alerts will rise from just above US$236 billion in 2013 to approach $380 billion by 2018.

Mobile operators will remain the main beneficiaries with spending on mobile data accounting for over $254 Billion, or 67.3 percent, of total mobile media revenue by 2018. Strong mobile advertising revenue growth will eclipse consumer spend on premium content, rising at just below 20% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the next five years.

In advanced mobile media regions, like North America and Western Europe, demand for web browsing, games, apps and social media services will continue to drive mobile data...

Mobile phone users are ready for new options in data pricing and on-device solutions that provide them with more ability to control and personalize their mobile service, according to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

The survey reveals 60% of mobile phone owners want to be able to customize their plans, and 50% are interested in the ability to directly purchase more data in real-time from their device. Strategy Analytics surveyed over 500 mobile phone users in each of six mobile markets (China, France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the U.S.). Key findings include:

°  60% of mobile phone users are interested in customization of their service plan, with particularly high interest in China (74%) the US (67%) and the UK (58%).

° 50% express interest in a real-time, on-device option to monitor data use and purchase more data.

° In China, interest in plan option for...

Over 45% of U.S. pay-TV subscribers find cloud DVR technology very appealing, according to new research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) notes that consumers show particular interest in unlimited storage space and two-week catch-up services for video.

With the Supreme Court omitting cloud DVR in its 2014 Aereo ruling, pay-TV providers can experiment with these cloud services as strategies to build subscriber loyalty and increase revenues.

"The Aereo case left licensing for cloud DVR rights largely unaffected, allowing pay-TV providers to move forward with cloud DVR development and implementation," says Glenn Hower, research analyst, Parks Associates. "For example, Comcast recently launched in Atlanta its X1 DVR service, which allows, among other capabilities, subscribers to access DVR recordings on their mobile devices. As content owners and providers experiment with cloud...

Graphic Node (http://www.graphicnode.com) has introduced Set for iWork Plus 1.0, a new collection of iWork templates designed to help OS X users make the best of Apple's iWork productivity applications.

The new pack for Apple's Pages, Keynote, and Numbers contains over 3,000 templates and images, including Graphic Node's first set of 50 scrapbook templates. All templates are editable and available in the US and international paper sizes. The designs range from traditional and formal to friendly and unconventional.

Set for iWork Plus requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later, Pages '09 or later, Keynote  '09 or later, and Numbers '09 or later. For a limited time, it's available for US$39.99 at the Mac App Store in the Productivity category.

Sixty eight percent of businesses stated that the NSA breach by Edward Snowden and the number of retail/point of sale (PoS) system breaches in the past year were the most impactful in terms of changing security strategies to protect against the latest threats, according to a global survey by the CyberArk (www.cyberark.com) security company.

The majority of organizations surveyed believe that attacks reaching the privileged account takeover stage are the most difficult to detect, respond to and remediate. While the NSA breach is widely regarded as the prototypical insider-based attack, and the retail/PoS breaches are regarded similarly for outside attacks, the critical link between both attacks was the compromise and exploitation of privileged credentials.

When asked which cyber-attacks or data breaches in the past year had the biggest impact on their business’ security strategy:

° 37% of...

The back-to-school (BTS) shopping season in the U.S. is already in full swing, with over one-third (37%) of consumers having begun their shopping – up from the 29% who started at this time last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Roughly 90% of households indicated a selection of brick-and-mortar retail as a shopping venue for the BTS season.

Consumers will shop in a variety of places for their BTS items this year. While discounters are still expected to be the winners, the number of households selecting this shopping venue dropped from 90% last year to 80% this year. For all 2014 BTS shopping venues, discounters represented a 23.7% share of where consumers will shop, according to ICSC.

Many retailers found in regional malls and open-air centers, such as office supply stores, traditional department stores, electronic stores, and apparel specialty stores, should see increased activity during the BTS season. The biggest mover was...

The share of standalone Bluetooth ICs will be about 40% by the end of 2014, down from 42% in 2013, and by the end of 2019 that share will remain at 40%, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

The steady market share of standalone Bluetooth IC market share is being maintained by both traditional device categories which consist of handsets, tablets, and PCs, and new growth categories including wearables, sports and fitness equipment, and smart home nodes.

"End user products such as smartphones and PCs have been shifting away from standalone solutions for some time now, and smartphones have shifted to integrated platforms with Bluetooth as well," says research director, Philip Solis. "On the other hand, there is a growing long tail of devices around the Internet of Things (IoT) that will gravitate towards standalone Bluetooth in many cases. The end result is that standalone Bluetooth ICs...

The worldwide pay-TV market continues to grow in the first quarter of 2014 (Q1 2014). According to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com), the total pay-TV subscriber base is expected to surpass 936.4 million at the end of 2014, generating US$280.4 billion in service revenue.

