Type of Article: MacTech Blog

Voice shopping is expected to jump to $40 billion in 2022, up from $2 billion today, suggesting the new channel may well be the next major disruptive force in retail, according to data from OC&C Strategy Consultants.

The survey showed growth in the voice segment will be driven by a surge in the number of homes using smart speakers, rising to 55% from 13% percent today. Meanwhile, Amazon is poised to dominate the new channel with the largest market share, currently more than twice that of its nearest competitor. Among other key findings of the study:

According to the latest forecast from IDC (www.idc.com), global shipments of personal computing devices (PCDs) – composed of traditional PCs (desktop, notebooks and workstations) and tablets (slate and detachable) – declined 2.7% year over year in 2017.

Dresner Advisory Services (www.enduserdataprep.com) has published the 2018 End User Data Preparation Market Study, part of the Wisdom of Crowds series of research. The fourth annual report addresses user perceptions, trends, and intentions surrounding end user data preparation, defined as a self-service capability for end users to combine, model, and prepare data prior to analysis.

New connected car research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) finds 57% of U.S. broadband households are interested in voice control features for their car, with interest highest among consumers who already own smart speakers or use voice recognition on their smartphones. The research group notes that interest in voice control is particularly high among consumers planning to buy a car soon.

Blancco Technology Group (www.blancco.com), which specializes in data erasure and mobile device diagnostics, has issued a new mobile report designed especially for mobile processors, call centers and resellers. It’s based on data collected from iOS and Android mobile devices that were brought in to mobile carriers and device manufacturers for diagnostics tests and mobile erasure in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia from Oct. 1, 2017, to Dec. 31, 2017. Highlights from the report include: