Smartphone Market Starts 2024 With 11 Percent Growth in Q1
According to Canalys’ latest research, worldwide smartphone shipments grew 11% year on year in the first quarter of 2024.
IDC predicts continuous growth in blockchain spending across Europe, from over $800 million in 2019 to $4.9 billion in 2023. It will be growing at a CAGR of 65.1% between 2018 and 2023.
Despite a smaller CAGR compared with the average growth forecast for 2017-2022, knowledge about opportunities in blockchain is spreading from big enterprises to emerging start-ups looking to ensure secure and reliable management of money, personal data, and assets, which is proving to be necessary in a digitalized and data-driven market. The perception of blockchain in the European market (and worldwide) is moving away from being only a cryptocurrency tool and a financial-only technology.
Blockchain originated in the banking industry, and banking still accounts for 31% of total spending in 2019, with cross-border payments and trade finance the fastest-growing banking use cases. Manufacturing, professional services, retail, and banking show the greatest promise in their future investment in blockchain with above average CAGRs, hoping to improve transparency and assured authenticity in their businesses.
New use cases are emerging, driven by growing awareness of what blockchain is and what it can and cannot do. Identity management is a new use case on the rise in Europe, being implemented in insurance, banking, government, and personal and consumer services.
"Companies are beginning to view blockchain not only for its cryptographic means, but rather as a management tool that can keep track of items, information, and customer data. This is something that can be used by the transportation industry to track shipments, by top-quality luxury goods retailers to track provenance, or by real-estate professionals for transparent property management," said Carla La Croce, senior research analyst, Customer Insights and Analysis, IDC.
There are some challenges, however, according to Mohamed Hefny, program manager, Systems and Infrastructure Solutions, IDC. These include the lack of rules and regulations, and getting small producers of goods, like farmers and fishermen, to use the enterprise platforms. "However, the recognition from the European Commission of blockchain's importance to a single digital market and the work done by the big cloud blockchain service providers to create simple mobile apps for their smaller consortium members, and similar developments, are very promising," he said.