Apr 21
Unwanted cell phones should be sold or recycled
While Americans are well educated on the benefits of recycling bottles, cans and paper, the same can't be said of electronic devices. The proliferation of new cell phones and tablets has led to a growing glut of "e-waste" piling up in people's homes, as well as a lack of understanding about what to do with broken, unwanted or outdated devices.
According to a new survey released by ecoATM, (www.ecoatm.com), the nationwide network of automated electronics recycling kiosks, 57% of American device owners have idle cell phones in their homes, yet only 22%t state they have previously recycled cell phones they no longer use.
"Electronic waste is the fastest growing segment of our waste stream, and it's a problem that's only getting worse as more and more new phones and tablets are coming to market each year," says Mark Bowles, founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ecoATM. "Consumers are looking for easy and...
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Apr 21
Are 'normally off' computers coming?
f a research team in Japan gets its wish, "normally off" computers may one day soon be replacing present computers in a move that would both eliminate volatile memory, which requires power to maintain stored data, and reduce the gigantic energy losses associated with it.
Most parts of present computers are made with volatile devices such as transistors and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which loses information when powered off. So computers are designed on the premise that power is "normally on."
Back in 2000, the concept of "instant on" computers based on magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) emerged as a way to reduce that irritatingly long hang time associated with powering up – but it comes with a big tradeoff because it requires using volatile devices that continue to devour energy after the initial power up.
By 2001, researchers in Japan figured out a way to eliminate this pointless energy loss by using a nonvolatile function of advanced spin...
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Apr 18
Cyber security market to be worth $155.74 billion by...
MarketsandMarkets.com says the cyber security market will be worth US$155.74 billion by 2019. The major forces driving this market are the rapid adoption of cloud-based services, wireless communication along with strict government mandates and increasing cyber crimes in public utilities industries, according tro the research group.
The ratification for cyber security solutions is increasing to combat the advanced and sophisticated threats created by professional adversaries. Also, cloud service providers and verticals such as energy, oil and gas, and education are expected to adopt solutions for cyber security more readily because of growing cyber crimes which may cause the loss of intellectual and financial assets and may tarnish the national infrastructure and economy.
In the current scenario, aerospace, defense, and intelligence vertical continues to be the largest contributor to cyber security solutions. In terms of regions, NA is expected to be the biggest market...
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Apr 17
IDC: business tech spending will reach $330.4 billion...
The IDC research group (www.idc.com) the business technology spending market will grow at 6.9% 5 year CAGR [compound annual growth rate] from US$236.6 billion in 2012 to $330.7 billion by 2017, while enterprise IT grows slowly at a 1.9% 5 year CAGR from $213.0 billion to 233.5 billion over the same forecast period.
Business funded technology is expected to reach $275.2 billion in 2014, accounting for 55% of total technology spending. Industry specific operation is the largest business line, capturing approximately 45% of total business funded technology in 2014, says IDC.
Enterprise IT spending is growing only at a 1.8% 5 year CAGR, far below the overall five-year technology CAGR of 4.6%. Only healthcare enterprise IT is growing faster (than overall technology spending.
Marketing is the fastest growing functional area, growing at a five-year CAGR of 9.5%, reaching nearly $26 billion by 2017, according to IDC...
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Apr 16
About one-third of phishing attacks aimed at stealing...
According to data collected as part of Kaspersky Lab's "Financial Cyber Threats in 2013" study, cybercriminals are trying harder than ever to acquire confidential user information and steal money from bank accounts by creating fake sites mimicking financial organizations.
In 2013, 31.45% cent of phishing attacks were trading on the names of leading banks, online stores and online payment systems. That's an increase of 8.5 percentage points from the previous year.
Phishing is a fraudulent scheme used by cybercriminals to obtain confidential user data with the help of fake web pages imitating Internet resources. Unlike malicious software created for particular operating systems, phishing attacks threaten all devices which can access web pages. That is why they are so popular with scammers. In 2013 alone Kaspersky Lab (www.kaspersky.co.uk) says its products protected about 39.6 million users from this...
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Apr 15
Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment...
Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending totaled $33.8 billion in 2013, an 11.5% decline from 2012, according to final results by Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com) Wafer-level manufacturing equipment demand performed above the market with strength in lithography and associated processes, while back-end manufacturing segments fared significantly worse than average, according to the research group.
"With this as a backdrop, capital spending was muted and dominated by a few top players," says Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, managing vice president at Gartner. "A revival of memory-related spending during the year was not enough to stem the decline in equipment sales. Despite increased foundry investments, logic-related spending was a dampening force. Consequently, manufacturing equipment sales saw slow, sequential quarterly growth, and a fourth-quarter sales explosion was not enough to stop the second straight year...
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Apr 14
Research: over over 80% of U.S. households have a home...
