January must be the most predictable month of the year. Gym
visits go up, decorations come down, and we all reflect on what the
year ahead could bring. Here at Deloitte, every January we report
on how trends in technology, media and telecommunications will play
out in our TMT Predictions report. As the saying goes, I never make
predictions and I never will, but three of this year's
predictions stood out for me as especially significant for
government and the public sector.
The first concerns smartphones. Deloitte predicts that
smartphone penetration with surpass 90 per cent of adults in
developed countries by 2023, which is a five percentage point
increase on 2018. Importantly, the main driver of that higher rate
is take-up among older age groups, and we expect ownership among
55-75-year-olds to reach 85 per cent in developed countries by
2023, representing a ten percentage point increase. For this age
group, being digital will increasingly mean proficiency on
