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Ericsson 1Q26: AI-Native Networks, APIs, Wireless Enterprise, and 6G on the Horizon

Alejandro Cadenas — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note discusses Ericsson's 1Q26 strategy briefing, which confirms a company in active commercial acceleration, not just technical development. Ericsson enters 2026 with a strategically coherent narrative built around one central argument: The network is no longer a passive transport layer but an active participant in the AI economy. The intelligent fabric framing, where AI, mobile, and cloud reinforce each other rather than operate independently, is analytically credible and commercially grounded. The autonomous network results are particularly significant: sub-25-minute slice activation, 75% OpEx efficiency gains in cell optimization, and the world's first TM Forum-certified Level 4 processes are not aspirational metrics. They are the operational foundation that makes enterprise slicing commercially viable, removing the provisioning friction that has kept static slicing from scaling.

The Vonage fraud prevention proof point deserves more attention than it typically receives. It demonstrates the only API monetization model that has demonstrably worked at scale: a defined enterprise problem large enough to command premium pricing, a measurable ROI, and a replicable commercial architecture that not every player or aggregator is able to deploy. As the industry continues to debate where network API revenue will come from, Ericsson is bringing some response to that in the U.S. market. The strategic challenge now is whether European operators, and Ericsson's platform partners in that market, can move fast enough to replicate that model before the window for first-mover advantage closes.

Event Report: Sessions 2026 Shows the Breadth and Depth of Stripe

Sam Abadir, Margot Juros, Aaron Press — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note recaps Stripe Sessions 2026, where Stripe unveiled a wide-ranging slate of announcements. Agentic commerce led the agenda, with the Agentic Commerce Suite (ACS), Shared Payment Tokens (SPT), the Link wallet, and stablecoin capabilities, positioning Stripe at the center of AI-driven transactions. Other themes included multi-acquirer routing and orchestration, international expansion (including Adaptive Pricing and issuing in 100 countries), deeper financial services offerings such as Treasury and Instant Transfers, and a substantial Radar expansion targeting notoriously challenging trial and compute abuses that increasingly challenge AI businesses.

IDC Survey: 2026 Commercial XR Survey: Augmented Reality Headsets

Bryan Bassett — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation examines how the commercial adoption of augmented reality (AR) headsets is progressing in workplace settings, based on IDC's 2026 Commercial XR Survey. It covers where organizations are in the AR deployment journey, how broadly AR is being used across employees, which headset and software models are gaining traction, and what is still holding back wider scale.

Commercial AR has clearly moved beyond the pilot stage, but it is still being deployed selectively. Most usage remains tied to defined roles, sites, and task-based work sessions rather than broad workforce adoption. The bigger challenge now is not convincing buyers that AR has value; it is making deployments easier to scale by lowering cost, simplifying support and training, proving security readiness, and giving customers more consistent partner and software options.

Industry Market Forecast: Americas Retail, 2026

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation provides tech vendor product managers and market intelligence leads with an overview of retail digital transformation (DX) spending and insights into the regional retail market context. It also highlights how retail organizations in the region are investing in industry-specific DX use cases in 2026.

By looking at the size of the regional market and the fastest-growing use cases, technology vendor executives can better evaluate:

Areas for investment in product or service development
Sales and marketing campaign prioritization
Market penetration

Used in combination with the other Industry Intelligence reports, this document can help technology vendors to gain a competitive advantage in the Americas region.

“Americas retailers navigate macroeconomic volatility, complex regulatory compliance, and escalating cyberthreats while addressing heightened consumer expectations for seamless omnichannel experiences. To maintain profitability, these organizations prioritize operational efficiency and data-driven capabilities. This study frames the technology spending forecast for the region, highlighting how investments in artificial intelligence, modernized data infrastructure, and hybrid cloud environments create critical opportunities for technology suppliers to deliver targeted, secure, and integrated solutions,” said Margot Juros, research director, IDC Retail Insights.

Industry Market Forecast: Worldwide Retail, 2026

Cristiano Quattrini, Filippo Battaini, Nigel Wallis, Luciano Ramos — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation for worldwide retail digital transformation (DX) provides technology suppliers with an overview of worldwide retail spending for digital transformation as well as insights into the market context influencing that spend for 2025–2030.

By looking at the size of the worldwide retail DX market and the fastest-growing use cases, technology vendors can better evaluate:

Areas for investment in products or services development
Sales and marketing campaign prioritization
Market penetration

Used in combination with the other Industry Intelligence documents, this presentation can help digital providers gain competitive advantage across the globe.

