The move to digital television will be driven by high-definition TV (HDTV) a study has found -- Picture quality is the most important factor in persuading Europeans to ditch their analogue sets, the survey from Jupiter Research finds. It had been assumed that services such as video-on-demand and digital video recorders - that allow users to rewind and pause television programmes - would be the most important factors. But only 10 percent cited these as reasons. Nearly a quarter -- 24 percent -- ranked HDTV as the most important factor in deciding whether to switch to digital television. In terms of existing digital TV penetration, the UK market is the most sophisticated in Europe. Around 60 percent of UK households have already made the switch to digital TV.
There is a pivotal shift within the global smartphone market. Recent data from IDC highlights a more cautious outlook for 2025, with projected worldwide smartphone shipments seeing a significantly reduced growth rate. This revised forecast underscores the intricate interplay of global economic factors and geopolitical dynamics on pervasive personal communication devices. IDC's latest update projects a mere 0.6 percent growth in worldwide smartphone shipments for 2025, a stark reduction from the earlier 2.3 percent expectation. Global Smartphone Market Development This recalibration is largely attributed to prevailing economic uncertainties, including inflationary pressures and rising unemployment, alongside the persistent specter of tariff volatility. Despite these global tensions, it's interesting to note that the United States and China are still identified as the primary drivers of this modest growth. China, a critical market, is forecast to achieve a 3 percent year-over-yea...