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Print Edition StoriesFriday, July 31, 2009
Emerging Technologies
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Gartner: Challenges, consolidation face navigation solution providers
Business challenges facing navigation solution providers include growing competition, device platform diversity and undifferentiated value propositions that accelerate commoditization, according to Gartner Inc. These factors are impacting revenue for those providers and automakers who integrate the navigation technologies in their vehicles. Gartner says to expect market consolidation and margin decline.
Earlier this year, Gartner surveyed 2,000 consumers in the United States and Germany and found that navigation is the most-desired vehicle IT application among consumers, ranking it ahead of safety- and security-centric in-vehicle applications.
Business challenges remain, despite the popularity of navigation solutions. Portable navigation device manufacturers in particular face commoditization. Additional issues cited by Gartner include the weak global economy and growing number of available device platforms in the consumer electronics industry that offer navigation add-ons or downloadable applications. Gartner predicts that this will lead to further price declines and lower profit margins over the next two years.
ABI: Wearable wireless sensors to grow to more than 400 million devices by 2014
A new wave of “interest and investment in wireless body sensors will help health-care providers to improve treatment as well as increase efficiency and cut costs,” according to a report by ABI Research. These wireless sensors will measure important body parameters and communicate the data to remote systems.
The firm said that the market for wearable wireless sensors is expected to grow to more than 400 million devices by 2014. Drivers include the professional health care, home health care and sports and fitness markets, although they are growing at different rates. The sports and fitness market represents more than 90 percent of the market today, said ABI.
Yankee Group: Google’s Chrome OS wounds Windows, undermines Android and lets Apple advance
Boston-based research firm Yankee Group Research Inc. said in a recent report, “The launch of Google’s Chrome OS will not be a Windows killer, although it will hurt Microsoft. In fact, it will actually hurt Google’s own Android.” Yankee Group said big winner in the Chrome announcement should be Apple Inc., “which is poised to benefit from the war brewing between Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and the consumer, who will get a lot more netbook choices.”
Gartner: E-paper’s green credentials boost adoption
The electronic paper used in products such as electronic book readers, also known as “e-paper,” stands to grow in popularity because of “green benefits” such as its low power consumption, and the fact that it offers a user experience similar to real paper, according to a report from Gartner Inc.
E-paper does have disadvantages of poor color and refresh rate characteristics, said Gartner, but e-paper also will have significant benefits compared with other display media and will positively impact the traditional paper market, the retail display sector, a number of consumer markets and the office environment in years to come, said Gartner.
One driving factor for e-paper adoption is its continuous evolution, said Gartner. Such additions include touchscreen, wireless connection and rewritable color support. New applications include displays for phones, clocks and watches.
ABI: 20 million wireless net TVs to ship in 2011
There’s a move toward networked home entertainment, with television sets more frequently including wired or wireless connections to online content. In a recent study, ABI Research predicted worldwide shipments of 20 million TVs offering wireless connectivity in 2011.
ABI said that while high-end TVs already offer network connectivity and networked TVs are widespread in Japan, North America, Western Europe, and select Asian countries are the next growth markets.
The report said that Ethernet typically will handle the wired type of connections, and that wi-fi is the most likely technology for wireless connections. However, ABI also said, “A critical factor for the success of this new kind of entertainment is the position of the owners of that content... At the end of the day, if the content holders don’t let their content go to this platform in a timely manner, it’s just not going to get anywhere.”
Gartner: Users need brokerages for cloud services
Cloud computing services will be so complex that consumers will need to utilize “brokerages” to ensure that they can integrate continuous services and receive the levels of service and reliability that make cloud computing worthwhile, according to a report by Gartner Inc.
Those brokers will negotiate between service providers and users, and will provide their own services such as adding value to a cloud-based service, aggregating services and offering flexibility in terms of multiple service options.
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