"apps" articles

Distracted driving is a critical and growing issue. IoT Peggy Smedley kindly invited me to join her show this week as she focuses on IoT and Transportation this month, particularly in regards to distracted driving. Listen to the full interview. Parks Associates research shows that 92% of U.S. car owners perform activities that require mobile or Internet connection while driving , and more than 60% do so routinely. These activities include making calls, accessing maps,...

Uber announced plans to debut a flying car network, called Uber Elevate, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Dubai by 2020. Parks Associates is based in Dallas, and I can’t believe our good luck at having been chosen to be on the forefront of this effort. Still, let’s assess the reality. First, Uber’s “flying car” is a misnomer. The initiative is designed to launch electric or hybrid aircrafts that take off and land vertically and are designed to fly short ranges....

The traditional watch market faces two forms of competition from the CE space. First, the ubiquity of smartphones decreases the need for a separate timepiece. Second, the smart watch category challenges the traditional watch segment directly. Shipments of Swiss-made watches fell by over 14% from July 2015 to July 2016, and traditional watch sales declined across all price categories. Recent Parks Associates research assessed the impact of smart watches on the traditional watch...

The sharing economy is a phenomenon describing new business models built on the proliferation of smartphone and app use that are supported by shared resources from device owners. These business models are augmented by real-time data including location, instant gratification, on-demand pricing, and easy payment options. From sharing reviews through Yelp to sharing car rides using Uber, smartphone owners and app users have become suppliers of resources and participants of new business use...

We recently released a  complimentary whitepaper  examining the top trends in the connected home, health, and mobile industries.  Top 10 Consumer IoT Trends in 2017 , which features insight from Parks Associates’ analyst team, examines key topics driving growth and monetization of the IoT. Wearables and smart watches are expanding as healthcare tools and will be integrated with other IoT applications. The market for smart watches, and for wearables...

We recently released a complimentary whitepaper examining the top trends in the connected home, health, and mobile industries. Top 10 Consumer IoT Trends in 2017 , which features insight from Parks Associates’ analyst team, examines key topics driving growth and monetization of the IoT. Consumerization of healthcare services and devices drives integration with smart home ecosystems and new business models. Connected healthcare is taking a more prominent role in the...

Many auto industry players are preparing for consumers to shift their attitudes toward car ownership. The thought is that in the future, a greater percentage of consumers will lose interest in owning a car and will instead opt to use ride sharing services like Uber as a substitute for ever owning a car. The change in attitude toward car ownership is, many maintain, the future of mobility. At auto industry conferences, the future of mobility is a hot topic of discussion, as is how to deal...

After a week-long rumor mill about Fitbit acquiring the struggling smart watch maker Pebble, the suspense ended today when Fitbit announced that it is acquiring Pebble’s software assets and IPs , not the latter’s hardware business. Though it is a smart move to skip Pebble’s hardware business, the rationale for Fitbit to acquire Pebble’s software business remains unconvincing to me. We don’t know the price tag of the deal so have no idea how much value Fitbit attaches to...