New data from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) shows that fitness wearables will remain the primary wearable device, with smartwatches being less commonly used for the next three years.

However, fitness wearables are expected to be used by approximately 110 million people worldwide at the end of 2019, while smartwatches will have more than 130 million users, according to the research group. Juniper Research observed that the lines between the categories are starting to blur, with fitness wearables offering a range of call-handling and notification functions that can also be found in smartwatches. The existence of app-enabled fitness trackers, such as the Samsung Gear Fit and Microsoft Band, lessens the distinction even further.

A recent Juniper Research survey also found that fitness devices are the most popular wearables because they are both cheaper and have a more obvious use...

According to new data from International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on public cloud services will grow at a 19.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) -- almost six times the rate of overall IT spending growth – from nearly $70 billion in 2015 to more than $141 billion in 2019.

The new spending guide expands on IDC's (www.idc.com) previous public cloud services forecasts by offering greater detail on industry and geographic spending levels. Software as a Service (SaaS) will remain the dominant cloud computing type, capturing more than two thirds of all public cloud spending through most of the forecast period. Worldwide spending on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) will grow at a faster rate than SaaS with five-year CAGRs of 27.0% and 30.6%, respectively.

"Over the past several years, the software industry has been shifting to a cloud-first (SaaS) development and...

The Smart Home ecosystem comprises both hardware devices and software apps and together they are supposed to make an efficient system for consumers.

A new report from Argus Insights shows that consumers are overall more frustrated with the applications that dictate, schedule and manage each device than with the actual devices themselves. Past Argus Insights reports looked at the hardware component and the challenges and irritations customers were experiencing with installation and connectivity, but this new analysis introduces a new data set to uncover the fact that consumers are experiencing even more issues with the apps that run these devices.

According to data compiled from nearly 50,000 Smart Home device and app reviews from August 2015 to the present, the incumbent home security companies like ADT, Comcast and AT&T are failing to delight consumers with their apps while the more innovative and newer Smart Home-focused companies like Vivint and Honeywell...

Gartner Inc. (www.gartner.com) forecasts that worldwide IT spending will total $3.54 trillion dollars in 2016, just a 0.6% increase over 2015 spending of $3.52 trillion dollars.

2015 saw the largest U.S. dollar drop in IT spending since the research group began tracking IT spending. $216 billion dollars less was spent on IT in 2015 than in 2014 and 2014 spending levels won’t be surpassed until 2019.

"The rising U.S. dollar is the villain behind 2015 results," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. "U.S. multinationals' revenue faced currency headwinds in 2015. However, in 2016 those headwinds go away and they can expect an additional 5 percent growth.”

Gartner forecasts that the devices market (PCs, ultramobiles, mobile phones, tablets and printers) will decline 1.9% in 2016. The combination of economic conditions preventing countries such as Russia, Japan and Brazil from...

At CES 2016, IEEE (http://www.ieee.org) , the world's largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, conducted a survey that asked booth visitors to answer a range of questions regarding the future of AR/VR [augmented reality/virtual reality] technology. 1,537 participants took the survey.

According to the findings, the use of VR headsets might not have the staying power that is predicted with this new, emerging technology. When questioned about the year AR/VR technology will advance to the point where immersive headsets will no longer be required, more than half (52%) of respondents believed this will occur in well under two decades, by 2030. On top of the 52%, another 21% of respondents predicted this to be a reality by 2035, 15% by 2040 and 5% by 2045.

When asked which industry would most benefit from the widespread adoption of AR/VR technology, 36% of participants...

ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) predicts 156 million tablets will ship in 2020, marking a 3% CAGR [compound annual return rate] for the device category between 2015 and 2020.

This is despite the fact that tablet forecasts were revised downward in response to continued pressure on shipments and revenues by Apple, Samsung and other leading vendors. According to the latest research, branded tablet revenues reached approximately $55 billion in 2015, down from $68 billion in 2014. While revenues are expected to remain flat in 2016, ABI Research projects last year's retail ASPs [average selling prices] to drop below $400 for the first time.

"We expect the global installed base to decline primarily due to older devices in most developed market economies aging out faster after purchase than replacement devices being acquired and new products being shipped into emerging market economies," says Jeff Orr,...

