Two in three electricity meters in North America are now smart, says Berg Insight

The penetration of smart electricity meters in North America hit 68% in 2020, according to IoT analyst Berg Insight.

According to the company's forecast, the installed base of smart electricity meters will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% between 2019 and 2025. This will mean a total of 153.8 million units at the end of the projection.

Canada will be a more advanced market than the United States, with 92% penetration and 84% by 2025...

18 February 2021 | Adoption

Cellular IoT module revenue sees 8% quarterly rise but small YoY drop, says Counterpoint

Worldwide cellular IoT module revenue increased by 8% over the most recent quarter - but saw a small year on year decline for Q3 2020, according to Counterpoint Research.

The findings, which appear in the analyst firm's Global Cellular IoT Module and Chipset Tracker, noted the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the market. All regions, apart from the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Latin America and South Korea saw an increase in revenue.

Of the separate segments, NB-IoT...

20 January 2021 | Devices

Research: Higher robot densities linked to increased productivity

Research has found a link between higher densities of robots in a population and increased levels of productivity.

The study – conducted by supply chain specialists Balloon One – analysed countries with similar levels of manufacturing output and looked at their densities of robots and GDP per hours worked.

The UK, in particular, is falling behind in robot density:

(Credit: Balloon One)

The UK is the glaring example here but, aside from some...

19 January 2021 | Adoption

Pan(ic)demic buying: 51% of consumers bought a smart home device

A new study has found that 51 percent of consumers have bought a smart home device to help adapt to pandemic living. 

The study, commissioned by Xiaomi, provides some fascinating insights into the ways people have responded to the complete upheaval that COVID-19 has caused to their lives.

70 percent of respondents said they’ve made changes to their living environment due to spending more time at home for both work and leisure. Three in five of the consumers reported...

7 January 2021 | Devices

The story of semiconductors in 2020: Why initial gloom gave way to optimism

When the coronavirus pandemic hit worldwide back in the spring, market research and analysis on the global semiconductor industry had a more than downbeat flavour to it. But now, the mood appears to have shifted.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), at the beginning of March, noted worldwide sales for the month of January 2020 were 0.3% down from 12 months previously. Gartner had noted in its preliminary results, issued in January, that worldwide semiconductor revenue had...

7 January 2021 | 5G

Amnesia:33 vulnerabilities put millions of IoT devices at risk

A new series of vulnerabilities dubbed Amnesia:33 puts millions of IoT devices at risk of being compromised.

Security researchers from Forescout disclosed the 33 vulnerabilities today. The flaws are found in four open-source TCP/IP libraries used in the firmware of products from over 150 vendors.

According to the researchers’ estimates, millions of consumer and enterprise IoT devices are at risk from Amnesia:33 vulnerabilities.

The affected libraries are uIP,...

8 December 2020 | Devices

Berg Insight affirms hyperscaler influence on IoT platform space – but room for innovation remains

The hyperscale cloud providers - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba Cloud, and one or two others depending on your definition - have their fingers in many technological pies. Internet of Things (IoT) application platforms are no different, as a new note from Berg Insight explains.

The analyst firm has argued the global market for IoT device management and application enablement platforms hit $2 billion in 2019. The overall market 'is in a...

1 December 2020 | Cloud

UK businesses see emerging tech as ‘a cost rather than investment’

For a country with such a history in pioneering technological advancements, it’s concerning that UK businesses consider innovations a hindrance. 

Computers, the World Wide Web, televisions, jet engines, lightbulbs, radars, telephones… all British technological inventions that many of us now take for granted. However, the UK is now falling behind in adopting new technologies.

Research from BT and YouGov found that more than 50 percent of business leaders are not even...

2 November 2020 | Adoption

WEF: Inequality likely to worsen as robots set to do half of work by 2025

A report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that robots will do half of all work tasks by 2025, with inequality likely to worsen as a result.

Concerns about the impact of automation on jobs are not exactly new, but most felt the timeline for significant change would be longer – providing more time for mass reskilling of the workforce.

The pandemic we find ourselves in is creating “a double disruption of jobs” with businesses reducing their employees while...

21 October 2020 | AI