“That will be up 16.7% over 2014 usage levels, and double-digit growth will continue through 2016. In 2018, growth will have slowed to 7.4% for a total of 435.5 million tablet users in China,” eMarketer reveals.

Dominating tablet usage in the APAC region, it is now projected that within three years, some 435.5 million Chinese will be active tablet users. Putting those numbers into perspective, it is believed that by 2018, China will be home to more than half of all the tablet users (715 million people) in the region.

What’s more, says eMarketer, The average person in China is about twice as likely as the average for the region to use a tablet monthly this year, and the average internet user is 40.4% more likely to do so.”

The post China Now Dominates Tablet Usage in APAC appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On top of the general data gathered, Adobe also conducted a survey with more than 3,000 online consumers from the US, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK.

The report is being used to identify trends, predict upcoming changes in the online and mobile world, and to aid in improving the approach to mobile.

Some key takeaways are:

• Safari is still the preferred mobile web browser
• 93% of mobile users utilize Wi-Fi, mainly to avoid the expense of using their mobile providers bandwidth
• Bounce rates on mobile devices are still high, presumably because there are a fair amount of accidental clicks

This information is essential for IT developers, app developers, and business owners working on their online and mobile marketing campaigns.

To read the article in full, please visit Financial Post.

The post Mobile Continues To Change The Way We Connect, Communicate, And Do Business appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The filing describes the system as “capable of powering mobile transactions conducted via QR codes, the cloud, and contactless near field communication (NFC).”

In a review by BI Intelligence and other experts, the patent application describes an “omni-wallet” which “allows other parties to securely send data to Apple device owners, using encryption and secure hardware to prevent fraudsters from intercepting or duplication sensitive information such as digital credit cards.”

To benefit retailers, the system would allow coupon and store-card issuers to track redemption and transactions without launching an individual mobile payments app.

Apple has a significant natural advantage in payments: its huge number of customer accounts, many of them with a credit card on file (See chart, below.)

The patent also mentions “virtualized currencies” which may refer to digital currency such as Bitcoins.

Reed Jessen, professional patent analyst and co-founder of a non-profit Bitcoin patent pool, says “one could imagine this method being used by Apple to send their own non-blockchain, non-decentralized digital currency, ‘AppleCoin’ to the omni-wallets of fanboys everywhere.”

The post Apple’s Patent May Be a Digital Wallet appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The number of devices will more than double from the current level, with 40.9 billion forecasted for 2020, the report notes.

“The driving force behind the surge in connections is that usual buzzword suspect, the Internet of Things (IoT),” says principal analyst Aapo Markkanen. “If we look at this year’s installed base, smartphones, PCs, and other ‘hub’ devices represent still 44% of the active total, but by end-2020 their share is set to drop to 32%. In other words, 75% of the growth between today and the end of the decade will come from non-hub devices: sensor nodes and accessories.”

ABI says from every technology supplier’s strategic point of view, the critical question is how this plethora of IoT devices will ultimately be connected.

“Until recently, the choices that product OEMs have faced have been fairly straightforward, with cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others all generally addressing their relative comfort zones,” the report authors note. “Going forward, they will be in an increasing competition with each other, so for the suppliers the strategic stakes are getting much higher.”

The post What IoT Means for Wireless Connected Devices Market appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The Internet of Things (IoT), which excludes PCs, tablets and smartphones, will grow to 26 billion units installed in 2020.

If that happens – and Gartner says it will – it will represent an almost 30-fold increase from 0.9 billion in 2009.

Gartner also said that IoT product and service suppliers will generate incremental revenue exceeding $300 billion, mostly in services, in 2020. It will result in $1.9 trillion in global economic value-add through sales into diverse end markets.

“The growth in IoT will far exceed that of other connected devices. By 2020, the number of smartphones tablets and PCs in use will reach about 7.3 billion units,” said Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner. “In contrast, the IoT will have expanded at a much faster rate, resulting in a population of about 26 billion units at that time.”

Due to the low cost of adding IoT capability to consumer products, Gartner expects that “ghost” devices with unused connectivity will be common. This will be a combination of products that have the capability built in but require software to “activate” it and products with IoT functionality that customers do not actively leverage, today’s report summary explains.

The post Gartner Sees Big Things for The Internet of Things appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

If the trend continues, Research and Markets reports, global spending on mobile device and network security infrastructure, software and services will reach $9 Billion by the end of 2013.

Mobile networks around the globe generate more than 50 Exabytes of traffic annually. The immense volume of traffic together with the growing adoption of open source Operating System (OS) platforms such as Android has opened up new security threats.

In particular, the report cites, mobile malware, SMS spam, cyber attacks and unlawful eavesdropping are an ever-increasing problem for enterprises, consumers and mobile network operators around the globe.

