Digital Lifescapes

Fiber optic communication networks are the foundational infrastructure that supports the rapidly advancing Global Networked Economy market leaders. Moreover, one region of the world continues to set the pace. Passive Optical Network (PON) equipment manufacturers in Asia-Pacific are expected to see a 50 percent jump in revenue overall between 2006 and 2007, and PON sales will continue increasing steadily at least through 2010, driven largely by ongoing EPON deployments in Japan, and by expanding PON network rollouts in Korea, China, and India, according to the latest market study by Infonetics Research. The report, EPON and GPON Equipment in Asia-Pacific, says the number of PON OLT and ONT ports shipped reached 3.1 million in 2006, and will more than double by 2010. "We believe the Japanese PON market will reach saturation in late 2008 and service providers there will focus on ramping up subscribers for their EPON networks," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst at Infonetics Re...

What is a broadband experience provider, and how does this business model differ from a traditional broadband service provider (BSP)? During the course of 2008, as the customer experience era unfolds, we'll be describing the various attributes -- relative to the evolving service delivery process. Let's start by describing the conceptual elements. Essentially, the "experience layer" is the space above the applications layer where customers interact with service offerings. It's the place where innovations like "visual voice mail" are designed with creative inspiration. Up to this point in time, broadband service providers have focused primarily on building IP Next Generation Network (NGN) infrastructure that potentially enables distinctive customer experiences to be designed on top of these foundational platforms. However, since most vendors of networking products and services are barely capable in reaching up into the application layer, broadband services...

Shipments of recycled mobile phone handsets are expected to exceed 100 million units in 2012, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Shorter handset replacement periods, growing demand for low-cost handsets in emerging markets, regulatory requirements, and growing consumer awareness are key factors driving the market for "no longer used" recycled mobile phone handsets. ABI Research industry analyst Shailendra Pandey says, "Mobile phone recycling companies such as ReCellular, Fonebak, and Eazyfone are witnessing good market growth, but increasing consumer awareness and retrieving used handsets at affordable prices are still key challenges. Also, the ASP of used handsets falls rapidly, so these handsets need to be handled at the lowest possible cost to ensure decent margins on their resale." Handset vendors including Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and LG are concentrating more on designing and manufacturing mobile phones to ensure that they ar...

Emerging from a duopoly environment isn't totally without some stress. The increasing competitiveness of the U.S. pay-TV market continues to drive cable TV operators to invest in their networks and roll out new services, according to the latest market study by In-Stat. For example, an impressive 90 percent of U.S. cable TV systems now offer HD video service, the high-tech market research firm says. This is one of the findings of a recent In-Stat survey of fifty U.S. cable TV systems operators. "The introduction of telco TV services by companies such as Verizon and AT&T, coupled with stiff competition from satellite TV service providers, is forcing U.S. cable TV operators to develop of new revenue streams, while at the same time, trying to hang on to their existing video subscribers," notes Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. In-Stat's market study found the following: - According to survey respondents, 84 percent of cable systems currently have 750 MHz or more of availa...

The holiday season will be a key milestone in the success of High Definition disc formats within the U.S. market, according to a timely market study by Understanding & Solutions. Performance of both Blu-ray and HD DVD during this second holiday season is crucial in establishing the new generation of optical discs, and may bring the market a step closer to resolving the war between the two competing formats. "Blu-ray and HD DVD player prices have been falling since the summer, culminating in Toshiba's loss leading sub-$100 HD DVD player, available in the USA last month for a limited time," says Jeremy Wills, Consultant at Understanding & Solutions. "Price reductions in the USA have continued into December, with Blu-ray players dropping below $300 for the first time, and HD DVD players below $200." Understanding & Solutions Senior Technology Consultant, Bill Foster adds, "Drive, chipset and other system components are now benefiting from economies...

The latest estimates from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) show that advertising expenditures for newspaper Web sites increased by 21.1 percent to $773 million in the third quarter versus the same period a year ago. This is the fourteenth consecutive quarter of double digit growth for online newspaper advertising since 2004. The continued year-over-year gains have demonstrated the importance of newspaper Web site advertising, which now accounts for 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in last year's third quarter. Total advertising expenditures at newspaper companies were $10.9 billion for the third quarter of 2007, a 7.4 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $10.1 billion, down nine percent versus the same period a year earlier. Third quarter highlights include: - Classified advertising fell 17 percent to $3.4 billion; retail declined 4.9 percent to $5.1 billion; national was down...

