Archive for the ‘Press Releases’ Category

Gothenburg, Sweden: According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global shipments of smartphones increased 74 percent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 1,200 million units in 2015. The global user base of smartphones increased at the same time by 38 percent year-on-year to an estimated 470 million active users in 2010. In the next five years, the global user base of smartphones is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.9 percent to reach 2.8 billion in 2015. Smartphones are receiving more attention from handset manufacturers, network operators and application developers. Most importantly, an increasing number of users are now discovering how smartphones can act as personal computing devices enabling access to the mobile web and applications, besides voice and text services. Although high-end devices tend to get most attention, the primary growth will come from medium- and low-end smartphones.

“Chipset developers and handset vendors are working on technologies that will ensure a good user experience also for low cost smartphones”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “The challenge is to develop a handset with enough memory, graphics performance and processing power to run the operating system with multiple applications while ensuring a responsive system with fluid user interface and still keep costs down”. He adds that smartphones in general will also benefit from advancements in chipset design. In the next five years, further performance increases will come from dual- or quad-core application and graphics processors. These new processors will enable smartphones to rival the performance of dedicated gaming consoles and notebook computers. At the same time, new user interfaces will be developed that make better use of sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes as well as cameras to detect movement or gestures without the need to touch the display.

About Berg InsightBerg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden: According to a new research report from Berg Insight, the worldwide number of shipped consumer electronics devices with cellular connectivity grew to 22 million in 2010 compared to 11 million in the previous year. Notebooks is still the most common device category to equip with cellular connectivity but tablets, e-readers and PNDs are fast growing categories as well. In the next five years, shipments of connected consumer electronics devices are forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 65.2 percent to reach 271 million in 2015.

“The sheer availability of affordable devices with embedded connectivity has exploded during the last year with substantial price reductions on connected personal navigation devices and popular e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook”, says Johan Svanberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that the Apple iPad caused the market for Internet tablets to take off and there were 17.1 million tablets sold worldwide in 2010 out of which 3.9 million have cellular connectivity. Heightened consumer awareness, decreasing prices of modules and chipsets together with massive global deployments of high speed cellular networks such as LTE will have a great positive impact on the market. “However, there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to wireless data subscriptions and a great deal of business innovation is needed in order to make embedded cellular connectivity a common feature in consumer devices”, added Mr. Svanberg.

About Berg InsightBerg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden: Preliminary data from Berg Insight show that the worldwide number of mobile network connections used for wireless M2M (machine-to-machine) communication reached 81.4 million at the end of 2010, up 46 percent year-on-year. According to Tobias Ryberg the strong market performance was the result of a stronger focus on M2M applications in the mobile communications industry and the rise of wirelessly enabled consumer products. The US and Japan recorded growth rates of 52 percent and 60 percent respectively, mainly driven by connected devices such as e-book readers and digital photo frames. Among the world regions, Europe maintained its number one position as the number of M2M subscribers increased 43 percent to 29.5 million. North America was up 51 percent to 23.6 million, followed by Asia-Pacific, growing by 53 percent to 19.6 million.

According to Berg Insight’s M2M subscriber data estimates, AT&T became the world’s largest provider of wireless M2M connectivity services last year, reporting 9.3 million subscribers in Q4-2010. The US operator added 4.7 million machines and consumer devices with embedded connectivity during 2010, almost doubling its subscriber base. Meanwhile the previous market leader Verizon Wireless was demoted to second place in the US and worldwide reporting 8.1 million M2M subscribers at end of 2010, despite adding 1.2 million connections over the year. Berg Insight estimates that Vodafone, which does not currently disclose its number of M2M subscribers, ranked third having in the range of 7–8 million connections. China Mobile was estimated to be in the fourth place with around 6 million connections, followed by T-Mobile at approximately 5 million. Telefónica, Telenor, Orange, Sprint and America Móvil were other top ten players with 2–4 million connections each.

About Berg InsightBerg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden – December 22, 2010: According to new a research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, 2.0 percent of the mobile network connections worldwide were used for wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) communication at the end of 2010. The number of M2M subscribers increased by 46 percent year-on-year to an estimated 81.4 million. In the next five years, the total number of wireless M2M connections is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.0 percent to reach 294.1 million connections in 2015. By that year of the period M2M as a share of the total number of cellular connections is projected to reach 4.0 percent.