This has in turn led to significant investments in integrated security appliances and content security gateways by both enterprises and mobile network operators,  besides opening doors for emerging submarkets such as mobile Security as a Service (SEaaS).

Beyond the mobile device and network security investments that will account for nearly $9 Billion in 2013 alone, the market “is further expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 21% over the next 7 years.”

The post Mobile Security Spending May Hit $9 Billion This Year appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the latest industry data, just over half (53%) of U.S. adults plan to shop on Black Friday this year, and you might be surprised by how many won’t leave their homes to do so.

The results of a new holiday shopping trends survey by IPSOS and conducted on behalf of Offers.com reveal that of the consumers shopping on Black Friday, 35% plan to shop primarily online. In comparison, just 28% plan to shop mainly in stores.

37% of surveyed customers will shop both online and in stores.

“People aren’t as excited to fight the crowds to get doorbusters,” explains Offers.com CEO Steve Schaffer. “In fact, only 31% plan to shop at retailers that open on Thanksgiving , and more and more consumers are skipping the stores altogether and shopping online. This has transformed Black Friday into a weeklong online event, not just a one-day shopping bonanza.”

To learn more about the study and its findings, click here.

The post Three-Quarters of Black Friday Shoppers Are Going Mobile and Online appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Put differently, the non-traditional IT market is set for rapid expansion in the coming years.

Consider this: In 2009, there were 2.5 billion connected devices; most of these were mobile phones, PCs and tablets. In 2020, there will be over 30 billion devices connected, of far greater variety.

Based on Gartner’s estimates, IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will show an average annual growth rate of 2.2 percent through 2017,but the Internet of Things (things, people, places and systems) will create new markets and a new economy.

“The traditional IT market is not going to grow at a faster rate any time soon, if ever. Increased growth will come from the non-traditional IT market,” projects Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research.

“While in 2015 the combined IT and telecom market will hit nearly $4 trillion, the incremental revenue generated by the Internet of Things’ suppliers is estimated to reach $309 billion per year by 2020,” Sondergaard adds. “Half of this activity will be new start-ups and 80 percent will be in services rather than in products. The Internet of Things is a strategically important market. It will accelerate fast and will drive both revenue and cost efficiencies.”

The post Gartner Says Big Growth Coming to Non-Traditional IT Market appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

McAfee recently announced the findings from a joint survey with Office Depot, Inc. that revealed surprising security misconceptions among small and medium-sized business owners.

Ready for the scary part?

More than 1,000 SMBs participated in the Office Depot Small Business Index survey last month, and a super-majority (66 percent) felt confident that their data and devices are secure and safe from hackers, with 77 percent responding that they haven’t been hacked.

But their sense of security is not deserved.

The results, in fact, are at odds with industry research that has revealed these same businesses are prime targets of complex and evolving cyber threats.

“Cyber attacks on small businesses rarely make headlines, so it is easy for these business owners to be lulled into a false sense of security, as indicated in this survey. It is especially important for small business owners to secure their systems, as they may not have the resources to survive a cyber attack, unlike a large corporation,” said Congressman Chris Collins. “I urge small business owners to dedicate the necessary resources to securing their data, and support McAfee and Office Depot in their efforts to raise awareness among business owners about the importance of cyber security.”

Seventy-two percent of data breaches investigated by Verizon Communications’ forensic analysis unit were focused on companies with less than 100 employees. The discrepancy suggests that many SMBs are not aware that they’ve been attacked.

Yes, we know that Halloween is over, but if you would like to be scared further, check out more findings and warnings contained in the new McAfee report here.

The post McAfee Making Small Businesses Nervous with New Report appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Correspondingly, 63 percent believe mobility is the greatest factor in helping their organization gain a competitive advantage.

Of the organizations surveyed, approximately half have implemented technologies to support mobile devices, with 48 percent using mobile device management (MDM) and 47 percent using mobile application management (MAM).

Other notable findings regarding mobile strategies include:

• The top two mobile initiatives for businesses are increasing development on mobile apps and increasing adoption of secure file sharing and collaboration tools. Improving network performance and access is the third most important mobile initiative.
• 51 percent of organizations say they are changing management processes to better manage those working on any device from anywhere.
• Organizations are most focused on measuring the impact that mobility has on productivity and employee motivation.

“Organizations are also recognizing the need to provide Windows apps and desktop to mobile workers, with 41 percent of businesses using or planning to use application virtualization and 40 percent leveraging desktop virtualization,” Citrix reports. “In addition, file sharing, sync and storage have been or will be implemented by 40 percent of companies to support mobile users.”

The post Survey Shows Mobility Ranks as Top Priority for the Enterprise appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.