When it comes to the tablet market, worldwide shipments are expected to decline by 12% in 2016, rounding out the year at 182.3 million shipments, according to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker.

IDC expects the market to rebound in 2018 though growth will remain in the low single digits as detachable tablets slowly gain traction.

“The benefits of a thin and light design combined with a touchscreen are bolstering growth in the detachable tablet market, but are also bleeding over into the PC market as slim and convertible-type notebooks gain popularity,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “This is a welcome change for vendors as average selling prices for notebooks and tablets are expected to increase in the near term.”

According to the IDC, from a geographic perspective, emerging markets will continue to decline until 2018 and then growth will flatten out in the following two years.

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That’s a six percent increase over last year, according to the latest annual research from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

This week, MMW was made privy to a summary of the 23rd Annual Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns Study.

The study in question illustrates that emerging technologies including drones and wearables “will pervade holiday wish lists this year.”

According to CTA’s holiday retail forecast, spending on tech will increase 3.1 percent to reach $36.05 billion during the 2016 holiday season. The forecast also shows overall retail sales in November and December, excluding gas and restaurant sales, are expected to increase a strong 3.8 percent to $824.8 billion year over year.

All told, CTA estimates total online holiday sales will grow by 16.4 percent to $84.2 billion, while online sales through mobile devices like smartphones and tablets will grow by 45.2 percent to $20.1 billion.

“The 2016 holiday season looks to be the biggest on record for the tech sector, thanks to fresh and innovative products on the market such as wearable tech, VR headsets, drones and digital assistant devices,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for the CTA. “Our research also finds that most Americans are now using tech devices to help them research and buy those tech gifts.”

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AT&T plans to pilot the LTE-M network in the San Francisco market starting in November. We will launch the technology across our commercial LTE network in 2017.

LTE-M technology will connect a wide variety of IoT solutions such as smart utility meters, asset monitoring, vending machines, alarm systems, fleet, heavy equipment, mHealth and wearables.

Key features expected from LTE-M are:

• Lower costs for modules that connect IoT devices to the LTE network.
• Longer battery life; up to 10 years for certain enabled IoT devices.
• Better coverage for IoT devices underground and deep inside buildings.

“We have pulled together players from across the ecosystem to pilot solutions for a myriad of industries and applications,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T.  “LTE-M will provide a unique combination of enhanced coverage and longer battery life with carrier-grade security. It’s part of our strategy to offer the widest range of IoT network options to our customers.”

The post Internet of Things Getting a Boost from Telecommunications Giant appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to preliminary stats from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, 48.7 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15).

“Despite signs of a slight seasonal improvement, shipments were down -12.6 percent year over year, further highlighting the challenges the tablet market is facing,” noted IDC.

Now that mature markets like North America, Western Europe, and Asia/Pacific have passed 100 million active tablets per region, the opportunities for growth are slim.

“We continue to get feedback that tablet users are holding onto devices upwards of four years,” said Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “We believe the traditional slate tablet has a place in the personal computing world. However, as the smartphone installed base continues to grow and the devices get bigger and more capable, the need for smaller form factor slate tablets becomes less clear. With shipment volumes slowing over four consecutive quarters, the market appears to be in transition.”

The industry does, however, see growing interest in detachable tablets. IDC expects this share to increase dramatically over the next 18 months.

“The first generation of detachable tablets failed to gain much traction, as they represented a series of compromises in terms of both operating system and hardware that few consumers or businesses were willing to accept,” said Tom Mainelli, Program Vice President, Devices & Displays at IDC. “The devices shipping now represent a clear evolution of both OS and hardware, and it’s our expectation that both home and pro users will begin to embrace the form factor in larger numbers going forward.”

The IDC report contains highlights on major vendors, including Apple, which still holds the top position in the worldwide tablet market.

“The impending launch of the iPad Pro may serve as a silver lining as the market shifts towards productivity-enabling devices,” reported IDC.

To see more details from the IDC tablet tracker, click here.

The post Tablet Shipments Slip in Q3 2015 in Challenging Environment, Says IDC Data appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Thursday, Amazon introduced a “groundbreaking new tablet” for under $50.

Check out the new Fire tablet. It includes a quad-core processor, 7” IPS display, front- and rear-facing cameras, up to 128GB of expandable storage, the familiar Amazon features and services, and access to the Amazon content ecosystem.

If you’re feeling generous, customers can also choose to buy Fire as a six-pack for just under $250.

“Today, we’re taking another step in our mission to deliver premium products at non-premium prices,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com’s CEO. “The all-new Fire features a quad-core processor, is incredibly durable, and is backed by the Amazon content ecosystem, the new Amazon Underground, and Amazon customer service with Mayday Screen Sharing. Fire sets a new bar for what customers should expect from a low cost tablet.”

To learn more about the tablet, which could help Amazon score a bigger chunk of the global tablet market, click here.

The post Amazon Raises the Bar While Lowering the Price for Consumer Mobile Tech appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Wednesday, Apple may have gotten its tablet groove back.