According to PwC's Global State of Information Security (GSISS) Survey 2016 (www.pwc.com/ca/gsiss), Canadian companies are taking steps towards establishing holistic, integrated safeguards against cyberattacks. While investment in safeguards against cybersecurity threats have increased by 82% year over year, it still accounts for an average of only 5% of overall IT (Information Technology) spending.

Because of the impact cybersecurity attacks can have on the overall health of a company and a brand, boards are playing an increasingly significant role in informing the development of cybersecurity strategies. In fact, this year's report found that 50% of Canadian companies surveyed indicated that their board participates in defining their organization's security budgets, compared to only 25% in 2014.

As part of an expanding digital service offering PwC Canada is launching, Game of Threats, a digital...

New research from Accenture (www.accenture.com) has found that only 2 percent of patients in the largest U.S. hospitals are using hospital-provided mobile health apps. Accenture estimates that failure to align mobile apps to the services consumers’ demand could cost each of these hospitals, on average, more than $100 million in lost annual revenue.

The research, which assessed mobile app use among the 100 largest U.S. hospitals, found that two-thirds (66 percent) of the 100 largest U.S. hospitals have mobile apps for consumers and roughly two-fifths (38 percent) of that subset have developed proprietary apps for their patients. However, only 11 percent of health systems offer patients proprietary apps that operate with at least one of the three functions that consumers demand most: access to medical records; the ability to book, change and cancel appointments; and the ability to request prescription refills...

DMI (Digital Management Inc.), an end-to-end mobility company, has released its annual Top Ten Mobility Trends for 2016 (http://tinyurl.com/zj9ztqe), citing the need for an improved mobile customer experience, top-down concerns for cybersecurity, key innovations through partnerships and a stronger focus on the redesign and implementation of omni-channel and mobile payment technologies. among the projected trends:

° Stronger focus on the customer experience: Analyst firms Forrester and Gartner highlighted the customer experience (CX) as a top priority for 2016. Based on DMI's experience, the average organization has less than one in 100 employees with the CX skills needed to amplify the mobile experience, whether in-store or on the Internet. In 2016, customers will demand one consistent cross-channel experience. Look for organizations to embed the mobile customer experience throughout every part of...

According to IDC (www.idc.com), 3D printer shipments in the China market passed 34,000 units in 2014, and is expected to reach 77,000 units in 2015, exhibiting a growth rate over 120%.

This growth rate is largely driven by sales of desktop 3D printers priced under US$5,000. As the Chinese Government continue to promote 3D printer awareness and usage within schools and educational institutions, the desktop 3D printer market is expected to maintain an annual growth trend in the coming years, according to the research group.

“China's local 3D printer market will surpass the US market in 2016 with an annual growth rate over 100%. However, the US is expected to retain its position as the market leader in terms of market revenue, due to the greater proportion of high-end printers adopted by the manufacturing sector,” said Wendy Mok, Research Manager for IDPS at IDC China. “To capitalize on this growth, 3D printer vendors...

By Rick Sutcliffe

Much ado about very little is how the Spy categorizes the newest iteration of the Apple TV. When Steve Jobs announced a few years ago that he'd figured television out, he ignited great expectations.

But time, negotiations, and reality have laboured mightily to bring forth...not a mouse, but no tiger either. Now, it may be that the new box and its dedicated store have a future place in the hands of gamers, but that appeal, loyal though it may hypothetically be, is of extremely limited value, and the Spy, who's never begun to comprehend the appeal of action games, stands firmly outside the circle of that limitation.

The issue, as it was with all the delays, is content. To be more pointed, there doesn't appear to be much "there" there. Yes, access to a few other subscription services, all similarly thin gruel, and a few modern TV shows, but where is the library of old TV shows and movies, particularly the...

In the first half of 2015, US and UK smartphone users were most likely to be interested in a device with a display size of 5.3-inch overall, according to a new report from the Mobile Device UX (MDX) group at Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

The report also showed that respondents surveyed in the US have a greater interest in the larger sized prototypes than those surveyed in the UK, while Android owners have a greater interest in phablet sized prototypes compared to Apple owners. Current smartphone owners are also more likely to prefer a thicker prototype with a longer battery life over a thinner phone.

Similar to the second half of 2014, the prototype with a 5.3-inch display was most preferred by consumers overall in the first half of 2015. This was followed by the 5.0-inch and 5.5-inch prototypes. Even though the majority of smartphone owners surveyed preferred a...

