Seeing massive growth potential in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, technology giant IBM on March 31 announced that it will invest US$3 billion over the next four years to create a new IoT unit. Big Blue also announced that it will work with The Weather Company to provide weather data to unmanned aerial vehicles, buildings, and smartphones sensors, so operators of these IoT-based facilities and devices will be able to make the right business decisions.
Autonomous vehicles will enter mass production by 2020 as more and more major auto makers in recent years have committed to their R&D, according to Topology, a division of TrendForce. Furthermore, the scale of the market will likely surpass a million vehicle mark by 2035.
Harrison Po, consultant of Topology, a division of TrendForce, said SoftBank’s Pepper has opened another window of opportunity in the market for smart service robots. In the future, the market size of this kind of robots will grow with new and diverse applications. The sales of service robots, for example, has surpassed 5 million units and is projected to grow by 20% in 2015.
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Samsung has managed to shake off the disappointment Galaxy S4 and S5’s lagging sales with the unveiling of the twin flagship models Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. S6 Edge especially captured the spotlight with its special curved screen that sweeps down on both sides of the phone. The new models are also improvements over their predecessor, Galaxy S5, in component specs. Avril Wu, global smartphone analyst for TrendForce, stated Samsung has captured the imagination of the consumers with Galaxy S6/S6 Edge’s amazing features and specs.
Apple Watch has been revealed as scheduled and its price varies according to models, ranging from US$350 to around US$10,000. Though Apple does not offer anything revolutionarily function-wise, the company is confident that product designs and quality of materials alone will propel their smartwatches into the luxury market.