While the number of LTE networks around the world is steadily on the rise, improvements in LTE-based download speeds have been relatively unmoved; for example, the global average speed of 13.5Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2015 rose by only 3.1Mbps from three years ago based on surveys by UK-based OpenSignal, according to Digitimes Research.There were 494 LTE networks around the world at the end of the first quarter of 2016, including 128 LTE-Advanced networks, Digitimes Research indicated. LTE-Advanced networks accounted only 25.9% of LTE networks, which is a reason for slow improvement in global average download speed.While 81.3% of the LTE-Advanced networks supported LTE UE (user equipment) Cat (Category) 6, 9, 11 and 12, 2,159 (88.9%) of 2,429 LTE-Advanced-enabled terminal devices available than supported only LTE UE Cat 4, mainly accounting for the slow increase in global average download speeds.3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) in October 2015 formally released LTE-Advanced Pro, an upgrade in the technological standard from LTE-Advanced featuring use of higher frequency band units and carrier aggregation of unlicensed frequency band units. In terms of evolution of technological standards, LTE-Advanced Pro is between 4G and pre-5G or 5G.

The enactment of the administrative measures on non-financial institutions by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in 2010 has since then resulted in a proliferation of more than 200 third-party payment service companies in China. However, a number of financial risk indexes in China have climbed along with the rapid expansion of the third-party payment market, according to Digitimes Times. To tight up its supervision and appraisal mechanism over the third-party payment service companies, as well as to put a break on the third-party payment market, the PBOC promulgated a set of administrative measures governing online payment by non-banking institutions in July 2016.According to data compiled by the PBOC, the number of online transactions conducted through third-party payment service companies totaled 82.15 billion in China in 2015, which were 2.25 times higher than the cases transacted through online payment systems at banks. Additionally, total transaction value via third-party payment service companies reached CNY49.5 trillion (US$7.42 trillion) in the year.Under the new administrate rules, the third-party service companies is now required to check the identification of their client to fulfill a real-name verification process; to set a grade system for their clients and accordingly to give a different amount of payment allowance for individual clients; to appraise third-party payment service companies by a 5-categoy and 11-grade standards for the renewal of license; and demanding thrid-party service companies to meet the requirements on risk control as banks, Digitimes Research noted. It will become an established policy of relevant supervisory agencies in China to gradually phase out those inferior third-party payment service companies through the tightening on issuance of license. However, the entering of brand smartphone vendors into the third-party payment market is a bright new development in China in 2016, under which Samsung Electronics and Huawei both have tied up with Alipay, and Xiaomi Technology has acquired a third-party payment service company in order to provide online payment services.Meanwhile, China's government has gradually eased its regulatory controls on offshore transactions under its One Belt, One Road initiative encouraging third-party payment service companies to develop offshore transaction business.

Development of TD-LTE, in comparison with that of FDD LTE, has been faced with some disadvantages, mainly because few globally first-tier mobile telecom carriers have adopted the technology, 80% of TD-LTE subscribers around the world are in China, and total bandwidth of frequency band units assigned for TD-LTE operation is 52.7% of that for FDD LTE operation, according to Digitimes Research.There were 72 TD-LTE networks around the world as of the end of first-quarter 2016, much fewer than the 494 FDD LTE networks, and few of the TD-LTE networks were operated by first-tier carriers in West Europe and North America, Digitimes Research indicated.There were 615 million TD-LTE subscribers around the world at the end of first-quarter 2016, accounting 49.2% of all LTE users, but 80% of them were in China (mostly being China Mobile subscribers), which is an imbalanced distribution.3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) has assigned 33 frequency band units with total bandwidth of 2,000MHz for FDD LTE operation and 12 others with 1,054MHz for TD-LTE operation. In addition to less bandwidth, TD-LTE operators allocate bandwidth for download and upload via setting time slot allocation ratio, resulting in less bandwidth available for upload and therefore relatively slow upload.Global TD-LTE Initiative, in a bid to make TD-LTE competitive, plans to compete for 3.3GHz, 3.5GHz, 3.8GHz and 4.4-4.8GHz frequency band units with total bandwidth of 800MHz in addition for TD-LTE operation by 2020.

