Type of Article: MacTech Blog

Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults who use a smartphone have at least one financial app, according to a new Bankrate.com report. The average smartphone user has 2.5 financial apps. Among millennials (18-37 year-olds), the average is 3.6. It drops to 2.3 for Gen X (ages 38-53) and 1.4 for Baby Boomers (ages 54-72).

The most common financial apps are full-service banking apps; 55% of U.S. adults who have a smartphone have at least one full-service banking app, including 23% who have at least two.

The way consumers globally pay is changing, according to Market News Update (www.marketnewsupdate.com). As shopping habits evolve, e-commerce and m-commerce methods such as in-app and one-click ordering are becoming increasingly popular.

A new research report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts that specialized fitness wearables integrated into clothing and ear-based “hearables” will grow from an expected 4.5 million shipped in 2018 to nearly 30 million in 2022, an increase of more than 550%. By contrast, conventional activity tracker shipments will only grow by 20% in that time, according to the research group.

New data from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that banking RPA (robotic process automation) software and services revenue will reach close to $900 million by 2022. The research group expects the market value, estimated at $214 million in 2018, to expand over four times by 2022.

The worldwide cloud infrastructure services market grew 46% year on year in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2017 to reach $16 billion. This brought 2017’s full-year growth to 45%, according to Canalys (www.canalys.com).

Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained the leading vendor for the quarter, accounting for 32% of the total worldwide market, notes the research group. Microsoft, Google and IBM also held their positions among the largest global cloud service providers, representing 14%, 8% and 4% of the market respectively.