Voice: The Biggest Slice of the Triple Play -- Increasingly service providers are pursuing a larger share of consumers' wallets and are doing so by selling a bundle of services. Rather than selling their traditional services, voice or cable, providers are crossing over to sell a full set of services including voice, video, and data. This triple play of services is also becoming increasingly attractive to consumers who are interested in the convenience and cost savings that are available through such offerings. According to In-Stat, total consumer spending on communication services, including local voice, long distance, cable TV, dial-up, and broadband was $114.8 billion in 2004. The largest revenue opportunity of this total wallet was voice services, with local and long distance combined accounting for more than 50 percent of revenues. Over time, service revenues are expected to deteriorate, falling to $106.7 billion in 2009. This decline in revenues is a factor of decreasing revenues for the voice services as well as dial-up, while both cable TV and broadband services are expected to continue to rise.
The personal computing device market continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience despite recent fluctuations. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), global PC shipments are projected to reach 273 million units in 2025—a modest but significant 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. This growth reflects the market's adaptation to post-pandemic realities and evolving technology needs across the globe. Personal Computing Market Development While COVID-19 initially triggered unprecedented demand for computing devices during the shift to remote work and online education, we now see a more measured growth pattern. IDC has slightly adjusted its projections downward, indicating a market growing steadily rather than explosively. "In light of so many challenges around the world, Japan is a much-needed source of double-digit growth this year. Enterprises there as well as SMBs have been quickly replacing PCs in advance of the Window...