This announcement is significant. Spotify has been historically reluctant to offer lossless streaming, which demonstrates a shift in consumer expectations. As Spotify is the leading streaming player with 155 million subscribers globally, it means that high-quality audio will finally be within reach of mainstream adoption.

As remote working and e-learning continues worldwide, demand for Notebook PCs was at its highest ever in Q4 2020, driving 54% year-on-year growth for notebook shipments. The Notebook PC industry picked up pace in the last quarter as consumer demand supplemented sustained work and school-from-home demand.

A global Gartner, Inc. survey found that 87% of respondents plan investments in supply chain resiliency within the next two years. The survey, conducted from September 2020 through November 2020, showed that even more supply chain professionals (89%) want to invest in agility (see Figure 1).

Electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the US in 2020 reached record market share of 1.8%, demonstrating increased consumer interest for electric vehicles, according to new analysis from IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), a world leader in information, analytics and solutions.

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the shortage of intensivists exposed the dire need for virtual critical care solutions that can cater to large patient populations remotely. The virtual critical care solutions market is estimated to generate revenue of $1.5 billion by 2025 from $818 million in 2020.

User interface (UI) technologies have moved beyond simply representing machines to users to enabling sophisticated and personalized interaction. Their use has accelerated in healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail, and banking to simplify interactivity and improve engagement. The global AR/VR market is expected to reach $661.40 billion by 2025.

The Oil & Gas (O&G) IoT Analytics market garners heavy investment, yet it is deeply challenged by complex system integrations, siloed data, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) management systems. In-house analytics is no longer a sustainable and cost-effective IoT option, and oil & gas firms have widely recognized the expertise of IoT cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)/SaaS vendors.

Employees who traditionally did not have many opportunities to WFH are now used to it, like it, and wish to continue in some capacity once the pandemic is over. This is in line with most service leaders who believe WFH is here to stay post-pandemic. 81% of service leaders believe between 30-80% of their workforce will primarily be working from home two years from now.

Parks Associates today released a new Quantified Consumer study, COVID-19: Impact on Communications and Entertainment, which reveals that in 3Q 2020, more than 50% of US broadband households reported that their broadband usage has increased since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

The proliferation of remote work and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic will drive global demand for wireless content sharing. Comprised of remote collaboration tools such as video streaming, application and other similar capabilities, these enable users to collaborate effectively from anywhere at any time and from any device.

The pandemic-fueled digitization of global marketing and sales and an increasing number of marketing channels targeting niche audiences will contribute to the growth of the marketing automation sector over the next five years. The market is forecast to increase from $2.9 billion in 2020 to $6.6 billion in 2026.

Gaming continues to capture consumer attention globally, achieving revenues up to $200 billion across software, hardware and accessories in 2019, and accelerating the prospects for music in gaming. Of the $200 billion generated, software commands the lion’s share, accounting for more than $140 billion in spend.

Security spending in critical infrastructure has been little impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, save for some reshuffling on where that spend is most needed. The effect has been mostly in increased demand for secure remote connectivity.

Gartner, Inc. predicts that by 2023, more than one-in-ten workers will seek to trick artificial intelligence (AI) systems used to measure employee behavior and productivity. Such systems have seen a significant uptick in use in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global sales of cellular-enabled mobile PCs reached more than 10 million units for the first time in 2020 as home workers sought improved connectivity in response to the closure of office facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through 2022, 50% of large organizations will have failed to unify engagement channels, resulting in a disjointed and siloed customer experience that lacks context. To remedy this, research shows that organizations should deliver frictionless experiences to create more connected experiences for customers to further drive e-commerce.

Gartner found that 44% of consumers report that their highest expectations of companies is for them to ensure their own policies and practices align with a cause, but only 37% of CMOs report taking that action. 24% of consumers say one of brands’ top two priorities should be donating money to cause, yet 46% of CMOs report donations as a top action taken.

The ongoing pandemic and lockdowns have exploded social media usage and increased traffic in online shopping platforms, forcing many brands to embrace emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and virtual stores to remain competitive and engaged with their customers.

Gartner data shows the total number of skills required for a single job has been increasing by 10% year-over-year since 2017. Furthermore, one in three skills in an average 2017 job posting in IT, finance or sales are already obsolete. Emerging skills gaps due to ongoing business disruption and rapidly evolving needs have accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand for home computers, tablets and games consoles helped consumer electronics revenues to reach $358.5B in 2020, finds new research from Strategy Analytics. According to the report, shipments of home computers and tablets rose 11% last year, while revenues increased by 17%, as millions found themselves needing new devices for working and learning from home.