One half of the market for medical apps is now conducted in the United States, according to Kalorama Information (www.kaloramainformation.com). However, that’s expected to change rapidly, as medical systems in other parts of the world come to rely on mobile devices. 

The healthcare market research firm said that United States' share will shift to just one-fifth of the market for mhealth by 2020. This is the result of soon with rapid adoption in the rest of the world, and was a key finding in Kalorama's report, mHealth Markets Worldwide, a comprehensive study of the mobile health industry.

"Brazil, China and other nations have already mobilized in many other industries and as their healthcare systems developed, mhealth solutions will prosper," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information.   

The report said that China has become a focus market for device manufacturers...

New Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) research shows 15 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to buy wireless speakers over the next 12 months, while 18% plan to buy earbuds and 16% plan to buy headphones.

"The smartphone has evolved into the primary interface for the connected home, and it is helping to create new app use cases for services such as Pandora and Spotify, which in turn drive interest in new connected audio devices," said Brad Russell, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. "Nearly 50 percent of U.S. broadband households have bought headphones as a separate purchase, and the growth of premium brands, including Beats, Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser, shows consumers are interested in high-quality audio devices.”

Parks Associates' industry report “Digital Audio for the Connected Consumer” notes that 22 percent of U.S. broadband households currently own wireless speakers,...

Apple has announced that Jeff Williams has been named chief operating officer and Johny Srouji is joining Apple’s executive team as senior vice president for Hardware Technologies.

Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, will expand his role to include leadership of the App Store across all Apple platforms. Apple also announced that Tor Myhren will join Apple in the first calendar quarter of 2016 as vice president of Marketing Communications, reporting to CEO Tim Cook.

“We are fortunate to have incredible depth and breadth of talent across Apple’s executive team. As we come to the end of the year, we’re recognizing the contributions already being made by two key executives,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Jeff is hands-down the best operations executive I’ve ever worked with, and Johny’s team delivers world-class silicon designs which enable new innovations in our products year after year.”

He adds: “In addition, Phil is taking on new...

The 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi standard has started to gain rapid traction, and will become the highest shipping Wi-Fi standard yet, according to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

“802.11ac Wave 2 with MU-MIMO provides significant benefits to users and a better Wi-Fi user experience compared to 802.11n and 802.11ac Wave 1, but works best when both ends of the Wi-Fi connection have Wave 2 capable radio chips,” says Christopher Taylor, director of RFWC, Strategy Analytics. “With the efforts of Qualcomm and other chip suppliers, more than 60 mobile device models with 802.11ac Wave 2 have now reached the market, and Wi-Fi equipment vendors have embraced Wave 2 for residential and enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure applications.”

David Watkins, director of the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service, adds: "Hundreds of millions of Wave 2-enabled mobile devices will ship in 2016...

A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts almost 20 million fully autonomous or self-driving vehicles on the road by 2025, with consumer adoption set to take off in 2021. Driven by increased safety and convenience for drivers, development has progressed to live trials with North America and West Europe set to become the first to witness driverless cars in use on the road.

The research found that in the interim, consumer usage of ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance System) technologies such as adaptive cruise control and automated braking will become key. Juniper Research says that these systems will serve to prepare drivers for the psychological change from the role of driving a car to operating a driverless car.

The research finds that although the market has progressed to live trials, a discernible monetization strategy hasn’t become evident. Stakeholders are...

New research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) shows that nine percent of U.S. broadband households switched broadband providers in the past 12 months, with 35 percent of them doing so to get a faster broadband speed. Only 18 percent of switchers changed because a different provider offered a lower price at a comparable speed.

"For many, broadband is a necessity for the home. No one wants slow or spotty service, and consumers are quick to switch if they encounter problems," said Brett Sappington, Director of Research, Parks Associates. "Operators are promoting broadband speeds of 100 Mbps or more. While 43% of subscribers do not know their current broadband speed, they do know about the experience that they have online, particularly as it relates to digital media. Respondents who own multiple connected entertainment devices are more likely than others to plan to upgrade their broadband...

Technology and cybersecurity experts are scrambling to find solutions to huge security threats in the era of IoT (the “Internet of Everything). NordVPN (NordVPN.com) is a VPN service provider that believes in educating the public about basic security steps anyone can take and recommends the following to maximize your online privacy. 
 