As people use their mobile phones to reach out to friends and family during the holiday season, network usage will reach a predictable peak that's way above and beyond the norm. "In order for mobile operators to deliver the expected bandwidth of 3G and newer technologies, backhaul is critical," says ABI Research senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Backhaul is a major contributor to network performance and cost, and operators should design their networks to meet peak traffic demand -- not just average usage levels." Mobile service provider testing shows that end-user data rates and the number of active subscribers served per sector vary greatly, based on the backhaul technology employed. For example, as T1 reaches near capacity, the network performance degrades by over 40 percent. But some operators believe that traffic usage is bursty, so a single T1 is sufficient to support a 3G cell site backhaul. In a recent study, ABI Research forecasts global CAPEX for backha...

After a 32 percent jump in sales in the second quarter, worldwide IPTV equipment sales hit $682.5 million in the third quarter of 2007, up 23 percent sequentially, according to the latest Infonetics Research market study. Likewise, manufacturers of IP set-top boxes (STBs) saw revenue jump 35 percent worldwide in 3Q07 from 2Q07, the Infonetics report shows. IPTV, in its pure and hybrid forms, continues to grow steadily and is poised for bigger growth as operators clear regulatory hurdles, as MPEG-4 HD set-top boxes become more widely available, and as operators lock up exclusive broadcasting arrangements with professional sports leagues, movie studios, and international programmers. "We expect the number of IPTV subscribers to continue growing steadily, reaching 65 million worldwide in 2010," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for IPTV at Infonetics Research. Other highlights from the report include: - Growth in worldwide service provider revenue from IPTV services is expect...

The market for Ultrawideband (UWB) silicon is finally beginning to take off in 2007, according to the latest market study from In-Stat. Though regulatory hurdles over UWB still persist worldwide, the first UWB-enabled notebook PCs have shipped this year from Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba, the high-tech market research firm says. "The primary question for UWB now is: Will other product segments follow where PCs lead?" says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "UWB is a very flexible technology in that it supports multiple standards, including WUSB, Bluetooth 3.0, IP over UWB, and Video over UWB. This should enable the technology to gain design wins in a wide range of product segments, including PC peripherals, Consumer Electronics (CE), and mobile phones." The research study covers the worldwide market for Ultrawideband. It contains analysis and annual shipment forecasts through 2011 for the penetration of UWB into 26 separate applications within the following product se...

As DVD revenues begin to slow, Hollywood studios are looking to online video as a platform for incremental growth. Though currently in its infancy, by 2011 the online video market will have a retail value in excess of $3.8 billion worldwide, according to entertainment analyst firm Understanding & Solutions. Despite a raft of activity within the sector -- ranging from new service launches, key content partnerships and continued experimentation with business models -- online video has, to date, taken off much slower than the industry anticipated. The USA leads the way, yet is only expected to generate revenues of $280 million in 2007, just 1 percent of the total home video market. "The market is currently under-performing for a variety of reasons," says Mai Hoang, Analyst with Understanding & Solutions, "online video services and title availability are limited, pricing strategies are embryonic and the technology infrastructure has yet to catch up. However, momentum...

Worldwide PC shipments are projected to rise by 16.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest IDC market assessment. Following a slow second half of 2006, with growth reaching a low of 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, growth has accelerated steadily in 2007, reaching 16 percent in the third quarter. As a result, annual growth is expected to reach 14.6 percent in 2007, up from 10.1 percent in 2006. Portable PC adoption remains a key driver. In the third quarter, Worldwide Portable PC shipment growth of 37 percent was the fastest in more than a decade, edging growth of more than 35 percent in several quarters in 2003 and 2005. The rapid move to Portables has taken a toll on Desktops. With the support of emerging regions, global Desktop volumes continue to increase in low single-digits. However, the growth differential between Desktops and Portables has never been larger. In the third quarter, Portable growth was more than 33 percentage points faster than Desktop g...

A new breed of retail-based Internet video delivery devices has emerged over the past few years, the most notable being Apple TV. However ABI Research notes that these devices have had difficulty resonating with consumers, largely due to their higher prices and competition from legacy set-top boxes, as well as confusion over the benefits they will ultimately bring to the buyer. Overall, ABI Research believes that this new breed of devices will see shipments of 1.2 million in 2008. "Since this category first emerged in 2004-2005 with the debut of Akimbo's public Internet VOD product, vendors of these products have struggled with a number of hurdles that have so far made this market relatively unsuccessful," says research director Michael Wolf. "The high cost of these devices, their reliance on the home network, the need for consumer self-installation, and the scarcity of content have all contributed to their lack of commercial success." Nonetheless ABI Research ...

