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June 10, 2013

IDC Says That Emerging Markets Will Surpass One Billion Unit Shipments of Smart Connected Devices by 2014

International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker that provides accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe.

IDC uses a proprietary research process and tools to produce the Trackers. They are updated regularly on a semiannual, quarterly and monthly basis. The IDC Tracker Charts app is designed to allow users to view data charts from the most recent IDC Tracker products on their iPhones and iPads.

IDC helps IT professionals, business executives as well as the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. IDC has more than 1,000 analysts to provide global, regional and local expertise on technology, industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries.

The results for IDC’s Tracker show that global shipments of smart connected devices that include PCs, Laptops, Netbooks, tablets and smartphones are expected to exceed 1.7 billion units by 2014.The expectation is that about one billion of those units will be delivered to emerging markets.

From that count of one billion, it seems that emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China, or the BRIC countries will generate about 662 million units. This is estimated to have a shipment value of over $206 billion.

The developed markets have a forecast shipment of about 650 million units, and leading the way is the U.S., U.K. and Japan who are expected to capture more than 400 million units. These units will have a shipment value of around $204 billion.

We can see from these results that the demand for smart connected devices is making a quick change leading to the road headed for the BRIC countries. There is the expectation that by next year unit shipments to the BRIC countries will outshine the total shipments to developed countries.

When you keep these figures in mind, it shows that the emerging markets are expecting growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 percent over the forecast period of 2012-2017. This is in comparison to something like a seven percent CAGR for the developed markets.

I mentioned that the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker shows that about 1.7 billion units will be shipped by 2014. Of that number, it is expected that smartphones and tablets will represent 1.4 billion units. This is the total unit shipment for both emerging and developed countries. Money-wise this comes out to a value of about $500 billion.

Some of the factors that are driving this growth in emerging markets is the increase use of certain mobile apps. Among these applications are mobile messaging, social networking and commerce, as well as gaming. An interesting app that is used a lot is mobile check-in services.

Governments have also taken an interest with a focus on education. Countries like India, Thailand, Turkey, and the UAE, have boosted the prospects of low-cost tablets for students in these regions. This combined with the deployment of 3G and 4G services is making a big change in how these devices are being used.

IDC research analyst Megha Saini said "It is evident that smartphones and tablets have successfully established a strong presence as the 'second screen' owing to the transformation in usage patterns, device affordability, and, most of all, the comfort of a mobile and digital lifestyle. Vendors and OEMs need to be aware of the different usage patterns so as to drive product innovation that suits the tangible needs of their digital consumers."

The following two charts show some of the forecast information:





Edited by Ashley Caputo


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