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Posts tagged Technology Trends
By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide.
Jul 1st
According to Gartner estimates:
- The total number of PCs in use will reach 1.62 billion units in 2012, all of which are capable of Internet access, even if some are not connected.
- By 2012, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.69 billion units. From 2012 onwards, this combined installed base will be greater than the installed base for PCs.
Nevertheless, most users in 2012 will use a PC as their primary Web access device and their phone as a secondary access device. However, as use of smartphones spreads globally, they will overtake the PC as the most common primary device for Web access sometime in 2015.
This shift means that many websites will need to be reformatted or rebuilt. Mobile device users typically make many fewer “clicks” on a website than PC users, and websites not optimized for smaller screen formats will risk reduced customer interaction and fewer transactions.
This market barrier will be of particularly concern to:
- Organizations in geographies where the PC is not as prevalent.
- Organizations with consumer-facing websites.
- Informational portals used by educational institutions and the government sector.
Online retailers, banks and financial service providers will be the most exposed to this risk.
[Source: http://gartner.com/predicts, Gartner, Inc., Gartner Top End User Predictions for 2010: Coping with the New Balance of Power]
By 2014, more than three billion of the world’s adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile and Internet technology.
Jul 1st
Market implications:
- Two trends are merging
that will drastically alter the future of the world’s trading economy:- The rapid rise of mobile and Internet technology adoption in emerging economies.
- Advances in mobile payment, commerce and banking.
- Together they will open the way for a significant portion of the world’s adult population to transact electronically. For many of these newly enfranchised consumers from emerging economies, the ability to use short message service (SMS), e-mail or payment accounts will constitute their first and only access to the estimated $1 trillion global economy.
- For global firms such as Coca Cola and Carrefour, it will provide electronic reach and the ability to transact with a significant majority of adults on the planet.
- For entities such as eBay, TaoBao or Craigslist, it will open a huge opportunity for consumer-to-consumer transactions.
- For mobile operators, Internet companies and financial institutions, it will open vast new markets for the provision of transactional and funds transfer capabilities.
[Source: http://gartner.com/predicts, Gartner, Inc., Gartner Top End User Predictions for 2010: Coping with the New Balance of Power]