Apple used its media event to unveil the all-new iPad Pro, which features an impressive 12.9-inch Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, the most ever in an iOS device.

With businesses large and small looking for more screen real estate and flexibility with their mobile devices, this may be just what the doctor ordered.

The new iPad Pro also delivers what Apple calls groundbreaking performance with the new 64-bit A9X chip, rivaling most portable PCs.

The new larger iPad Pro is thin and light and provides all-day battery life. There are more than 850,000 apps in the App Store designed specifically for iPad, and the new iPad Pro will enable a new generation of advanced apps for everything from productivity, design, illustration, engineering and medical, to education, gaming and entertainment.

Correspondingly, Apple also introduced Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, a precision input device available for purchase separately. Similarly, Apple’s new Smart Keyboard further extends the utility of iPad Pro.

“The iPad Pro is far and away the fastest iOS device we have ever made — its A9X chip beats most portable PCs in both CPU and graphics tasks, but is thin and light enough to hold all day,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The innovative Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard enable users to customize their iPad Pro experience to the particular apps they use and the work they do, making iPad Pro ideal for everything from professional productivity to advanced 3D design.”

iPad Pro and its accessories will be available in November.

The post iPad Pro is Just What the Enterprise Ordered appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“In May 2015,” the research behemoth explains, “almost 90% of the U.S. digital media population visited social networks, which accounted for more than 300 billion minutes of users’ attention. As social networking penetration inches ever closer to reaching the total internet population, differences in how people engage with social networks become more apparent.”

The comScore Mobile Metrix data further reveals that “preferences between tablets and smartphones for social media usage vary depending on the age of the user.”

How does it all shake out?

“The average 18 to 44 year-old smartphone social networking user spends in excess of 25 hours per month consuming social content on that device, while the numbers are considerably lower for those age 45+,” according to comScore. “However the reverse is true on their larger screen mobile counterparts, as tablet social networkers age 35+ spend more than 17 hours per month on those devices, while 18-34 year-olds spend far less on average.”

So what’s behind the differences?

“A possible explanation for these differences is that the older digital consumers haven’t proved to be as “addicted” to their smartphones as Millennials certainly are,” the company adds. “While many Millennials view their smartphones as their digital lifeline – in other words, their primary and most personal access point to the internet’s unlimited supply of information and communication channels – older generations seem to prefer the ‘sit-back’, larger screen experience that more closely resembles the days of reading a newspaper, a book, or even using a laptop computer.”

In the end, one truth is undeniably evident. Social media platforms are seeing unprecedented mobile engagement growth (at least to the tune of 25 percent year-over-year) in each and every age group.

To learn more, check out the comScore report here.

The post New comScore Data Reveals Mobile Device, Social Media Preferences Between Young and Old appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In case you missed the news, in recent days Comcast announced a beta test of a new streaming cable service that “furthers our goal to provide TV choices for everyone.  It’s unlike anything we’ve ever offered: no extra device or additional equipment required…or even a TV. And it’s called Stream.”

With Stream, Xfinity Internet customers can watch live TV from about a dozen networks – including all the major broadcast nets and HBO – on laptops, tablets and phones in their home.

Comcast says the offering also includes thousands of on demand movies and shows to watch home or away and even comes with access to TV Everywhere and a cloud DVR so you can record all your favorites and watch them later.

“Stream will be available to our Xfinity Internet customers for only $15 per month and will first launch in Boston at the end of the summer,” the company says.

The post Comcast Goes Mobile with Streaming Service appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“While the consumer market sees vacillation, the percentage of tablets the business is purchasing and managing directly continues to increase steadily,” analyst J.P. Gownder is quoted by Apple Insider in the report.

Forrester projects that 218 million tablets will be sold for the year 2015.

Researchers call for 250 million tablet sales in 2018, which will then usher in a period of stabilized sales. After all, by decade’s end, a great number of people on the planet will own tablets.

Forrester projects that by 2018, some 800 million people will own a tablet worldwide.

To learn more about the new Forrester report, click here.

The post Global Tablet Sales to Climb Through 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As it turns out, most people who want tablets already have one — and, apparently, they’re not in a hurry to update.

Worldwide tablet shipments recorded a year-over-year decline for the second consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2015, IDC says.

Overall shipments for tablets and 2-in-1 devices fell to 47.1 million in 1Q15, a -5.9% decline from the same quarter a year ago, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker.

“The market slowdown that we witnessed last quarter is continuing to impact the tablet segment, but we see some growth areas that are starting to materialize,” says Jean Philippe Bouchard, Research Director of Tablets for IDC. “Cellular-enabled tablets are outgrowing the rest of the market, providing an additional revenue stream for OEMs and mobile operators. In addition to driving higher usage than Wi-Fi-only tablets, cellular-enabled tablets also help position the segment as true mobile solutions rather than stay-at-home devices.”

To learn more, check out the report from IDC here.

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