The market for power sources used in the Internet of Things will grow from $57 million in 2014 to $590 million in four years and to more than $2.4 billion by 2021, said a report from NanoMarkets (http://bit.ly/1wEkHDu). Products that have had niche success so far -- thin-film and printed batteries, energy harvesting modules, flexible photovoltaic panels and thermoelectric sources -- could generate “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue annually through IoT, it said. Mobile phones currently account for most of the $57.1 million thin-film and printed battery market, but smart cards, semiconductors/computing and wearables are each expected to grow into hundred-million-dollar battery markets by the end of the decade, NanoMarkets said. Other growth opportunities in IoT power include inductive power sources -- used almost exclusively in wireless chargers now -- which approach $5 million in current annual revenue but are forecast to pass $100 million revenue by 2018, jumping to $760 million by 2021, it said. The growth driver will be increased adoption of RFID tags, a segment forecast to hit a $100 million market by 2019 and $583 million by 2021, it said. While energy-harvesting power sources are a $7 million market through 2015, they're expected to spike to $41.5 million in 2016 on “rapid uptake” for sensors and networks, NanoMarkets said. Growth for energy-harvesting devices will pick up, increasing to $161 million by 2018 and $557 million by 2021, it said. Revenue for wearables power sources is forecast to accelerate from “next to nothing” today to $82 million in 2018 and $200 million by 2021, it said.
The FCC is not relying on secret meetings to make decide on proposed industry acquisitions, Chairman Tom Wheeler told Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., in a letter Wednesday. Heller asked Wheeler about the ex parte exemptions and what those really mean in light of two major deals the agency is considering: Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV. “I fully endorse the core principles you describe,” Wheeler told Heller, referring to Heller’s statement in a letter that any major orders crafted in part on secret information can be undermined due to process concerns. Wheeler cited the court cases that give the agency “flexibility” in how it reviews such transactions. The FCC, “in accord with the Administrative Procedure Act and applicable precedent, uses only information that is placed on the record when it renders a decision on whether to allow a transaction to proceed, with or without conditions,” Wheeler said. While the agency can’t rely on information given in secret, those meetings “could be used, however, to help the Commission formulate appropriate questions to applicants or other parties,” questions that can be placed on the record, he said.
Comments are due Oct. 16, replies Nov. 17, on a Further NPRM on text-to-911 rules, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1o0UhUw). The August FNPRM teed up questions including whether the FCC should extend a text-to-911 mandate to non-interconnected over-the-top text providers and on rules for determining the location of those sending the texts and making the system work for subscribers roaming on another network (WID Aug 11 p5).
Global smartphone shipments will approach 1.2 billion units this year, up 19 percent from 2013, Juniper Research said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1wnNdGq). Growth in emerging markets on the “continued surge” in sales of “economy” and “ultra-economy” smartphones priced under $75 will drive much of the increase, it said. “While Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the ultra-premium end of the market, these vendors are facing significant pressure from local players in the emerging markets,” it said. “These new players are beginning to build market share and achieve larger economies of scale, which eventually will enable them to expand their offering and challenge other smartphone sectors in the future.” Still, Apple and Samsung will have nearly 45 percent of the smartphones shipped globally this year, it said.
Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., will join several companies at the Capitol Wednesday to push for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband. A news conference will include representatives from Etsy, Imgur, Kickstarter, Meetup and Vimeo, said a Markey media advisory Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1qcLqyl). The news conference “on net neutrality and the need to protect the openness of the Internet for future generations” will be at 12:30 p.m. in S-120 of the Capitol, it said.
Verizon’s strategies for addressing the nation’s most pressing healthcare challenges include improving the health of individuals, communities and the healthcare system. Verizon is engaging and empowering employees with interactive education and support tools, easily accessible preventive care, “and chronic care management programs to improve health outcomes,” it said in a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center and the CEO Council on Health and Innovation (http://bit.ly/1uEd6CJ). Verizon also is providing coverage for online care, and “delivering enabling technologies to support improvements in health and health care,” it said in the report released Tuesday. It outlined how U.S. companies like the telco, Bank of America and Coca-Cola are addressing healthcare challenges and wellness programs in their workforces and communities, Verizon said in a blog post (http://vz.to/1t89jwS). Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam joined other business leaders Tuesday to discuss their strategies.
New generic top-level domain (gTLD) .organic entered general availability Tuesday, said domain registry Afilias in a news release (http://bit.ly/1s5doUl). The gTLD can “only be used by companies and organizations that are certified or otherwise meet stringent eligibility requirements,” it said. “Authentic organic organizations can now rise above the dotcom confusion with an Internet address that sets them apart as organic,” said Roland LaPlante, Afilias chief marketing officer.
Fraud detection, source identification and process transparency were the anti-fraud principles (http://bit.ly/1DeX4mP) released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tuesday, said an IAB news release (http://bit.ly/1wzJWXv). IAB described the principles, designed to remove “poor-quality ad traffic,” as the follow-up to its Trustworthy Digital Supply Chain Initiative launched in June (WID June 10 p13). “Suppliers must implement technological and business practices to identify ad bots and illegitimate human activity, and prevent such traffic from being sold,” it said. Suppliers should provide the “specific URL of an ad placement” for ad buyers, it said. “Suppliers must provide details of the business and technical processes” to improve transparency, it said.
Inmarsat launched IsatHub, a global connectivity service for smartphones and tablets. It offers standard IP data up to 240/384 kbps, Inmarsat said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1u37LlM). The service lets users surf the Internet, access apps and text, and use other functions “when they are hundreds of miles outside a terrestrial fixed or mobile network,” Inmarsat said. IsatHub is accessed using Inmarsat’s small Wideye iSavi terminal, it said.
House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., plans to outline why congressional oversight of the FCC is essential, in his opening statement to a 1 p.m. hearing Wednesday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is testifying, and Graves will speak of how small businesses drive the U.S. economy. Graves’ goal is that the U.S. develops the right regulatory goals, he will say at the hearing, pointing to the need to ensure a free and open Internet and build out broadband networks to unserved and rural areas as well as get the right spectrum to big and small companies.