Parks Associates has released research that provides in-depth analysis, competitor profiles, business model strategies, trends, and forecasts for product and service ecosystems serving the connected consumer.
Currently 75% of U.S. homes have broadband, and over 80% of these households have a home network. Over 60% own connected CE, including over 80% of consumers 18-34, and the average household has nearly seven connected CE devices.
"Consumers no longer evaluate connected home products and technology solely on functionality but on overall experience, which is driving greater demand for innovative connected technology and services in the digital home," says Stuart Sikes, president, Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com). "Our research addresses the trends, new opportunities, and recommendations on dealing with challenges as companies add connected home solutions to their offerings."
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Apr 11
Global semiconductor revenue grew 5% in 2013
Total worldwide semiconductor revenue reached $315 billion in 2013, up 5 percent from 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com). The combined revenue of the top 25 semiconductor vendors increased by 6.9% during 2013.
This was a significantly better performance than the rest of the market, whose revenue growth was 0.9%, and was due, in part, to the concentration of memory vendors in the top ranking, according to the research group. The memory market increased 23.5% in 2013.
"After a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth strengthened during the second and third quarters before leveling off during the fourth quarter," says Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "Memory, and in particular DRAM, led this growth; not due to strong demand, but rather weak supply growth that pushed pricing higher. In fact, the overall market faced a number of demand headwinds during the...
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Apr 10
82% of U.S. broadband households now have an HDTV
Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) is predicting that 4K TVs will follow a similar, but faster, growth pattern as HDTVs, which have reached 82% of U.S. broadband households after 15 years on the market.
The research group forecasts that 4K TVs will reach mass-market pricing in the next 2-3 years and top 80% of households in approximately 10-12 years. Parks Associates analysts note 4K will initially be delivered via OTT, with companies like Netflix, Comcast, and Amazon already working on 4K-based offerings, and as 4K traffic increases over the next two years, traffic demands on broadband networks will grow dramatically. As a result, operators are aggressively looking into bandwidth-saving technologies, including next-generation video compression technologies.
"4K TV adoption is following the same pattern as HDTV, but prices are dropping more quickly," says Stuart Sikes, president,...
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Apr 09
Getting a better deal from your cable provider
Despite spending an average of US$1,848 annually on in-home telecom services, consumers aren't convinced it's money well spent. The latest subscriber survey on telecom providers from the Consumer Reports National Research Center found almost universally low ratings for value across services — especially for TV and Internet.
Those who bundled the services for a discount still seemed unimpressed with what they were getting for the money. Even top-rated regional provider WOW and nationally-distributed Verizon FiOS, which both got high marks for service satisfaction, rated middling or lower for value.
"Our latest report on telecom services revealed that very few consumers think they're getting a great deal, in part because of soaring prices and confusing bills," says Glenn Derene, Electronics Editor for Consumer Reports. "But the last thing consumers should do is be passive. Even though some companies are cracking down on serial negotiators, there's really no downside to...
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Apr 08
Web content filtering market to reach $2.6 million in...
According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research (www.transparencymarketing.com), a global market intelligence company, the web content filtering market was valued at US#1,230.9 million in 2012 and is expected to reach $2,579.6 million by 2019, growing at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 11.3% from 2013 to 2019.
With exponential growth of the Internet, there has been increase in number of cyber attacks and cyber threats. Therefore, due to security reasons, the demand for content filtering solutions in business organizations and government agencies is expected to rise over the forecast period from 2013 to 2019, according to Transparency Research.
The ever changing government regulations coupled with growing desire to manage the Internet bandwidth consumption wisely have collectively fueled market momentum, adds the research group. The demand for...
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Apr 07
Is the private cloud losing steam?
It's no longer a question of whether cloud is the right strategy, but rather how you will leverage the cloud's abundance of resources to outpace your competition, according to a study from Cloud Connect in partnership with the Everest Group. Titled, "Cloud Adoption in the Enterprise: Distilling the Facts from Hype. The study reveals the increasing influence of the cloud on IT budgets, staff and business strategy.
"The new reality our research points to is that the modern enterprise will not be defined by public, private or hybrid but rather all of the above," says Steve Wylie, Cloud Connect general manager. "Companies will be working within very heterogeneous cloud environments putting additional pressure on IT in dealing with these additional complexities. The Cloud Connect Summit will continue to deliver an unparalleled program each year rich in content to help IT leaders implement and evolve an effective cloud strategy."
Here are a few highlights from the study:...
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Apr 04
Japan's mobile device market expected to...
IDC (www.idc.com) has published a new forecast for the Japan mobile device market, comprised of PCs, smartphones, tablets, and data communication products such as mobile cards and personal routers. IDC expects unit shipments will temporarily drop to 55.1million units in 2014, resulting in a year-over-year decline of -2.1%.
