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Google-Apple Partnership: Will the Next Siri Update Open an Agentic Market of More than 2 Billion Shoppers?

Gerry Murray, Tapan Patel, Ornella Urso — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses the Google–Apple partnership, which marks a pivotal shift toward agentic commerce with the potential to transform Siri into a seamless gateway to Google's expansive retail AI network. This collaboration is set to replatform digital commerce, driving frictionless, AI-mediated shopping experiences across billions of devices and compelling brands to rapidly adapt their infrastructure and strategies to remain competitive in an evolving, intent-driven marketplace.

IDC Market Glance: Collaborative Product Innovation, 1Q26

John Snow — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Glance provides an overview of the collaborative product innovation market, covering the following innovation segments: early-stage development, design and virtualization, product innovation platforms, service providers, commercialization, and social communities. Although technology vendors and service providers may supply more than one product or offering to the market, only the parent corporation is listed.

EMEA Wholesale International Roaming Dynamics and Opportunities

Jan Hein Bakkers — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective analyzes the market for wholesale roaming in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The document provides a high-level market outlook and covers the key trends and opportunities in terms of technology and service development, including IoT, 5G SA, and travel eSIM.

"5G SA and IoT use cases will be catalysts for change in the wholesale roaming market in the coming years. Wholesale providers will need to balance scale and choice to be successful." — Senior Research Director Jan Hein Bakkers, IDC

Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television Update and Impact in 2026

Alex Holtz — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective provides update and impact of free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) in 2026. By 2026, the global FAST market will be transformed by OEM-driven CTV ecosystems, live sports and event programming, and advanced ad technologies. Regional expansion is powered by localized content and operational maturity. FAST will shift from simple channel growth to unified, data-optimized, and event-centric streaming, becoming a foundational element of global TV distribution and unlocking new strategic opportunities for content owners, technology leaders, and advertisers.

"As FAST evolves from experimental channels to a unified, event-driven ecosystem, the future of television will be shaped by those who master live engagement, operational agility, and data-powered monetization, transforming free streaming into the new foundation of global media," stated Alex Holtz, research director, Worldwide Media and Entertainment Digital Strategies, IDC.

AT&T Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results: Strategic Convergence, Fiber and 5G Scale, and Financial Outperformance — IDC Perspective

Jitesh Bhayani — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

AT&T concluded 2025 with robust fourth-quarter and full-year results, surpassing all consolidated financial guidance and reinforcing the effectiveness of its long-term strategy anchored in 5G leadership, fiber expansion, and customer convergence. The company's fourth-quarter consolidated revenue of $33.5 billion, representing 3.6% year-over-year (YoY) growth, underscores the resilience of AT&T's core connectivity businesses amid heightened industry competition and evolving consumer dynamics. Adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.1% further reflects disciplined cost management, operational leverage from fiber scale, and an increasingly profitable subscriber base.

The mobility segment remains AT&T's growth engine, delivering:

From Search to Shipped: Why Agentic Commerce Isn't Quite Ready for Its Moment (But That Is Changing Fast)

Heather Hershey, Roger Beharry Lall, Gerry Murray — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective previews how fast the landscape is changing. Major players such as Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, PayPal, and the card networks are introducing new agentic capabilities that hint at a future where AI can shop across markets on a user's behalf. IDC outlines the strategic tensions, the technical gaps, and the operational shifts that brands must address before this vision becomes real. The document highlights why preparation must begin now and what organizations can do to navigate the early stages of this transformation.

Agentic commerce is emerging as the next major shift in digital shopping, but most systems today still assist with discovery rather than complete the full purchase cycle on their own. IDC explores why true autonomy requires more than smarter search results. It depends on AI that can make purchase decisions, handle payments, and manage post-purchase tasks with limited human input. Current platforms show early progress, yet they remain limited by fragmented data, legacy ecommerce architectures, and a lack of cooperation among major technology providers.

"There's a lot of noise in 'agentic commerce,' creating a significant challenge for technology buyers," said Heather Hershey, research director of AI-Enabled Digital Commerce at IDC. "The economics of AI-mediated transactions are not yet proven, and while agentic shopping will not replace human choice, it will compress it. The models are advancing faster than the enterprise architectures that must support them. At the same time, the standards race in agentic commerce is really a control race, and whoever defines how agents transact defines who participates."