The penetration rate of VR-enabled smartphones and tablets, as well as shipments of VR devices bundled with gaming consoles or PCs will continue to soar in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Digitimes Research.Among these devices, shipments of VR video-enabled smartphones and VR devices bundled with consoles will be higher compared to other devices. Meanwhile, vendors of VR-enabled tablets and VR headset bundled PCs are advised to target niche markets initially before they make headways by coming out with products with reduced prices and enriched content, Digitimes Research commented.While VR applications are diverse, gaming and video are still the dominant VR applications in 2016. The successful launch of VR video-enabled flagship smartphones by Samsung Electronics in the first half of 2016 will encourage other vendors to follow suit. Additionally, Google and ARM are expected to update their VR video applications with reduced algorithm requirements in the fourth quarter of 2016 which will foster the development of more VR video-enabled mobile devices. Shipments of VR video-enabled smartphones are expected to reach 70 million units in 2016, accounting for 5% of global smartphone shipments, Digitimes Research estimated.Since the price/performance ratio of games consoles bundled with VR headsets is higher than for PCs bundled with VR headsets on average, shipments of VR devices supporting consoles will be higher than VR devices paired with PCs in the fourth quarter of 2016, Digitimes Research indicated. Sony is expected to ship over three million PlayStation VR devices in the quarter, far higher than rival vendors.

The top-5 notebook vendors and top-3 notebook ODMs saw their shipments rise 27% and 31% on month in August thanks to inventory preparation for the year-end holidays in Europe and North America, Windows 10's annual upgrade, and mass shipments of Intel's Kaby Lake processors.Hewlett-Packard's (HP) new product releases for August successfully widened the vendor's shipment gap by nearly 700,000 units with number two Lenovo. HP stayed firmly as the largest notebook vendor in the month. Dell turned its focus to the consumer sector in August, but its shipments only grew a single-digit percentage on month, according to Digitimes Research's latest report on notebook shipments.Asustek Computer and Acer both enjoyed over 10% on-month growths in August thanks to seasonality.With HP's significant shipment growth in August, the top-3 ODMs, which are all suppliers of HP, together achieved higher on-month growth than the top-5 vendors combined, while ODM's combined on-year shipment growth also turned positive for the first time in the past 16 months.Quanta benefited from HP's orders the most in the month, growing nearly 40% from July.

Buoyed by increasing investments by makers and rising popularity in use, collaborative robots, which are designed to promote collaborative operations between human being and machines, are expected to become a major force to push forward Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing, according to Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, the release of the ISO/TS 15066 safety standards not only ensure the safety of the human being and machines, but also endorses the ongoing collaborative robot business model, paving the way toward low-cost and multi-application developments for industrial manufacturing, Digitimes Research said.The development of collaborative robots has made headway recently as manufacturers have been seeking to roll out new products or solutions to cope with the rise of Industry 4.0. Collaborative robots are packed with soft materials to cover sharp edges and are equipped with advanced sensors which will enable them to slow down or even stop to protect the safety of workers; the built-in vision systems within the robots allow operators to directly stimulate robotic arms to move and guide the actions, and even enable robots to operate independently utilizing their memory pathways.Switzerland-based ABB (YuMi brand robotic products), Germany-based Kuka (LBR iiwa), Japan-based Fanuc (CR-35iA), and Yaskawa Electric (Motoman-HC10) all launched their respective collaborative robots in 2015 with prices ranging from EUR20,000-25,000 (US$22,350-27,938). While Japan-based makers currently are still focusing on development of collaborative robot products, fellow companies in Europe have expanded their R&D efforts to include the development of system products and low-cost robotic models, Digitimes Research indicated.While industrial robots are designed to work in the segments which have a long production cycle such as the automotive industry, collaborative robots, which are easy for installation, relocation and teaching, are suitable for the electronics industry where production cycle is short and automation is not so prevailing. They are also favorable for small and medium businesses as they are less expensive.The release of ISO/TS 15066 safety standards in April 2016 will help foster a fast growing collaborative robot market as the document highlighted the design and installation requirements for collaborative robots, as well as the guidelines for security risk assessment, allowing manufacturers and parts developers to develop related products complying to the standards, Digitimes Research commented.