“M2M and connected devices is now one of the main drivers behind the growth in mobile subscribers in Europe and North America”, said Tobias Ryberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “All of the world’s largest telecom operators now have several million M2M subscribers in their mobile networks. In Q1-2011, we expect that AT&T will become the first mobile operators to reach 10 million M2M subscribers after more than doubling the installed base in the past 12 months, largely thanks to a successful strategy for connected consumer electronics devices.”

According to Mr. Ryberg, mobile operators are facing a new market landscape where customers no longer have one or two mobile subscriptions, but up to five or more different wireless devices. Besides his smartphone and tablet, a technology-savvy American is likely to own an e-reader and a connected PND, drive a car with an embedded telematics system and have a cellular security alarm installed at home. His Scandinavian compatriot could have a smart electricity meter with embedded GPRS connectivity; a Frenchman may use a cellular speed control warning system and an Italian might have installed a car telematics device from his insurance company. Mr. Ryberg concludes that these are some glimpses of the future that will come and predicts that the vast majority of the world’s next five billion mobile connections will be embedded into consumer devices, machines and sensors.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden – December 21, 2010: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the global market for home health monitoring of welfare diseases was worth approximately € 7.6 billion in 2010. Some of the most common conditions being monitored today are chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiac arrhythmia, sleep apnea, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These conditions cause substantial costs and reduce both life expectancy and quality of life. Berg Insight estimates that more than 200 million people in the EU and the US suffer from one or several chronic diseases where home monitoring can become a treatment option.

mHealth is a term for healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication using mobile phones or cellular network technologies. It is a very broad term that principally involves every kind of mobile health related communication, application or data service. The report covers home health monitoring involving patient self-testing using medical devices and remote transmission of the medical data to healthcare providers for disease management. “Progress is being made in the adoption of wireless technology among manufacturers of medical monitoring equipment, but there is still a long way to go before remote monitoring becomes a standard practise in the healthcare sector”, says André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that consumer-oriented health and wellness monitoring will drive the mHealth segment in the near term. A growing number of wellness and medical monitors can be connected to a mobile phone via Bluetooth or other short-range technologies. More and more health and wellness apps are also being released for smartphones, ranging from BMI calculators, diet guides and sport trackers to medical reference apps. “The number of apps focusing on chronic disease management is however still relatively low”, commented Mr Malm.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden – December 16, 2010: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the total value of the global mobile marketing and advertising market will grow from € 1.7 billion in 2009 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41 percent to € 13.5 billion in 2015. This will then correspond to 15.7 percent of the total digital advertising market or 3.4 percent of the total global ad spend for all media.

The mobile channel is becoming an integral part of the marketing media mix, a progress which is eased by the increasing habitual mobile media consumption exercised by consumers. “Handsets are extremely personal devices which people tend to always have within reach and most often switched on. This enables marketing opportunities which other channels lack”, said Rickard Andersson, Telecom Analyst, Berg Insight. Mobile marketing is adopted by an increasing amount of companies of all sizes and the budgets now devoted to the mobile channel are substantial. “Brands do however have to establish mobile strategies in order to spend wisely and capitalise on the potential the channel brings”, said Mr. Andersson. He adds that mobile components can be beneficially integrated in campaigns spanning also traditional media.

Berg Insight anticipates that the convergence between traditional web and mobile advertising will continue as the technological capabilities of PCs and handsets merge. Advertising actors which are competent to master both channels are well positioned to be successful in the combined digital advertising industry spanning all types of devices. Corporations such as Google and Microsoft openly aspire for market leadership in competition with among others Nokia, Yahoo! and Ericsson. Apple is a newcomer on the advertising scene and advantageously equipped to monetise the vast amount of free apps in the App Store through its iAd platform for in-app advertising.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, 4.3 million passenger cars in Europe will have an on-board telematics device at the end of 2010. Stolen vehicle tracking is still the main application, followed by automatic emergency call, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics. Berg Insight has a positive outlook for the European car telematics market in the coming five years, as the crisis for the global automotive industry is left behind. Demand for aftermarket vehicle tracking solutions is now coming back to pre-crisis levels. The OEM market segment is showing signs of increasing activity and several programs that were shelved in late 2008 have now been resurrected when the car manufacturers put new focus on their telematics strategies.

