Demand for Personal Video Recorder (PVR) products increased tremendously during the past year, as unit shipments rose from 4.6 million in 2003 to over 11.4 million in 2004, reports In-Stat. This demand stems from increased consumer awareness about the concept of time-shifting television programming, and both pay-TV service providers and PVR product manufacturers are reaping the benefits. PVR service providers, led by companies like TiVo and EchoStar, also enjoyed a banner year, as total worldwide households subscribing to a PVR service increased from 3.6 million in May 2004, to over 9.2 million in May 2005. North America remains the largest market for PVRs, followed by Japan. In 2004, the two regions accounted for 88 percent of total worldwide PVR product unit shipments. Worldwide PVR product revenues have also risen rapidly, increasing from $2.1 billion in 2003 to over $4.3 billion in 2004. A recent US consumer survey revealed that most PVR users are highly satisfied with their PVR service. Eighty-nine percent of surveyed PVR households they were either "extremely satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their PVR service.
The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