The IT Nerd

Juniper Research’s latest report on the mHealth market forecasts cumulative cost savings from remote patient monitoring of up to $36 billion globally over the next five years – under Juniper’s most optimistic forecast scenario. This is a significant opportunity, as healthcare in the developed world moves towards the concept of “accountable care”, where funding is linked directly to the health of the patient or individual rather than being based upon the cost of treatment. Even though remote patient monitoring, particularly for chronic diseases, is still at a very early stage in the development cycle, it fits well with new healthcare practices and the goal of keeping patients out of hospital, finds the report.

Meanwhile the combination of the smartphone, mHealth attachments and companion apps is creating an entirely new route for providing mHealth services. Smartphone-based mHealth is expected to grow more rapidly than mHealth services delivered through bespoke devices, finds the report. Report author Anthony Cox also had this to say:

“mHealth hardware linking directly to a companion app on the smartphone has become an exciting new area of mHealth,” 

Further findings from the report include:

• Western Europe will be the most promising new market for cardiac outpatient monitoring after the US as partnerships emerge for its provision in the region
• Demonstrating cost-savings to those funding the healthcare sector is likely to be the most effective way of advancing mHealth

Juniper Research forecasts robust growth in the adjacent mobile-fitness industry, driven by a motivated user-base and coherent product offering from several players. Thus if you’re in the healthcare arena or you want to see where healthcare is going, this report is worth a read.

A new study by Juniper research investigating the Mobile TV & Video market has found that by 2017, revenues from streaming and download services on mobile and tablet devices will reach $9.5 billion, up from $4.5bn this year. This will be as a result of the maturation of the market for streaming subscription services and pay-per-title content, which will see new business models develop for smartphone and tablet users.

The report, Mobile/Tablet TV & Video: Content, Broadcast & OTT Strategies 2013–2017, details how successful subscription providers have been able to realise large revenues to date, and how their strategies will generate additional revenues over the next five years. Report author Sian Rowlands had this to say

“In order to be truly successful in the future, I think we will see players emerge who are prioritising their customers’ preferences; they will do this by utilising cloud technology, allowing consumers to resume playback on different devices, and enabling offline viewing”.

Other Key Findings from the Report Include:

•  The top three markets for Mobile TV and Video in terms of revenue will be North America, Western Europe and the Far East & China, whose revenue share combined will represent over 80% of the total.
• Latin America will become an important market to watch for Mobile TV, given that the World Cup and Olympics will be held there in 2014 and 2016.

If you want to see the future of Mobile TV & Video, you should read this report as it’s very enlightening.

Juniper Research has released another fine research paper for your reading pleasure. This one forecasts that in 2017, over 160 billion apps will be downloaded globally onto consumer handsets and tablets. This sharp increase, from 80 billion in 2013, is a result of many consumers in developing markets upgrading from featurephones to smartphones, and a growing number of apps downloaded at no upfront cost. The report, Future App Stores: Discovery, Monetisation & Ecosystem Analysis 2013 – 2018, found that the majority of annual downloads will be in the games category, with at least 40% of downloads arising from this area.

Other Key Findings from the Report Include:

• Only 5% of apps will be paid for at the point of download in 2017, down from 6.1% this year.
• Storefronts will improve their discovery services for consumers, as the influence of Amazon’s Appstore recommendation engine becomes more prominent.

If you want to see what the future of apps will be, you should read this report.

Juniper research has released a paper titled Mobile Commerce Markets: Sector-by-Sector Trend Analysis & Forecasts 2013-2017 which observed that a number of key industries – retail, airline, financial institutions – were emphasising the importance of the mobile channel as an engagement, delivery and payment mechanism. It cited the activities of Visa and MasterCard with regards to NFC certification and the airline industry’s wider eTicketing initiative as key developments in this regard.

However, the report noted that a number of hurdles still needed to be overcome if mCommerce were to achieve its potential in the coming years. According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “A significant minority of retailers have yet to optimise their sites for mobile. Unless retailers ensure a seamless, user-friendly mobile shopping experience, they will fall behind competitors who are already using mobile channels to enhance customer relationships.”

The report also pointed out that lengthy POS (Point Of Sale) infrastructure replacement lifecycles were hampering NFC deployments in both the retail and transport sectors, with players understandably reluctant to upgrade infrastructure without a demonstrable return on investment.

If you want to see the future of mobile commerce, take a look at this paper. It’s a fascinating read.

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that almost 50% of data traffic generated by mobile phones, tablets and other 3G/4G connected devices, will be offloaded to Wi-Fi and Small Cell networks this year. Why is this significant? This shift provides relief on providers over-stretched networks. Another benefit is that it allows providers to partner with existing Wi-Fi networks and launching their own carrier grade Wi-Fi solutions. In addition, 4G technologies such as LTE along with other wireless technologies are enabling Operators to provide new services and next generation connected devices such as smart glasses.

Report author Nitin Bhas had this to say:

While a 4G connection need not necessarily mean more data usage, consumers are in fact adapting to faster speeds and more data services, which could lead to more data usage. This increase in user demand for services in turn creates new opportunities within different economic sectors including commerce, energy, health and education, completing a cycle of demand.

Other findings include:

• Mobile data traffic generated by Smartphones, Featurephones and Tablets will exceed 90,000 PB by 2017.
• North America and Western Europe will have the highest offload factor throughout the forecast period.

If you’re interested in the future of data traffic, take a look at this report as it will open your eyes to what the future looks like.

Something that I’ve been doing a lot of on my iPhone is to buy tickets to see movies using the Cineplex App as it is so easy. I am apparently not alone in this as research from Juniper indicates that mobile ticketing is rapidly increasing to just over 950 million users in 2018 from 458 million users. Air and metro (public transport) are the chief areas that are driving this growth. However what holds this back from really exploding are two things:

However, the report noted that in the short term, the outlook for NFC ticketing was less optimistic, with a lack of implementation standards a key barrier to interoperability. Furthermore, transaction speed targets have yet to be achieved, providing a further obstacle to widespread deployments and increasing the probability that contactless cards, rather than NFC handsets, will be the primary delivery mechanism.

As report author Dr Windsor Holden observed, “We had already scaled back our forecasts for NFC Ticketing deployments in the wake of Apple’s decision not to include an NFC chipset in the iPhone 5. Given the outstanding technical issues and the continuing failure of NFC stakeholders to communicate the value proposition to transport operators, further downward revisions were required; we do not envisage anything other than ad hoc deployments in the immediate future.”

My thoughts? Sort out these issues and watch this market go “boom.” Count on it.

A new research paper from Juniper crossed my desk today with news that caught my attention. For those of you who want cars that have apps that do everything like allow you to Tweet, update your Facebook status, and listen to music on Pandora, then car companies are going to love you:

The new report, Connected Cars: Automotive Telematics & In-Vehicle Infotainment 2013-2017, found that there will be a downward pressure on the price of vehicle manufacturers’ own embedded telematics infotainment services – as the in-vehicle app ecosystem matures:  “The biggest winner from the rapid roll-out of smartphone tethering and in-vehicle Apps will be the consumer,” says the report’s author Anthony Cox, noting that smartphone tethering will enable the creation of a wealth of apps for the vehicle just as it did for the smartphone.

Here’s what the report covers:

Opportunities presented by cutting edge services such as V2X (Vehicle to Vehicle/Infrastructure) in areas such as traffic management and crash prevention are examined.  The report also explores how players are seeking to address the constraints imposed by the disparate product lifecycles of the automotive industry and connectivity.

It’s a very interesting report and is very much worth a read if you’re interested in where in car apps are going.