“The penetration rate is still below 2 percent of the total car parc, so there is a huge untapped potential”, said Johan Fagerberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. Across the world, new regulations and extended availability of services drive the demand for high volume, low cost telematics solutions. In Europe the eCall project has made progress and the vision of cars that automatically dial 112 after a crash is getting closer to becoming a reality. “Some vital technical standards are now in place and the EC has presented a realistic deadline for full-scale implementation by 2014”, continues Mr. Fagerberg. The largest remaining obstacle is now resistance from France and the UK, which are the only major EU member states that have not expressed their support for the initiative. Berg Insight projects that the safety system will generate 15 million new telematics-enabled cars per year once implemented pushing the total number of active subscribers to 28.7 million in 2015.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, global shipments of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) will peak at about 42 million units in 2011 and gradually decline thereafter. Growing shipments in markets such as Brazil, China, India and Russia are not likely to compensate for the decline in Europe and North America. In mature markets where the installed base of PNDs is already high, the device category is facing increasing competition from smartphones and low-cost in-dash navigation systems. However, aftermarket navigation systems will be the largest segment for several years to come and many customers, especially in Europe and North America, are likely to use more than one navigation capable device for different occasions in the future.

PND vendors are increasingly looking at new features and value-added services to resist slower growth and increasing competition. Vendors are for instance adding larger screens and cellular connectivity to new models to persuade customers to upgrade their existing PNDs. Berg Insight forecasts that more than 80 percent of PNDs shipped worldwide in 2015 will have integrated cellular connectivity. “Sales of replacement devices to existing customers now account for about one third of shipments in mature markets”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that customers looking for a new PND typically want a larger screen and new services such as traffic information or speed camera warnings. “Vendors need to communicate the advantages of connected services, such as better traffic information, in order to educate potential customers and stimulate demand”, commented Mr Malm.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden – October 14, 2010: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of mobile subscribers using a turn-by-turn navigation service or application on their handset grew 57 percent from H1-2009 to H1-2010 and reached 44 million worldwide. The subscriber base is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.1 percent to reach 195 million users worldwide in 2015.

Broad availability of GPS handsets and attractive pricing are key factors for widespread adoption of mobile navigation services. In the US, where GPS handset penetration is above 70 percent, navigation services for mobile phones has already reached about 8 percent of the total mobile subscriber base. A large share of these users gets navigation as part of a service bundle together with a voice and data plan from their mobile operator. As a response to the launch of free navigation applications for smartphones by Nokia and Google, more and more operators worldwide are now introducing bundled navigation services to offset the cost for end users. Navigation service providers and mobile operators are also trying to monetise services by introducing various feature and content up-sells that allow users to customise navigation applications to suit their personal needs.

“Mobile operators and service providers are now accelerating their efforts to create differentiated navigation experiences with unique local content to compete against free services”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that integration of navigation services with other applications to stimulate usage will become increasingly important for mobile operators that seek additional revenues from location-based advertising. Since relatively few subscribers need turn-by-turn guidance on a daily basis, complementary features such as social networking, restaurant and event guides improve stickiness.

About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. We produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in our focus areas. Our vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91

Gothenburg, Sweden: New research from the analyst firm Berg Insight says that the worldwide installed base of smart electricity meters will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.1 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach 302.5 million at the end of the period. During the next five years, penetration rates for smart metering technology are projected to increase from around 15–20 percent today to nearly 50 percent in Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific is projected to soar from less than 1 percent to 25 percent by 2015. By the mid-2010s, the majority of all electricity meters shipped in the world’s leading economies is expected to have advanced functionalities and networking capabilities. Berg Insight anticipates that growth will continue in the second half of this decade, with many markets approaching 100 percent penetration by 2020.

Berg Insight has identified a number of common drivers behind the development in all regions. These range from increasing efficiency demands on the electricity sector to the implementation of energy policies related to power conservation, renewable generation and the security of supply. National governments play a key role in the adoption of smart meters through new future-oriented energy policies, addressing these issues. Several European countries have passed legislation that require nationwide rollouts before the end of this decade and in the US, federal grants for smart grid projects constitute one of the main initiatives aimed at the energy sector in the Obama administration’s economic stimuli package. In East Asia, governments directly influence developments through state-controlled national utilities. China’s State Grid Corporation and South Korea’s KEPCO have both announced their intentions to construct smart grids featuring smart meters before 2020.

“Smart metering is now a globally accepted mature mainstream technology”, said Tobias Ryberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight and author of the report. “All over the world we can see how IT and telecommunication has transformed the metering industry from a business of mechanical devices and manual labor to an arena for state-of-the-art technology in everything from wireless networking to data warehousing and complex system integration.” Looking ahead he predicts that the current wave of adoption will pave the way for an even greater transformation of the electricity sector where the access to detailed information in real-time will fundamentally change how power is generated, distributed and consumed.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Fagerberg, CEO
E-mail: johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com
Phone: +46 31 711 30 91