According to the research group, smartphone shipments will drop to 30.0 million units in 2014, which represents a year-over-year decline of -1.0%. The slowdown will be mainly due to lower sales of Android-powered smartphones caused by the three major carriers' promotional focus on the iPhone and slower new subscriber growth, particularly among consumers.
The commercial PC market is expected to decline -16.9% year over year, following some special demand brought about by Windows XP migrations in 2013. In contrast, the tablet market, which remains very healthy in both the commercial and consumer...
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Apr 03
ABI Research: unlock quality audio key to mobile...
Feature phones, smartphones, and tablets shipped more than 1.9 billion units combined in 2013. However, the quality of audio experience hasn’t kept pace with other mobile advancements making it the Achilles’ heel.
According to new research from market intelligence firm ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com), next-generation devices are poised to deliver high-definition voice capability and a surge in smart audio accessories will result in users spending a greater portion of the waking day with their devices.
"How is it that the mobile device market has managed to become so large and important, yet fail to impress when it comes to the quality of the audio experience?" asks senior practice director Jeff Orr. "As users customize and personalize their mobile device, they increasingly want a better audio experience."
Multiple initiatives are underway to revolutionize the mobile device...
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Apr 02
Global smartphone market to grow at CAGR of 15.3%
According to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com), the global smartphone market will grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 15.3% over the period 2013-2018. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the declining ASP [average selling price] of smartphones.
The global smartphones market has also been witnessing increasing demand for large-screen smartphones, according to the research group. However, the high production cost could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.
Commenting on the report, Research and Markets says: "The Global Smartphones market is expected to witness significant growth due to some emerging trends that are likely to have a positive impact on market growth over the next few years. One such trend is the increasing demand for large-screen smartphones. With the emergence of new technologies such as cloud computing,...
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Apr 01
The Northern Spy: don your computers
By Rick Sutcliffe
Wearable computing technology has been the "latest" buzz longer than most ideas (indeed longer than some ideas endure from conception to death), generating endless speculation about who will bring out what product in the genre and when.
As often the case, the Spy has the inside track. Mind, he does not deal in speculation or rumour. However, he does keep his ear to the ground, his eye on the horizon, his nose to the grindstone, his hand in the industry, and his mind on the probabilities, which for simultaneity may be a literal anatomical improbability and for metaphorical use too much a melange merely to be termed "mixed."
One new technology recently in the news was a means to read the brain's diversified visual storage and reconstruct memories of faces--touted as useful in identifying perpetrators of crimes. Sounds quite interesting. Add this to a new manufacturing technique from I.R.C. for integrated...
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Apr 01
Online video the most important video source for young...
Over 50% of U.S. broadband households now use paid over-the-top (OTT) video services, either subscription or transactional, according to research from Parks Associates (http://www.parksassociates.com). The firm also notes 37% of consumers 18-24 say online video is their most important video source.
"Parks Associates research shows 45% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to a paid online video service, with younger consumers such as Millennials more likely than older consumers to use OTT services," says John Barrett, director, Consumer Analytics, Parks Associates.
According to the market research firm, online video is one of the most important sources of video among all U.S. broadband households. Over 40% of U.S. broadband households selected online video as one of the top three important sources of video, versus 25% for rented DVDs or 13% for owned Blu-ray discs.
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Mar 31
Mobile wallet market to undergo shakeups in the next...
The U.S. mobile payment landscape is currently in a state of flux: Although two-thirds of consumers are interested in learning more about transitioning to a mobile wallet platform, that interest is simply not translating into adoption, according to the Yankee Group (www.yankeegroup.com).
While traditional payment methods continue to reign supreme, a number of third-party mobile wallets are jockeying for position in the U.S. mobile payment landscape — but not all have the vision needed for long-term survival, says the research group. To endure the inevitable wave of consolidation, a well-defined roadmap paired with patience and endurance will be among the many competencies required.
Highlights from a new Yanke Group report include:
° Mobile wallets remain a story of high interest and low adoption, as just 16% of mobile device owners have used their phone to make an in-store payment in the past...
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Mar 28
Branded tablet shipments to reach 200 million this year
ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) says this is a pivotal year for tablets as the traditional markets leading computing and CE [consumer electronics] deployments reach a tipping point and give way to growth regions.
The most mature markets, including North America, Western Europe, Japan and South Korea, are yielding to other regions, such as Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, where the connectivity infrastructure and distribution channels are coming of age. ABI Research forecasts 200 million branded tablet shipments this year—a 20% gain year-over-year from the 166 million shipments in 2013.
With more choices than ever for mobile computing, consumers and businesses will weigh the role of tablets along with ultraportable PCs and large screen smartphones (the so-called phablets) to satisfy their communications and computing needs. But 2014 will be anything but status quo for tablet...