"The global retail sector's digital transformation has entered a new phase, marked by the industrialization of AI and its deep integration across core business functions. What began as experimentation with predictive and generative AI is rapidly evolving into scaled, agentic, and autonomous systems that are reshaping decision-making, operations, and customer engagement in real time. Retailers are leveraging these capabilities not only to enhance personalization and demand forecasting but also to orchestrate end-to-end value chains with greater speed and resilience," says Cristiano Quattrini, senior associate advisor, IDC Retail Insights.

IDC Survey: 2026 Commercial XR Survey — Virtual Reality Headsets

Bryan Bassett — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides insight into commercial virtual reality (VR) headset adoption, workplace usage, deployment maturity, software delivery models, and perceived business value. Based on IDC's 2026 Commercial XR Survey, this presentation examines which VR headsets are being used for work, how far organizations have moved beyond pilot programs, how VR applications are sourced and delivered, and where users see the strongest workplace impact.

Commercial VR is gaining real deployment momentum, but it has not yet reached broad employee penetration. Meta Quest devices lead to current workplace VR use, while most deployments remain focused on defined work activities rather than full-day use. The clearest value is in productivity, knowledge transfer, compliance, and safety, while direct cost savings are less well proven. For suppliers, the priority is to make workforce rollout easier, support both headset-loaded and PC-connected workflows, and keep sourcing flexible across direct, partner, bundled, and custom software paths.

Lenovo FY 4Q26: Record Quarter Across All Business Groups Despite Component Cost Headwinds

Tom Mainelli, Ashish Nadkarni, Rob Brothers — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

On May 22, 2026, Lenovo reported results for the fourth quarter and FY25-26. The company closed its best fiscal year ever, with the fourth quarter revenue of $21.6 billion, up 27% year over year (YoY). Adjusted net income doubled to $559 million. AI-related revenue grew 84% YoY and accounted for 38% of Group revenue in the quarter.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Retail Marketplace Platforms Software Providers 2026 Vendor Assessment

Ornella Urso, Cristiano Quattrini — Wed, 27 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study examines the key strategies and capabilities of global technology providers that enable the design, deployment, and scaling of retail marketplace platforms. This assessment evaluates vendors' strengths, including the breadth of marketplace functionality across seller onboarding, catalog aggregation, transaction management, and ecosystem orchestration, as well as the depth of capabilities supporting governance, monetization, and operational execution. It also assesses vendors' understanding of the specific challenges associated with operating multisided retail platforms, including partner management, data quality, fulfillment coordination, and customer experience consistency, ultimately enabling organizations to build and scale marketplace-driven business models.

In addition, this study evaluates vendors' ability to support ecosystem expansion through integrations and partner networks; their commitment to innovation across areas such as artificial intelligence, automation, and data-driven optimization; and their capacity to deliver measurable business outcomes through scalable, secure, and flexible platform architectures. The assessment also considers vendors' customer engagement models, including onboarding, enablement, and ongoing support, as well as their ability to adapt to evolving market dynamics, regional requirements, and emerging marketplace use cases across both B2C and B2B environments.

"Retail marketplaces are rapidly becoming the foundational architecture for next-generation commerce. The ability to orchestrate complex ecosystems of sellers, services, and data is emerging as a critical differentiator. Technology providers that can combine robust operational capabilities with scalable architectures, ecosystem enablement, and AI-driven intelligence will be best positioned to support retailers in transitioning from transactional commerce to platform-based growth models," said Cristiano Quattrini, senior associate advisor, IDC Retail Insights.

Wholesale Mobile Backhaul Opportunities in EMEA

Jan Hein Bakkers, Tolga Yalcin — Wed, 27 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective analyzes major trends and dynamics in the wholesale mobile backhaul services market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). These services include dark fiber, optical, and Ethernet. The document also provides IDC's market outlook.

Mobile backhaul requirements will reach new heights as mobile operators in EMEA invest in improving coverage and 5G SA cores and user adoption as well as data traffic grow fast.

Adyen Acquires Talon.One, Placing a Big Bet on the Future of Agentic Commerce

Heather Hershey — Tue, 26 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective discusses Adyen's April 23, 2026, announcement of a €750 million all-cash agreement to acquire Berlin-based Talon.One. Adyen is betting that as raw payments processing commoditizes, the durable margin for its future lies in the commerce layer beyond payments.

"Adyen is placing a big bet that owning the customer identity plus decisioning layer at the moment of transaction is the most defensible place to stand for the next decade of commerce, regardless of whatever agentic commerce turns into," says Heather Hershey, director, AI-Enabled Digital Commerce at IDC.