The telco TV market is quickly adding new deployments and subscribers, which is boosting headend equipment sales as each deployment requires at least one headend system, according to In-Stat. Growth in the ranks of subscribers means more revenue from license, service, and support fees for vendors of middleware, content protection, and on-demand platforms, the high-tech market research firm says. "As more headends are built, the market for broadcast TV content-processing equipment will turn from newly built headends to headend upgrades," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "Many of these upgrades will be the addition or replacement of encoding equipment as more channels are added and encoding technology improves. The launch of new HD channels will be a driving factor for additional encoding equipment." The research report entitled "Telco TV Headends Moving to the Upgrade Phase" covers the worldwide market for telco TV headends. It provides forecasts for...

Consumer usage of PCs and purchasing patterns continue to evolve, based upon a survey of North American PC users, according to the latest assessment by In-Stat. Key findings in the In-Stat survey include a rise in the number of hours consumers use PCs and a desire for increased mobility, the high-tech market research firm says. "Looking ahead to consumer's next PC purchases, desired key features are expected to change," says Ian Lao, In-Stat analyst. "The dominant technology set desired over the next several years is wireless -- wireless accessories, wireless peripherals, and long range wireless such as WiMAX, or LTE, or EV-DO." The research entitled "The Changing Face of North American PC Usage and Purchasing Patterns" covers the North American market for PCs. It includes the results of a consumer usage and purchasing pattern survey conducted in March of 2007. Results from this research will help companies determine when consumers are likely to make t...

Globally, mobile marketing has been regarded as a new way to monetize services and develop new sources of revenue for mobile operators. Japanese and South Korean operators are building on existing technologies and consumer preferences to pioneer this new medium. By 2012, the total value of all mobile advertising and marketing will reach $1.2 billion and $684 million in the two countries respectively. With closely-targeted marketing using demographic data from existing mobile subscribers, mobile ads over phones are effective in reaching consumers who are open to receiving commercial messages. Senior analyst Andy Bae of ABI Research says, "Japan and South Korea have almost the same market structures, value chains, and service applications. This is because mobile operators in both countries established their own mobile ad agencies to support operator business models for mobile ads. The relationships between operators and the affiliated mobile ads firms are close, in order to produce ...

Market research firm Infonetics Research says worldwide sales of GSM/GPRS and 3G femtocell access points will heat up quickly once femtocell services become more widely available, with unit shipments expected to grow 10-fold from 2007 to 2008, and revenue reaching more than $630 million in 2010. Femtocells are small, low-power, indoor cellular base stations that can achieve higher-quality local-area coverage and allow mobile operators to extend their cellular footprint in the home and office environment. The Infonetics report entitled "Femtocell Access Points Market Outlook," explains that the femtocell concept can be applied to a variety of wireless technologies, such as GSM, W­CDMA (including HSPA), CDMA2000 (including EV-DO), 4G LTE, WiMAX, and WiBro, but not all of these applications will be necessarily commercially justified. The greatest opportunity, the report indicates, will be presented by 3G femtocells that are deployed in households, where they can be used to provi...

Research from entertainment analyst firm Understanding & Solutions reveals a stronger growth rate in mobile gaming than in console and handheld markets, albeit coming from a smaller market share. This places mobile in second position behind the online games market. "Global revenues from mobile gaming are pegged at $3.6 billion this year," says Understanding & Solutions Analyst, David Rouse, "and we predict this figure to rise to $6.0 billion by 2011. Although not seen as the killer application for mobile, games are increasingly important as the market continues to see major growth." Going forward, technological and infrastructure developments will allow consumer's gaming behavior to evolve, thus opening up new business model possibilities. This, coupled with strong growth forecasts in the mid term, is leading to fierce competition in the sector and is impacting upon publishers, network operators, developers and IP owners alike. "Subscription based a...