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Mar 27
Consumer asset tracking, ambient intelligence next big...
While first generation LBS services have largely been commoditized or shifted to advertising models, the imminent arrival of indoor location, BLE tags, and wearables will enable next generation services around ambient intelligence and consumer asset tracking, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). In the latest edition of the company’s quarterly market data, "Location Enabled Services", these new markets are forecast by each major region.
"While these are very different markets, the common denominator is the availability of these new technologies and devices," says senior analyst Patrick Connolly. "Ambient intelligence, or the quantified self, is the first service that will truly change how people live their lives, while also enabling intuitive advertising and services. Local search will be unrecognizable from today’s model, as intelligent algorithms tell users what is of interest nearby, based...
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Mar 26
Almost 50% of One-Time Passwords fail to arrive
New global research by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by mobile interaction service provider tyntec, has revealed that on average almost 50% of One-Time Passwords(OTPs) fail to arrive due to invalid mobile numbers provided by end-users. For the study, the Ponemon Institute surveyed more than 1,800 IT and IT security practitioners around the world.
The research also revealed that 65% of respondents felt the traditional username and password approach was insecure. As a result, 90% of global IT managers say their organizations plan or consider the possibility to adopt SMS-enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) in 2014 in order to improve online security.
The majority of international respondents (31%) cited on average 11-20% is the amount of OTPs that fail to be delivered. Of that, almost 50% on average fail because an invalid mobile number was entered by the end-user. As well as end-users providing invalid mobile numbers, OTPs can also fail due to technical...
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Mar 25
ABI Research: Intelligent transportation technologies...
With more than two-thirds of the global population expected to live in urban contexts by 2050, the deployment of smart cities technologies and intelligent transportation services in particular, will become key policy areas for local governments, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).
By 2025, penetration of ITS technologies in smart cities will range from 20% (autonomous vehicles) to 98% (traffic management), according to the research group.
"While numerous smart city projects are currently testing or deploying multimodal transportation, traffic management, adaptive traffic signaling, transit ticketing and smart parking payment solutions, the focus will shift to urban tolling and freight systems to address rampant congestion and pollution issues, especially in developing regions. However, more structural approaches based on eMobility, cooperative ITS and V2I, autonomous vehicles, and...
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Mar 24
ABI Research: startups driving market for public cloud...
The public cloud services market is slowly maturing, giving rise to a varied ecosystem of composite and value-added services. Security is starting to figure more prominently among these services as organizations realize they need better control over cloud-based processes, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
While compliance concerns still remain high, cloud service providers have worked hard to address the issue, but at premium-level costs. SMBs have struggled to find the right balance between public cloud offerings and security. This gap is quickly being filled by innovative startups, eager to fill the demand for cost-effective and specialized security services for organizations subscribed to public cloud services, according to ABI Research.
The most dynamic market responses are around cloud API management, identity and access management (IAM), host and network security,...
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Mar 21
ABI: Chinese vendors will account for over 50% of...
ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) says that Chinese handset vendors will account for over 50% of mobile handsets in 2015. Chinese vendors already accounted for 38% of mobile handset shipments in 2013 and the ongoing shift in growth to low cost handsets, especially smartphones, will increase their market share.
Greater China has long dominated the mobile handset manufacturing supply chain, but now its OEMs are beginning to dominate sales at the expense of the traditional handset OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], including even Samsung, according to the research group.
Many of the Chinese OEMs have focused almost exclusively on the huge Chinese market, with little activity beyond its borders, but this is set to change. Huawei (6th in worldwide market share for 2013) and ZTE (5th) have already made an impact on the world stage, but other Chinese handset OEMs like Lenovo — the...
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Mar 20
Apple Consultants: Four risks that threaten your...
By Ted Devine
Whether working as a one-person shop or part of a small consulting business, Apple consultants have more opportunity than ever to increase their revenue: 97% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones for business, 98% of those companies use iPads, and Apple leads the individual smartphone market with 41% of users. When you take government and educational institutions into account, iPhones account for 59% of the entire enterprise smartphone market, and iPads for 78% of the tablet market.
But as with anything, these tremendous opportunities aren’t without their risks. Apple consultants who aren’t careful to manage the risks that accompany their work could find themselves with no clients, no revenue, and high legal bills.
The Major Risks That Threaten Apple Consultants
Here’s a look at the four biggest risks that threaten Apple consultants and how they can manage those risks to keep their business in the black....
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Mar 19
External disk market recovers from slump
Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues increased year over year by 2.4%, totaling $6.9 billion, during the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), according to the IDC research group (http://www.idc.com).