° Change default usernames and passwords. Regularly change passwords on your devices, and select sophisticated ones that are impossible to guess.
 
 
° Delete cookies. Regularly delete cookies from your browser to interrupt being tracked.

°  Get a VPN and learn how to use it ­ VPNs will be increasingly popular as security issues grow to monumental proportions. Encrypting your device¹s online data is a great starting point for the security conscious. VPN encryption can help secure transfer of sensitive data. NordVPN uses encryption with a 2048 bit strength SSL key and is available on 6 devices on one account....

Car makers will need to act more like technology, software and consumer electronics companies with more highly customized products, quicker introduction of new, "sexy" models, and nearly flawless quality to address competition from new entrants in the business, according to a new KPMG study (www.kpmg.com).

These new entrants, from technology giants to startups, operate at faster clockspeeds and are accelerating the pace of innovation in the auto industry.  Automakers must now reconcile the industry's rigorous standards of Six Sigma Quality and a traditional 5-7 year powertrain and vehicle platform clockspeed with a new "sexy, dynamic experience" that includes things like the upgrading of sensors, actuators, and displays in 18 to 36 months and quarterly over-the-air upgrades of software. Thus, KPMG says the auto industry faces the clockspeed dilemma: the need to serve multiple paces at once.

"Consumers expect as a...

With Un-carrier X offering double the LTE data plus its new zero-rated video streaming service Binge On for no extra fees, T-Mobile US is set to maintain its Un-carrier momentum and gain market share in the fourth quarter (Q4) as it puts pressure on the pricing approaches of its rivals, according to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

Through its Un-carrier initiative, including services like Music Freedom and now Binge On, T-Mobile is challenging its competitors by positioning itself as the most customer-friendly wireless operator in the US market, says the research group. Un-carrier momentum continues with the addition of the Binge On mobile video streaming service supported by zero-rated data over LTE and video optimization technology, strengthening T-Mobile's value proposition while challenging AT&T and Verizon Wireless to follow suit.

“Video is one of the fastest...

Clearswift (www.clearswift.com), a global cyber security innovator and data loss prevention specialist, has released their annual Clearswift Insider Threat Index (CITI) exploring why firms have been slow to address internal security threats and including data from extensive research into the security priorities and awareness of over 500 IT decision makers and 4,000 employees across the UK, US, Germany and Australia.

"The detachment between the front line security professionals and Board members within an organization is particularly worrying in the wake of recent high profile cyber breaches across the globe already this year,” says Heath Davies, CEO at Clearswift. “Cyber-attacks are a major problem and it’s time for Boards to take a proactive stance on this. Companies need a clear, coherent, adaptive strategy which encompasses people, processes and technology, and this mandate needs to come from the top.”...

Worldwide personal and entry-level storage (PELS) shipments declined -13.4 percent year over year to 16.7 million units in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), but were up 10.3 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to the International Data Corporation. Shipment values declined along with unit shipments, down -19.8 percent from a year ago to $1.3 billion, notes the research group.

“The personal and entry-level storage market was stagnant in 2014 and started to show signs of decline in 2015," says Jingwen Li, senior research analyst, Storage Systems, IDC (www.idc.com). "The adoption of cloud storage has been gaining traction in the consumer space with its easy data access and mobile device integration. One of the negative impacts of cloud storage deployment leads to shrinking demand within the PELS market.”

Personal storage remained the dominant component of the PELS market and accounted for over 98% of...

Archiware, manufacturer of the data management software suite Archiware P5, is launching its P5 Archive app and version 5.3 of the Archiware P5 Software Suite, including Snapshot support and LTO-7 capability.

The P5 Archive app is designed to simplify the Archiving process by allowing users to archive and restore files directly from Finder via the right-click context menu, without the need to open P5 Archive itself. Final Cut Pro X projects are archived and restored including all media used in the project.

Archived files and folders are represented by a link file which displays metadata and previews on double-click. Metadata can be added during archiving. All jobs are listed in a monitoring window for verification. The P5 Archive App will be available for Mac OS X initially, with more platforms to follow in the future.

Until May 31st, 2016, an introductory offer with a 50 percent discount is available for a package including the P5 Archive App and 5 Workstation...