According to a US-based research institute forecast, by 2020, 36% of car insurance will be converted to usage-based insurance (UBI) where insurance costs are calculated based on individual driving behavior. Some described this custom-tailored car insurance model a disruptive innovation comparable to Uber and Zipcar; this alone shows that the connected car and big data represent golden opportunities for businesses.The technology behind intelligent transportation primarily centers on leveraging data gathered from a wide array of sensors in vehicles and on roadsides. The data is extracted, processed and converted into meaningful information through big data analytics, and delivered to people, vehicles and roadside infrastructures interconnected by communication systems to improve on-road interactions, transport safety and travel comfort. One of the most vital technologies powering intelligent transportation is the connected car.Today, the combined strengths of the connected car and big data not only have created various intelligent transportation applications, but also redefined automotive designs, opening up many new business models and opportunities.The Connected Car Redefining Automotive DesignsTony Chiu, Product Division Manager of NEXCOM's Mobile Computing Solutions Business Unit, states that an increasing number of innovations in the automobile industry are on the horizon, bringing new capabilities to intelligent vehicle applications. Furthermore, the advancement of sensor technology and the increase use of different types of sensors in vehicles have enabled a greater degree of detection accuracy. For example, accelerometers with robust thermal stability paired with gyroscope can now more accurately calculate the angular velocity of vehicles to increase the precision of motion detection and control.In addition, the combined use of in-vehicle sensors and cameras can enable advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to provide drivers alert information such as relative speed and distance to other vehicles or entities to avoid collisions or even actively apply brakes before impacts. This inclusion of active ADAS will enable vehicles to shift from passive safety systems into the realm of active safety systems, significantly reducing the potential rate of accidents with proactive measures.Using the timing of a braking system as an example, Chiu explains, "ADAS will first operate in 'semi-active' mode and warn the driver about an imminent collision. If no action is taken by the driver, ADAS will actively take over control of the brakes. However, understanding the brake intervention time is an intricate task as it relies on sensors and cameras to collect data on the vehicle speed, road smoothness and weather conditions, and then carefully examine the information to calculate the appropriate time of intervention. NEXCOM in-vehicle computers have, on numerous occasions, taken on the role for algorithm development for many simulated ADAS applications in a range of vehicles, from passenger cars to large mining trucks."Compared to smaller passenger cars, large mining trucks contain larger vehicle parts and are often located in large mining sites where any event of vehicle breakdown can be serious. To provide safety, in-vehicle computers can also be used for ADAS to ensure mining trucks travel within safe distances. Furthermore, in-vehicle computers integrated with sensors can detect pupil dilations, eyelid movements and head tilt angles to determine driver's mental awareness. If signs of drowsiness are detected, in-vehicles can activate seat vibrators to keep driver's attentiveness in check.NEXCOM's in-vehicle computers have branched out into agricultural equipment as well. Used on driverless farm tractors in a similar manner to ADAS on passenger cars, NEXCOM in-vehicle computers provided tractors with precise route directions to accurately guide tractors throughout the fields without traversing out of path to prevent crop damages, while also ensuring tractors accurately perform land preparation, plantation, fertilization, irrigation and other farming operations.New Business Models for Value-added Business TransformationChiu observes that one of the most clear examples of new business models driven by the connected car and big data is UBI. UBI uses on-board diagnostics (OBD) information to analyze driver's driving pattern to determine relevant risk factors and associated insurance costs, diverging away from traditional age-based pricing. However, with insurance companies now promoting UBI, it is often more ideal to outsource UBI implementation to a third-party vendor compared to developing UBI internally as it involves high hardware and software cost. Third-party vendors can offer a cost-effective and complete hardware and software UBI solution with relevant data to insurance companies. This model of approach alone is enough to spur many other new business models.In addition to the emerging UBI transition, Chiu envisions that other new business models will continue to develop. The most notable one to take note of is Product as a Service (PaaS), as it represents a blue ocean opportunity for businesses competing in the red ocean. This opportunity gives providers of fleet management systems, taxi infotainment services and car interiors the chance to transform from pure hardware vendors into value-added service providers to capitalize on a stream of maintainable earnings.Connected cars are driving new businesses opportunities, creating more intelligent transportation applications, and redefining automotive designs.