For the quarter, the total (internal plus external) disk storage systems market generated $8.8 billion in revenue, representing a 1.3% increase from the prior year's fourth quarter and a sequential increase of 17.2% compared to the seasonally lower 3Q13. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped surpassed 10.2 exabytes, growing 26.2% year over year.
"The disk storage systems market was able to break free of recent headwinds due to traditional year-end budget flushes, improved economic sentiment, and a strong desire to address long-standing storage infrastructure inefficiencies," says Eric Sheppard, research director, IDC Storage. "Industry stakeholders able to capitalize the most on this demand...
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Mar 18
Workstation, pro GPU markets head upward in Q4'13
2013 proved to be a good year for the tandem markets for workstations and professional GPUs, reports technology and market research firm, Jon Peddie Research (www.jonpeddie.com). In the fourth quarter, the market continued onward and upward, holding on to the substantial gains of the previous two quarters, closing out a healthy 2013.
Worldwide, the industry shipped approximately 971.6 thousand workstations in the fourth quarter of 2013, essentially flat (-0.2%) from Q3'13 and up 4.0% from the same quarter the year prior. That figure nearly eclipsed the record 1.0 million units the market set back in 2011. Given the quarter was sequentially flat, but exhibited respectable year-over-year (YoY) growth rate (4.0%), the leading workstation and graphics research firm labeled Q4'13 as another positive quarter in the market's steady, albeit unhurried, journey forward.
With growth coming in at a modest but...
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Mar 17
139.1 million consumer Wi-Fi access points shipped in...
The worldwide Wi-Fi customer premises equipment market including access points, routers and gateways shipments surpassed 139.1 million in 2013. 802.11ac access point adoption is starting to gain market share, representing 8% of the total consumer access point market in 2013, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
More device manufacturers started to ship 802.11ac products in 2013; the majority of them provide dual-band access to support existing 802.11n devices.
"Although 802.11n devices hold the largest market share of the consumer Wi-Fi device shipments in 2013, 802.11n share of shipments is likely to start declining in 2014 as 802.11ac device adoption continues to grow. 802.11ac devices are expected to represent 45% of consumer Wi-Fi equipment shipments at the end of 2014," says Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst, ABI Research.
In the enterprise Wi-Fi market, 13.2...
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Mar 14
Survey: demand for cloud professional services on the...
Technology Business Research Inc.’s "Cloud Professional Services Customer Report" shows demand for cloud professional services continues to escalate, with more than 74% of enterprise clients, compared to 59% in 2011, purchasing or considering purchasing cloud computing services engaged with a cloud professional services vendor for assistance.
Recently, clients’ professional services demands shifted, with a need for assistance in system integration and implementation taking the lead. TBR surveyed 900 end users of cloud professional services across North America, Europe and Asia to map vendor opportunity and customer and competitor landscapes for the report, which is one of three customer-facing research initiatives in TBR’s cloud customer portfolio, says TBRI Senior Analyst Ramunas Svarcas.
With a growing number of customers investing in cloud services, the demand for cloud professional services is on the rise. TBR estimates cloud professional services revenue...
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Mar 13
Nearly 30% of U.S. broadband users watch video on...
The Parks Associates research group (www.parksassociates.com) has released mobile industry research showing roughly 29% of U.S. broadband users watch video on a mobile phone monthly, with the average user watching 1.7 hours of video on a mobile phone each week.
"Since 2008, revenues from voice services for the top-four U.S. mobile network operators (MNOs) have declined 6%, while data revenues have grown 129%," says Harry Wang, director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Mobile data revenues will be key to offsetting stagnant growth in voice revenues. Most major MNOs worldwide are transitioning or have already adopted tiered or shared usage-based data plans, and they will continue to experiment with pricing models to optimize the revenue-generation potential of mobile data access."
Parks Associates mobile research shows:
° The number of people in North America who...
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Mar 12
Advanced Content Recommendations to reach 75% of US...
Consumer exposure to advanced recommendations engines will grow to reach 75% of Pay TV households on multiscreen services and 55% on set-top boxes within North America by 2018, up from 20% and 10% in 2013, respectively, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
This significant growth is driven by today’s highly competitive viewer landscape for Pay TV and OTT operators, says the research group. At the core of this are search, recommendation and discovery technologies that rely heavily on rich metadata as well as user analysis and learning.
"TiVo’s acquisition of recommendation specialist Digitalsmiths is indicative of the tight relationship between guides, metadata, and recommendations," says ABI Research Practice Drector Sam Rosen. "We expect further consolidation moving forward as recommendations move from a wish-list item to a must-have in today’s competitive environment....
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Mar 11
LTE data share plan of the market grows by 150%
According to ABI Research’s "Mobile Internet Pricing Q1-2014 Market Data," more than 55% of the cheapest country tariff plans are 4G compared to just 22% a year ago. This has been driven by the aggressive deployment of LTE networks and a wider choice of consumer-centric LTE smartphones.
