Type of Article: MacTech Blog

Although an increasing number of taxis are equipped with embedded telematics units, this is being overshadowed by the rapid rise in popularity of smartphone-based taxi apps, which enable passengers to order a taxi via an app, with the driver similarly receiving pick-up requests directly via smartphone.

By 2017, mobile apps will be downloaded more than 268 billion times, generating revenue of more than $77 billion and making apps one of the most popular computing tools for users across the globe, according to Gartner, Inc. (http://www.gartner.com). As a result, the research group predicts that mobile users will provide personalized data streams to more than 100 apps and services every day.

New research from Park Associates (http://www.parksassociates.com) reveals that approximately 66% of all U.S. broadband households find a smart home bundled package appealing, which could include a variety of home safety, security, and management offerings. Home management is the most appealing bundle, including safety alerts, remote home monitoring, and remote management of the home’s thermostat.

New data from ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) found that 2013 market shipments fell 193 million units to 4.94 billion — a drop of 3.8%.

A number of separate issues combined to affect the market last year, varying from region to region, according to the research group. While some countries were boosted by the ongoing upgrade and addition of 4G LTE and NFC-capable SIM cards, shipment of such high-end SIMs at a global level were below previous expectations for 2013. However, by far the most significant factor was the overall decline in Asia.

Hardware security for mobile devices is fast becoming a priority market as maturing applications for mobile finance or government-level use increasingly demand security at the core, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

Trust hardware and secure boot for trusted executions environments are necessary elements for such industries, says the research group. Without this security assurance, applications for mobile commerce, mobile money or wallet will have some difficulty getting off the ground and finding adoption by the big card payment providers.