Type of Article: MacTech Blog

New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) finds that 51% of pay-TV subscribers are very interested in having unlimited space to store DVR recordings, which indicates strong consumer demand for cloud-based DVR services.

Currently, over 50% of U.S. broadband homes either include a DVR as part of their pay-TV subscription or have purchased one at retail. The research firm estimates the total number of cloud DVR subscribers in the U.S. will exceed 4.6 million by the end of 2015 and total 24 million by 2018.

The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to gain momentum as vendors and enterprises begin to embrace the opportunities this market presents. According to new research from IDC (www.idc.com), the worldwide Internet of Things market will grow from US$655.8 billion in 2014 to $1.7 trillion in 2020 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.9%.

ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) predicts that 5.4 billion SIM cards will ship during 2015 marking a modest YoY [year-over-year] growth rate of 4.1%. The days of double-digit shipment growth for SIM cards are over and declining ASPs [average sales prices] have forced smart card and IC vendors to change strategies, says the research group.

Vendor focus is now moving away from market share gains and up the value chain. This movement is driven by higher value product propositions such as SWP and LTE SIMs with the aim of maintaining reasonable revenue growth.

According to a new forecast from IDC (www.idc.com), the number of third-party applications designed to run on smart wearable devices is expected to grow from 2,500 at the end of 2014 to 349,000 in 2019.

While the majority of these applications will be consumer focused, the research group believes a significant opportunity exists for enterprise-oriented applications. Developers capable of delivering clear benefits and a transformative experience will catalyze demand and further accelerate application development on the supply side.

ABI Research’s (www.abiresearch.com) inaugural In-Building Wireless Data Traffic forecasts that rapidly increasing offload of cellular traffic to Wi-Fi will reach over 17 exabytes per month by 2018 – greater than all of 2G, 3G, and 4G cellular traffic combined.

“With the majority of mobile traffic either originating or terminating indoors, Wi-Fi becomes a viable and robust access technology for 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile operators,” says Nick Marshall, research director. “This is true whether the traffic is residential, which accounts for the majority of mobile traffic, enterprise, or venue.”