"However, we found that the average cost of mobile Internet tariff plans across the cheapest 20 markets increased by 8.24% between Q1-2013 and Q1-2014," comments Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com). "While 55% of the 20 cheapest country plans were 4G, 4G tariff plans were only marginally more expensive than 3G tariff plans. One year ago, the 4G data pricing was around 20% higher than 3G for the equivalent data-plan. Competition is forcing the mobile operators to pare down the prices of even their 4G tariffs."
The current 4G service adopters are bigger spenders than their...
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Mar 10
Garter identifies upcoming mobile technologies,...
Organizations wishing to unlock the full potential of mobility must master a wide range of technologies and skills, many of which are unfamiliar to IT staff, according to Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at the Gartner research group (www.gartner.com). He lists the top 10 mobile technologies and capabilities that organizations must master in 2015 and 2016. as follows:
° Most organizations will need application development tools to support a "3 x 3" future — three key platforms (Android, iOS and Windows) and three application architectures (native, hybrid and mobile Web). Tool selection will be a complex balancing act, trading off many technical and nontechnical issues (such as productivity versus vendor stability), and most large organizations will need a portfolio of several tools to deliver to the architectures and platforms they require.
° HTML5 won't be a simple panacea for mobile...
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Mar 07
Secure IC apps will create new revenue opportunity
Emerging IC applications, outside of the traditional card form-factors are set to make up an increasing proportion of the secure IC market landscape, accounting for 11% of total shipments in 2013, increasing to 24% in 2018, says ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
The primary use cases for ICs outside of card based applications include authentication ICs for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, use within luxury goods, ICT, CE devices and accessories, pharmaceutical and IT consumables, covering products and components, embedded secure elements for NFC enabled devices and TPMs. Combined it is these emerging applications which will present annual IC revenues in excess of US$2.9 billion in 2018, according to ABI Research.
The threat from counterfeit goods is on the increase and IC technology is seen as a hardware solution to guarantee product/component authenticity, protecting brands...
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Mar 06
GPU market up; Intel and Nvidia are winners in Q4
Jon Peddie Research (JPR), a research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, has announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers’ market share for 2013 4Q. The quarter was the second quarter in a row to show a gain in shipments, up 1.6% quarter-to-quarter, and up 2% compared to the same quarter last year.
AMD’s overall unit shipments decreased 10.4%, quarter-to-quarter, Intel’s total shipments increased 5.1% from last quarter, and Nvidia’s increased 3.4%. The attach rate of GPUs to PCs [personal computers] for the quarter was 137% and 34% of PCs had discrete GPUs that means 66% of the PCs are using embedded graphics. The overall PC market increased 1.8% quarter-to-quarter, but declined 8.5% year-to-year.
The popularity of tablets and the persistent economic slowness are the most often mentioned reasons for the decline in the PC market, according to JPR (www.jonpeddie.com). The one...
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Mar 05
Streaming music service providers eyeing the auto...
In recent years, streaming music services have shown that there is a market for personalized radio and on-demand subscription based services, listening via PCs and laptops and particularly via smartphones. Now these companies are turning their attention to the car and are seeking ways to offer their services to motorists, moving into territory the traditional radio stations have held sacred for decades.
"FM broadcasting still dominates in-car listening today, but it is likely that this will gradually diminish in favor of streamed radio and music services as an increasing number of cars become connected," says Gareth Owen, principal analyst at ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com). "This trend is already happening in some markets such as the United States. "It is now clear that digital radio via DAB/DAB+ and HD Radio is unlikely to ever become as widespread as FM on a global or even regional basis...
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Mar 04
U.S. smartphone, tablet in-app advertising to exceed $...
Approximately 60% of smartphone and tablet users watch 1-5 hours of TV/video on these mobile platforms each week, which will help drive in-app advertising revenues on these platforms to over US$5.6 billion by 2017, according to the Parks Associates research group (http://www.parksassociates.com).
"While industry stakeholders have access to vast amounts of user data, cross-platform audience measurement remains complex, varied, and undefined," Senior Research Analyst Heather Way says."There is no scalable, cross-platform audience metric standard in place to determine how traditional and online video complements or overlaps one another from a usage and advertising perspective. A true cross-platform video measurement approach is essential to quantify unduplicated reach across broadcast and cable TV, the Internet, and mobile apps and web properties. Industry demand will only grow stronger as more...
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Mar 03
The Northern Spy: a look at being 'insanely...
By Rick Sutcliffe
Being insanely proprietary can be both a strength and/or a weakness. On the negative side of the ledger, HP, Xerox, and IBM, by not being more particular about their in-house inventions and IP, all lost opportunities to dominate the personal computing market.
