Type of Article: MacTech Blog

Worldwide IT spending is expected to post a major slowdown in 2016, as economic weakness in emerging markets and saturation of the smartphone market combine to result in a significantly slower pace of tech spending growth compared to the past six years, according to the IDC research group (www.idc.com).

Canalys’ (www.canalys.co) recently published country-level forecasts predict that over 1.5 billion smart phones will ship in 2016. Despite turbulence for certain vendors and countries, the industry will still grow by over 10% this year thanks to new opportunities. The research group estimates total worldwide mobile phone shipments of just under two billion units with the smart phone share at 77%.

NowSecure (www.nowsecure.com), which specializes in mobile-focused security solutions, has revealed the results of its highly anticipated 2016 NowSecure Mobile Security Report – offering a detailed look into the current state of mobile security.

Statistics from the report included that a quarter of all mobile apps have at least one high risk security flaw, 35% of communications sent by mobile devices are unencrypted, and the average mobile device connects to 160 unique servers each day.

Cloud spending represents about 8.5% of all IT spending by the federal government for fiscal year 2016 (FY16), according to a new report from IDC Government Insights (www.idc.com). That represents a significant increase from the roughly 5% dedicated to cloud in fiscal year 2015 (FY15).

New consumer research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) shows that in the next 12 months, over 40% of U.K. broadband consumers are likely to adopt new connected devices, including smart door locks, sensors, and security cameras, as part of a home security or control system that can be monitored or controlled by a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

The research firm’s report also found that ownership of home control systems is 10% of broadband households in France and Spain, 8% in Germany, and 11% in the U.K.