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Supersizing the Middleman: Uber's ezCater Acquisition Extends Platform Consolidation to Catering and Raises the Stakes for Direct Ordering

Dorothy Creamer — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Link examines Uber's October 6, 2026 announcement that it will acquire ezCater, the leading U.S. platform for workplace catering and group meal ordering, in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.3 billion. ezCater connects more than 140,000 restaurants with business buyers and generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings over the trailing twelve months, and the deal will fold that catering marketplace into Uber Eats and the enterprise relationships of Uber for Business. The acquisition is the latest signal that third-party ordering and delivery is consolidating into a small number of scaled, multi-service platforms, and it lands at a moment when restaurant operators are telling IDC that building their own direct digital channels is a top investment priority. The move carries implications for restaurant brands, franchisors and multi-brand groups, and for the point-of-sale (POS), ordering, loyalty, and AI vendors that serve them. When the same app that delivers your favorite fast food indulgence can also cater your company's all-hands lunch, the restaurants that own their guest relationship will be the ones taking a seat at the table.

IDC Survey Spotlight: How Is 5G Being Embraced by U.S. Consumers, and How Do They View the Impact on Their Overall User Experience?

Jason Leigh, Jitesh Gera — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines the current adoption of 5G among U.S. consumers and their perceptions of the impact of 5G on the mobile user experience. Drawing on IDC’s U.S. Consumer Communications and Mobile Services Survey (September 2026, n = 2,000), the analysis finds that 5G’s pervasive availability and robust marketing machine has driven wide-scale adoption and consumer beliefs about 5G’s superiority over legacy generations.

“5G delivers exceptional throughput and significantly lower latencies than LTE, but the mobile ecosystem (operators, network equipment providers, and app developers) continues to struggle in transforming those performance attributes into a differentiated user experience,” says Jason Leigh, research director, Wireless Services. “Instead, table stakes 5G functionality in U.S. smartphones and nationwide coverage have established a homogeneity of network performance that consumers expect, regardless of whether they discern a difference in app functionality or carrier experience.”

IDC Survey Spotlight: What Factors Do U.S. Consumers Use to Evaluate Their 5G Network Providers?

Jason Leigh, Jitesh Gera — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight assesses the top 5G-related factors U.S. consumers look for when choosing a mobile operator. While 5G carriers have long promoted 5G’s speed and latency, those performance traits have lost their power to sway buyers, who are now turning to foundational coverage and reliability to drive their decisions.

“Mobile operators used to sell consumers on the strength and availability of their 5G networks, but with the nuances of most ‘best network’ marketing claims difficult to discern for most, buyers fall back to what they know…network availability and reliability,” says Jason Leigh, research director, 5G & Wireless Services. “Mobile operators need to pivot from dangling speed and latency in front of consumers and begin proving more tangible-based arguments for their services based on the value that 5G brings, not just the performance.”

IDC Survey: SMB Communications Services Survey, 2026: Broadband & Wi-Fi

Daniela Rao — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey presentation explores the key trends and drivers shaping broadband and Wi-Fi services among U.S. small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), based on survey findings collected in August 2026.

Market Forecast: Worldwide XR Headset Forecast Update, 2026–2030 — CY 4Q26

Ramon T. Llamas — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides the five-year forecast for the XR headset market and delivers insights into the drivers and inhibitors of growth.

The worldwide XR market will benefit from new vendors and additional products, reaching a wider swath of customers sensitive to price and eager for improved experiences. This puts the onus on vendors to improve hardware (comfort, battery, display) and software (enterprise solutions, leveraging artificial intelligence) to demonstrate that XR can be an integral part of their personal and professional lives. — Ramon T. Llamas, research director, Mobile Devices and AR/VR, IDC

AI-ification of Retail Media

Ananda Chakravarty — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective provides a viewpoint of how AI is changing the game with respect to mapping current attribution metrics in retail media. The report also reviews how AI addresses audience targeting as well as attribution through a set of techniques being pioneered by firms such as Amazon, Walmart, and other retail media networks (RMNs). The report also highlights marketing mix modeling and how this may move the market toward a more holistic view of retail media. Finally, the report identifies the flaws of return on ad spend (ROAS) attribution and how AI may overcome these flaws through new attribution methods.

“When your retail media metrics say 10x returns, but you’re barely breaking even, it’s time to revisit attribution. AI is changing the retail media game. New AI models are being rolled out by the most sophisticated RMNs to drive precise attribution. It’s time for a reset,” said Ananda Chakravarty, research vice president, IDC Retail Insights.

Digital Engineering and Operational Technology Services Case Studies Showcase Report, Part 10: Software-Defined Vehicle

Francesca Ciarletta, Mukesh Dialani — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Tech Buyer Presentation showcases 17 software-defined vehicle case studies that highlight customers' business challenges, the solutions implemented, and the value delivered. The case studies were submitted by engineering services vendors and vetted by IDC. This is the 10th in a series of case study showcase documents focused on a broad range of engineering challenges, demonstrating how service providers can serve as valuable partners in helping organizations address complex technology and business requirements.

Enabling Telecom Omni-Service Monetization

Chris Silberberg, Peter Chahal — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective examines how telecom operators can monetize an expanding portfolio of consumer, enterprise, NaaS, and API-based services, and how BSS vendors are helping them do so. It sets out 6 structural challenges — business model diversity, catalog fragmentation, ecosystem and API commercialization, data fragmentation, regulatory divergence, and commercial agility — identifies the billing, charging, CPQ, catalog, marketplace, and settlement capabilities most relevant to each, and profiles 15 vendors serving this market.

"The rationale for telco BSS investment is shifting from a focus solely on TCO, or monetizing a specific product such as 5G FWA, toward investing in systems with the flexibility to sell anything. This is to unlock revenue growth and commercial agility by monetizing a wider range of services. Technical capability is just one part of the solution; telcos must also reconsider their processes and organizational setup if they are to overcome common challenges," said Chris Silberberg, research manager, Global Telecom Operations and Monetization at IDC.

IDC Market Glance: Persuasive Content and Digital Experience Software Ecosystem, 3Q26

Jordan Jewell — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The IDC Market Glance provides a structured taxonomy of the technology organizations to plan, create, manage, deliver, and optimize digital experiences across channels. The ecosystem spans 15 segments, including content management, digital asset management, digital experience platform (DXP), experience intelligence, commerce experience, and video platforms, reflecting the growing complexity of modern experience stacks.

Market Forecast: U.S. Mobile Consumer and Business Services Forecast, 2026-2030

Jason Leigh, Jitesh Gera — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides the five-year forecast for the U.S. mobile consumer and business services market and delivers insights into the drivers and inhibitors of growth.

Despite a saturated market, U.S. mobile connections continue to grow as consumers and businesses deepen their embrace of the digital experience and expand the number and types of devices they use to connect. DX initiatives and security concerns push business adoption ahead of consumer growth.

“Despite operating in a saturated market, U.S. mobile service providers continue to grow the total wireless subscriber base, with consumers diversifying their device types, and businesses--concerned about network and data security amid ongoing digital transformation initiatives--layering in more corporate-liable connections for their employees. At the heart of it all is a quiet, unacknowledged reality that 24 x 7 ubiquitous connectivity, far from being a mere commodity, is the quintessential foundation of modern society and the prerequisite for most future technological advances,” said Jason Leigh, research director, Wireless Services at IDC.