August 2016 average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescent ones) in the China market increased 6.4% from June to CNY26.5 (US$4.0), while that for 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescent ones) decreased 13.4% to CNY26.6, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in the Japan market in August stood at JPY1,293 (US$13.0) and JPY1,961 respectively, with the former slipping 6.9% from June and the latter growing 7.0%, Digitimes Research indicated.April average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW7,839 (US$7.1, up 1.2% from June) and KRW12,302 (down 0.3%) in South Korea; US$18.3 (up 8.9%) and US$20.3 (down 1.9%) in the US; EUR6.8 (US$7.7, down 4.7%) and EUR8.2 (down 5.6%) in Europe.Philips 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Osram 60W-equivalent models for sale in the South Korea market had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 124.7lm/US$ and 201.8lm/US$ respectively in August. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Hitachi 60W-equivalent models available in the Japan market had the highest average level of 84.2lm/W and that of 109.2lm/W, respectively, in August.

The exhibition at Touch Taiwan has been beyond touch panels and technology, for Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel makers AU Optronics (AUO), Innolux and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and EPD (electrophoretic display) e-paper maker E Ink Holdings (EIH) showcased various display panels at the Touch Taiwan 2016 taking place in Taipei during August 24-26, according to Digitimes Research.At the exhibition, these makers focused on ultra-thin, narrow-bezel and LCD TV and monitor panels, thin, narrow-bezel and In-Cell or On-Cell notebook panels as well as automotive display panels, Digitimes Research indicated.AUO showcased narrow-bezel 8K4K curved-surface LCD TV panels based on quantum dot technology featuring high color saturation and curved-surface high-response-rate LCD monitor panels for use in gaming, while Innolux exhibited 100-inch 4K2K LCD TV panels and narrow-bezel LCD monitor panels which can also be used in mosaic public information displays (PIDs).For automotive displays, AUO, Innolux and CPT showcased 12.3-inch rectangular dashboard panels. In particular, AUO and Innolux showcased AMOLED dashboard panels and rectangular PID panels, while EIH exhibited flexible e-paper PID panels which are readable under sunlight. In addition, AUO and Innolux showcased large-size touch panels based on infrared optical technology.

Shipments of handsets, mostly smartphone models, by Taiwan-based handset makers are expected to peak at 14.49 million units in the third quarter of 2016 before sliding to 13.47 million units in the fourth quarter, according to an estimate of Digitimes Research.�CSmartphone shipments from brand vendors including Asustek Computer, HTC and Acer in the second half of 2016 will be higher than those they shipped in the first half of the year, while ODMs Compal Electronics, the Foxconn Group, Arima Communications and Wistron are expected to see their shipments decline during the July-December period as compared to the previous six months, Digitimes Research noted.However, Compal and Arima will see their shipments remain strong in the third quarter due to shipments of new models to Sony Mobile Communications, while Wistron will suffer shipment declines in the second half due to decreased orders from BlackBerry.Asustek and HTC will continue to be the top-2 Taiwan-based handset suppliers in the second half of 2016. Buoyed by the release of ZenFone 3 series products, Asustek is expected ship 4.4 and 5.0 million smartphones in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.HTC's smartphone shipments are expected to reach 3.4 million units in the third quarter before declining to 3.2 million units in the fourth. HTC may also begin ship new Nexus devices in September, Digitimes Research indicated.