Smart cities market worth $1 trillion by 2016

According to a new market research report, “Smart Cities Market (2011 - 2016) - Projects, Advanced Technologies, Adoptions and Transformations - Worldwide Market Report”, published by MarketsandMarkets, the total Smart cities market is expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2016, at a CAGR of 14.2%.

Globally, there are some 700 cities, each with population exceeding 500,000 and are growing faster than the average growth rate of cities. This opens up the market for industry players to grow their business in new and emerging smart cities. The infrastructure investment for these cities is forecasted to be $30 trillion to $40 trillion, cumulatively, over the next 20 years. 

With growing emphasis on reducing carbon emission and the fact that conventional cities form a major source of CO2 emission, planning a smart city becomes a viable option for governments and municipal authorities. Deploying technologies such as smart grids, smart metering for energy management; electric vehicle and traffic management with smart transportation and smart security are high growth areas within smart cities.

The overall smart cities market, valued at $526.3 billion in 2011, is forecasted to grow double fold to $1,023.4 billion by 2016, at a CAGR of 14.2% for the period 2011 to 2016. Among all application segments, we observe smart energy or energy management market to be the fastest growing market with an impressive CAGR of 28.7%, growing to $80.7 billion by 2016.

In addition to market sizes and forecasts, the report also provides a detailed analysis of the market trends and factors influencing market growth, offering in-depth geographic analyses of the smart cities market in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW.

Along with the special coverage of 18 ongoing key smart cities project, the report also draws the competitive landscape of the smart cities market, providing an in-depth comparative analysis of the technological and marketing strategies that the key players are adopting in order to gain an edge over their competitors.

Source: PR Web, By: Rohan

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Posted in: smart city

RIM plans to open its first Middle East retail store in Dubai

The BlackBerry phone maker moves forward with a big international push with plans to open retail shops in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and possibly Africa. 

With slumping sales in the West, Research In Motion has plans to go to the East. The BlackBerry maker is in the process of opening retail stores throughout the Middle East starting in Dubai, according to Bloomberg.

"We're getting the first one up and running and then we'll be looking at other cities across the Middle East -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar," Sandeep Saihgal, the managing director of RIM's Middle East business, told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this week.

The Dubai store in the United Arab Emirates will be the flagship shop and Bloomberg reports it will be in a 1,500-square-foot space. Additional stores partnering with a local company -- Axiom Telecom -- are also planned across the region.

The relationship between RIM and the UAE has a slightly rocky past. In 2010, during a drawn-out saga, the Middle Eastern government said it would block e-mail, instant messaging, and Web browsing on BlackBerry devices unless RIM came in line with UAE telecommunications regulations. Days before the ban was to be enforced, the two parties reached an agreement.

RIM is reportedly looking to venture into other international regions besides the Middle East, including Asia and Africa, according to Bloomberg. The company announced in February that it was planning to open 4,000 retail outlets in Indonesia and possibly more across Southeast Asia.

There is a much higher demand for BlackBerry phones in these regions than in the West, according to Bloomberg. Shipments of the device to the Middle East and Africa more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with a year prior.

Source: CNET News, By: Dara Kerr

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Posted in: ICT