Oh, yes, IBM did for a while, but because the software was controlled by Microsoft, and wasn't exclusive, clones eventually turned their boxes into commodities, and they exited the market rather than compete on a consumer level — much to the Spy's surprise and chagrin, for he believes it was and remains a mistake. It wasn't a bad as Canadian Pacific exiting the telecommunications business in favour of Rogers, but of the same nature — abandoning participation in technological future megabucks for a handful of present-day dollars.
Yes, and one can scarcely count the number of technology companies that fell by the wayside due to complacency, failure of vision, lack of...
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Mar 03
NFC playing catch-up to QR codes, SMS
ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) has forecast that over 34 billion tickets will be delivered to mobile devices over the next five years. The combined number takes into consideration the multiple technologies used to present a mobile ticket at time of authentication, including QR codes, NFC, SMS, mobile wallets, Bluetooth Smart, and dedicated apps.
In terms of the tickets delivered over the 2014 to 2019 time frame, QR codes are forecast to make up 48% of all tickets delivered, NFC with 30% and SMS and others making up the remaining 22%, according to the research group. Although NFC is the technology forecast to have the fastest growth with a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] in excess of 100% over the same time frame, it is QR codes which are forecast to account for the majority of mobile tickets delivered having had a substantial head start in the market.
QR mobile ticketing has...
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Feb 28
Android captures 61% of global smart watch shipment...
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (http://www.strategyanalytics.com), global smart watch shipments reached a record two million units in 2013. Android captured 61% share of all smart watches shipped worldwide and it is commanding an early lead over rivals, according to the research group.
"Global smart watch shipments reached a record 1.9 million units in 2013," Matt Wilkins, director at Strategy Analytics, says. "It is very early days, of course, but the smart watch market is starting to take shape. We estimate less than 1% of all smartphones shipped worldwide were bundled with smart watches in 2013, so there remains huge scope for smart watch growth in the future."
Woody Oh, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, adds: "Android currently has several challengers in the smart watch space, like Firefox and Pebble OS, but none of them are a major threat at this...
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Feb 27
IDC: growth streak ends for China smartphone market
After nine consecutive quarters of explosive growth, which propelled China into the top smartphone market in the world, the China smartphone market experience its first slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2013 (2013 Q4), according to IDC (http://www.idc.com).
According to the the research group, the market shipped 90.8 million units compared to 94.8 million in 2013 Q3, declining by 4.3% quarter on quarter. Several factors drove this stumble. For one, China Mobile’s 4G TD-LTE network went live on December 18, translating into supplies of 4G handsets not able to reach the market fully until 2014 Q1. The increasing popularity of phablets and channel inventory also played a role, whereby operators cut phone subsidies on phones with smaller screens, triggering distribution channels looking to clear out those stocks.
"The world has increasingly looked to China as the powerhouse to propel the world’s smartphone...
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Feb 26
ABI Research: In-building wireless market to reach $8....
ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) expects the market for in-building wireless equipment and deployments to grow to over US$8 billion in 2019, up from a forecast $4.4 billion for 2014 representing a 14% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
North America will continue to be the region with maximum DAS spend with sports venues and transportation continuing to be the verticals which attract the most DAS investment while shopping malls, healthcare and hotels/resorts finish a close second place, according to the research group. Together these verticals in North America account for about two-thirds of DAS spending. North America is followed by Asia-Pacific and then Europe (in that order) for market size.
"While the Asia-Pacific region today accounts for less than a quarter of the total market, we expect it to grow to more than 25% by 2019 at a CAGR of more than 20%," says Nick Marshall, principal analyst at...
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Feb 25
Over 17 million wearable bands are forecast to ship in...
Basic and smart wearable band shipments grew dramatically in the second half of 2013, according to Canalys (http://www.canalys.com).
Fitbit became the new leader of the wearable band market, following the launch of its affordable Flex and Force bands in May and October 2013 respectively. It dominated the market for basic bands, with over 50% market share in the second half of the year. At the same time, Samsung accounted for the majority of smart band shipments according to Canalys market estimates.
"Samsung launched the Galaxy Gear with a major marketing push that gained significant consumer interest. Shipments of the device took Samsung to the top of the smart band category, though disappointing sell-through will necessitate more promotional activity in coming months," says Chris Jones, vice president and principal analyst at Canalys. "Basic band vendors have greater wearable expertise and have...
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Feb 21
Over 800 million smartphones will use indoor location...
iBeacons are fast becoming the foot soldiers of indoor location in retail, bringing awareness and adoption, but it is just one of over 10 indoor location technologies competing in this $5 billion space. A host of new, higher-accuracy, "infrastructure-free" technologies are forecast to change the face of and use case for indoor location in the future," according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
"We see huge growth for infrastructure-based technologies like Wi-Fi and iBeacons, with BLE deployments forecast to break 20,000 by 2015, largely focused on retail. But the arrival of high-accuracy handset-based technologies like sensor fusion, LED, magnetic field and a host of others, will also enable a whole new set of consumer applications and services around ambient intelligence, social networking, corporate/enterprise, fitness/health, mobile advertising, and gaming," says senior analyst...