IDC PlanScape: Agentic Commerce

Heather Hershey — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC PlanScape, written for leaders and key stakeholders of digital commerce initiatives, examines the future vision of agentic commerce and the various emerging definitions of the concept and provides an exploration of dependencies, next steps, and important strategic caveats to consider.

The document answers the following questions:

What is agentic commerce, and how does it fundamentally differ from traditional digital commerce?
Why is agentic commerce strategically important for enterprises now?
What does true AI autonomy mean in commerce, and how is it different from automation?
What minimum conditions must be met for commerce to be considered "agentic"?
Which parts of the commerce life cycle can realistically be autonomous today?
Where does current AI capability sit on the agentic maturity curve, and what is still theoretical?
Which enterprise functions are most impacted, and how do their roles change?
Where are the highest-value, near-term opportunities for agentic commerce adoption?
What technical, data, trust, and regulatory constraints limit agentic commerce today?
How should organizations practically and safely begin adopting agentic commerce?

"Progress in agentic commerce depends on coordination across the organization," says Heather Hershey, research director, AI-Enabled Digital Commerce at IDC. "Clear policies, defined guardrails, escalation paths, and a realistic view of current AI limitations are essential to success. Organizations that take a deliberate, staged approach can unlock efficiency gains and position themselves ahead of competitors, as agentic AI is already opening new opportunities toward optimizing procurement, accelerating payments, and shaping how products surface in AI-mediated discovery. Those that wait risk ceding both operational advantage and visibility as commerce increasingly shifts into agent-driven environments."

NRF 2026 Highlights — Enterprise Connectivity (Indirectly) Becomes Cool Again as AI Takes Center Stage

Paul Hughes — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note looks at the National Retail Federation's (NRF's) 2026 flagship event, Retail's Big Show, which took place on January 11–13, 2026, in New York City, that brought an extensive ecosystem of technology players together, highlighted AI-enabled digital retail as a consistent theme, and indirectly highlighted that connectivity is now both "cool" and mission critical.

"While the overarching theme at NRF was AI-driven automation and digitalization, there was a silent winner," noted Paul Hughes, research director, Future Enterprise Connectivity Strategies, IDC. "AI cannot work without a resilient connectivity strategy in place, thus increasing the importance of a robust relationship with the connectivity provider to ensure that business goals are aligned with network capabilities."

Worldwide Satellite Direct-to-Cellular, Direct-to-Device, and High-Speed Broadband Revenue Forecast, 2026–2030

Peter Chahal, Simon Baker — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation shows that satellite connectivity is set for rapid growth from 2026 to 2030, driven by LEO expansion. High-speed broadband, direct-to-cellular, and direct-to-device services are expanding markets, enabled by 3GPP NTN and 5G standardization. As networks mature, satellite will be core to global digital and IoT infrastructure.

"Satellite-enabled connectivity is evolving from a niche solution into a foundational layer of global networks, driven by LEO integration, maturing standards, and telco-satellite partnerships. This shift will redefine coverage economics and position non-terrestrial networks as critical for resilience and digital inclusion," says Peter Chahal, research director for Worldwide Telecommunications at IDC.

Top 5 Predictions for the Worldwide AR/VR Market in 2026

Ramon T. Llamas, Tom Mainelli, Bryan Bassett — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective provides a discussion on some of the trends that will shape the worldwide AR/VR market in 2026. The worldwide AR/VR market in 2026 will see gradual but meaningful progress, driven by the convergence of AI, XR, and digital twins; the expansion of AR/VR applications; and the emergence of Android XR glasses. While adoption remains measured due to practical and economic constraints, advances in hardware, software, and content creation tools — alongside strategic mergers and acquisitions — will foster ecosystem growth, especially in high-impact enterprise and training scenarios.

"The past several years have shown multiple companies laying down the foundation of the AR/VR market. 2026 represents another year of progress, with multiple opportunities for companies to grow and gain," said Ramon T. Llamas, research director with IDC's XD and Interactive Software team. "Convergence of emerging technologies, emergence of new platforms and partners, and new and improving use cases are expected to take center stage this year and will make innovations launched just a few years ago look quaint. Companies with an eye to constant development of the AR/VR experience will be rewarded with end-user interest and ultimately, adoption."