Although the global cable TV market grew in 2013, the North American cable TV market lost around 4% subscriber base in 2013. High subscription cost and other pay-TV alternatives are blamed for the declining subscriber base; however, cable TV operators experienced slower subscriber loss rate in the past two quarters. In Q1 2014, subscriber net loss of major cable operators in the United States was around 7k compared to over 200k subscriber loss in 4Q 2013.

"Innovative services such as Comcast’s cloud based X1 system which allows customers to store and watch TVshows on different devices has helped to reduce churn," says Jake Saunders...

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts a rapid uptake of 4G LTE mobile technology in the next five years, with active connections crossing the one billion mark in 2017 and reaching 1.8 billion by 2019. This will represent 22% of the global active mobile SIM connections by this time.

The report from the research group finds that, with the rate of LTE network commitments and roll-outs at an all-time high, network and device vendors have significantly improved their position to offer products and solutions to network operators. The GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) confirmed that 168 manufacturers have announced 1,889 LTE-enabled user devices, including operator and frequency variants, along with 300 commercial network launches.



Juniper found that TD-LTE (Time Division LTE - using unpaired spectrum) will indeed play a major role in global deployment....

Cable and over-the-top (OTT) providers are striking an unusual friendship, one that leads to profitability for both sides once some large challenges are hurdled, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Cable Industry Insider (www.heavyreading.com/cable), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading.

"Cable & OTT: New Opportunities for Convergence" explores the market drivers, opportunities for convergence and the challenges ahead. It includes profiles of 10 cable software suppliers that offer solutions that support cable's TV Everywhere and multi-screen initiatives, which also can lend support for cable-OTT integration.

"As OTT video streaming services and devices began to attract consumers, they appeared like barbarians at the gate, ready to disrupt traditional media and topple the longstanding empires of cable and other television establishments," notes Craig Leddy...

SDL has released the final report of the “Five Truths for Future Marketers” series titled “Channels are Irrelevant,” that features results from SDL’s global survey of more than 1,800 millennials (ages 18-36). The data reveals that today’s consumers no longer care about where they are or what device they are on when interacting with a brand, as 58% of millennials polled said they expect to engage with a company whenever they choose and via whichever channel they elect.

The data highlights the critical need for brands to stop focusing on channels and instead apply what they know about their consumers to elevate the overall experience in the buying journey. Millennials are the "always on" and connected generation, demanding consistent and seamless interaction with brands wherever they are and from any device they choose. According to the data, millennials touch their smartphones 43 times per day, and 30% admit they touch more than four devices over the course of 24 hours....

As forward-thinking technology company Changing Technologies, Inc. (http://tinyurl.com/mcdmvoe) has examined new ways to commercialize the latest innovations, a recent news report suggests that 3D printing is set to become a game-changer in the multi-billion dollar headphone market.

While figurines, household items and even food are examples of smaller-scale items created by 3D printers for the consumer end user, ABC News reported last week that a New York-based company is now mass producing custom-fit earphones using advanced mobile and 3D-printing technologies. Simply using a phone app and a photo, the earphones are custom-made, have a price-floor under $200 and can be delivered in two days.

NDP Group consumer electronics experts project earphone/headphone sales to exceed $2 billion in 2014. Apple Inc. recently purchased consumer electronics company Beats Electronics producers of Beats by...

The nascent enterprise mobility space will see tremendous growth in new cloud based solutions as enterprises seek to mobilize quickly and easily, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

No longer focused on mobile device management solutions, companies are seeking mobile application platforms deployed on-premise or in the cloud for the development and management of enterprise applications, the research group adds. The shift towards applications is based on necessity and scalability as enterprises are forced to deal with a growing number of devices and device platforms accessing enterprise content and systems.

"Mobile applications allow for greater flexibility when mobilizing content and employees," says ABI Research Senior Analyst Jason McNicol. "However, the cost in terms of time and resources is fairly expensive to generate a single app for multiple platforms like iOS,...

Worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.7 trillion in 2014, a 2.1% increase from last year; however, this grow rate is down from earlier projections of 3.2% growth, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. (http://www.gartner.com). The slower outlook for 2014 is attributed to a reduction in growth expectations for devices, data center systems and to some extent IT services, according to the research group.

"Price pressure based on increased competition, lack of product differentiation and the increased availability of viable alternative solutions has had a dampening effect on the short term IT spending outlook," says Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner. "However, 2015 through 2018 will see a return to ‘normal’ spending growth levels as pricing and purchasing styles reach a new equilibrium. IT is entering its third phase of development, moving from a focus on technology and...