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Feb 20
More than 20 million connected cars to ship with...
While traditional safety telematics services such as eCall, bCall, stolen vehicle tracking, and diagnostics aimed at the physical protection of vehicles, drivers and passengers are becoming main stream, awareness is growing about the threat of cyber-attacks and their impact on the physical integrity of persons, especially with Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication and autonomous vehicles, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).
This is prompting car OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and Tier1 suppliers to source security technology, with more than 20 million connected cars forecasted to ship with software-based security by 2020, says the research group.
"So far connected car security has been mainly based on hardware protection and separation with infotainment and vehicle-centric safety systems shielded from each other. However, the shift towards cost-effective software-based security based...
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Feb 19
Mobile video growth will continue to outpace viewing...
Despite continued growth of online video viewing on connected CE devices and excitement from new platforms like Google’s Chromecast and new consoles from Microsoft and Sony, annual increases in mobile online viewing (tablets and smartphones) are higher than any other category, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
Worldwide mobile views already constitute over 20% of the total (in 2013) and this share will continue to grow – more than doubling during the five year forecast window. Pay TV services will continue to serve as the primary video entertainment solution for many consumers, but overall time spent watching online video is expected to pass 21 hours per month by 2019, up from 12.7 hours in 2013 (worldwide average among online video viewers).
Computers, however, will remain relevant as many expect these devices to continue serving as the primary viewing device during the...
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Feb 18
1.7 billion contactless tickets set to ship in 2018
ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) has forecast that a combination of memory and microcontroller smart cards alongside disposable ticketing solutions will reach shipments totaling 1.7 billion units in 2018.
The primary drivers include the increasing move to national standards and the enablement of NFC and open-loop payments. This trend is a consistent feature across all continents with particular progress within the UK, U.S., Australia, Germany, Turkey, and the BRIC countries forming a growth engine for future contactless ticketing adoption.
ABI Research says growth is particularly strong in China, India, and Brazil where accelerating contactless ticketing programs within flagship cities can be found. In 2013 these three countries accounted for 21% of all smart contactless ticketing cards shipped worldwide. As these projects evolve the research group expects to see further expansion...
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Feb 17
50% of the African population to be covered by LTE...
By the end of 2018, half the African population will be covered by LTE networks, as LTE base station deployment swells at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 40% over the next five years, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
However, LTE network population coverage will be far from homogenous across the region, with a few countries such as Angola and Namibia nearing the halfway point already while wealthier nations like Botswana and Gabon have yet to deploy the advanced technology, says the research group.
"Part of the underlying reason for this digital divide is the different types of initiatives driving LTE roll-out," says Ying Kang Tan, research associate, ABI Research. "We expect wholesale or shared networks such as the joint venture between the Rwandan government and Korea Telecom and the public-private partnership proposed by the Kenyan government to spur LTE...
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Feb 14
In-vehicle wearable penetration into cars to exceed 90...
In-vehicle wearable integration is the latest trend in automotive with announcements following each other in quick succession: Harman’s ADAS Google Glass integration, Hyundai’s Blue Link Glassware application, Mercedes’ Pebble smart watch Digital DriveStyle application, BMW’s i3 EV Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch integration, Nissan’s Nismo concept smart watch displaying biometric and vehicle diagnostics and performance data, and INRIX’s real-time traffic Google Glass demo app. Logically following in the wake of in-vehicle smartphone integration, wearable form-factors will interface — directly or via phones — with more than 90% of vehicles shipping globally in 2019, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
"With in-car infotainment becoming a key customer proposition, the automotive industry is designing user interfaces both offering a rich and convenient experience and guaranteeing...
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Feb 13
Majority of adults share intimate details via...
McAfee has released the findings from their 2014 Love, Relationships & Technology survey. For a second year in a row, the company examined how more than 1,500 consumers are sharing and storing intimate data on their mobile devices, especially with current or former significant others. The study highlights how sharing personal content such as suggestive texts, naked photos, suggestive video and passcodes on these devices can potentially lead to cyber-stalking and the exposure of private content leaking online.
While 98% of respondents use their mobile device to take photos, 54% send or receive intimate content including video, photos, emails and messages. Of those surveyed, 69% are securing their smartphone with a password or passcode, a 30 percentage point increase from last year’s result. However, 46% of U.S. adults still share their passwords with another individual (down from 54%), while 42% use the same password across multiple devices, increasing the likelihood that...
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