Pyramid Research released its Q3 2007 Mobile Demand and Mobile Data Forecasts for more than 90 markets globally. Based on continued strong growth in emerging markets, they have raised their year-end 2007 expectation for mobile phone subscriptions from 3.26 billion in the Q2 2007 release of their forecast to 3.3 billion. The result is a 1 percent increase in Pyramid's expectation for global mobile penetration at the end of 2007, from 50 percent previously to 51 percent in their Q3 2007 release. Per their latest forecast release, they expect mobile phone operators to generate a combined $760 billion in 2007, up from $669 billion in 2006. Going forward, they expect global mobile penetration to top 69 percent in 2012, with 4.7 billion subscribers generating $1 trillion in service revenue for operators worldwide. Between 2007 and 2012, the number of mobile phone subscriptions will increase from 3.3 billion to 4.7 billion, a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5 percent. Africa and the Mi...

WiMAX continues to make gains, with network trials becoming commercial deployments, and well known vendors adding the technology to their product portfolios, according to In-Stat's latest market study. Despite many positive events over the last 12 months, however, WiMAX still faces much uncertainty, the high-tech market research firm says. "Investor pressure could force Sprint to pull back on its announced deployment," says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. "As the largest planned deployment, Sprint's actions could impact what other carriers do with WiMAX, and negatively impact the entire WiMAX community." However, I believe that too much attention is being given to Sprint, as a champion for WiMAX, when in reality the technology's global market potential has never been tied to the whims of one broadband service provider. If Sprint backs away from WiMAX, then it's likely an isolated event that's more an indication of the company's deep-rooted c...

Worldwide sales of radio access network (RAN) equipment are down 2 percent to $10 billion in 3Q07, following a 4 percent increase in 2Q07, according to Infonetics Research. Meanwhile, the number of mobile subscribers continues to climb, expected to be up 20 percent year-over-year by the end of 2007, and forecast to reach 4.2 billion worldwide by 2010, the report shows. "The decline in the RAN market in the third quarter was caused primarily by a slowdown in network upgrades in North America and Europe, and by cutthroat competition in new network deployments that pushed prices down in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin America," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure at Infonetics. "In addition, the delay in 3G license issuance in both China and India is exacerbating the already weak 3G infrastructure market." Although there is no question that the GSM market is holding up with deployments continuing unabated, the report says, current infrastru...

Mobile video messaging services are at the center of the technology convergence that is helping mobile customers realize greater levels of self-expression and online community participation. According to principal analyst Dan Shey of ABI Research, "Mobile video messaging is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the convergence of increased mobile device capabilities and consumer desire for broader communication options beyond voice. In fact, we expect the opportunity for mobile video services to produce a compound annual growth rate of nearly 60 percent, amounting to $10 billion in 2012." But mobile video messaging is just part of a much bigger portfolio of mobile video services that includes video calling, video sharing, and mobile TV services. The complexity of the mobile video value chain affects mobile equipment and service suppliers not only in industrialized countries but also in developing regions of the world. Given such complex conditions, ABI Research has create...

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Research from IDC points to a group of small and mid-sized companies, "SMB 2.0" firms, as critical prospects for technology companies. This group accounts for 17 percent of all SMBs in terms of company counts, but nearly 30 percent of all SMB IT spending. When combined with a similar group -- the "SMB 1.5 Fast Followers" -- the two groups represent over 60 percent of all SMB technology spending. These firms will continue to be successful, and that success will translate into above average increases in IT and networking procurement per company. SMB 2.0 firms are not just the "technology heat seekers," who will buy anything, but rather they are the most advanced in leveraging to their benefit the kinds of advantages that business technology can provide. They feel strongly that advanced technology is a competitive tool and that the Internet has transformed the way they do business internally. They make above average investments on technology to expand busines...

In a recent survey of consumers, ABI Research found that one in four online consumers use a digital video recorder (DVR), with the vast majority of these furnished by a pay-TV service provider. While DVRs were made famous by TiVo, the broadcast video service provider is becoming the primary supplier of time-shifting technology to consumers in the form of an advanced set-top box, and the survey results shed new light on user's habits and preferences. "The market for DVR is fairly mature," said Michael Wolf, research director at ABI Research. "While just a few years ago many consumers still did not have a firm grasp of the benefit DVRs would bring them, today the concept of DVR and time-shifting is fairly well understood. That being said, adoption levels are still fairly dependent on service provider rollouts and whether consumers are interested in paying additional fees for the benefits of a DVR." The survey showed that both TiVo and service provider DVR customer...

According to IDC's upcoming study Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) Unified Communications Forecast and Analysis Update, Q207, the unified communications applications revenue in the region will grow from $448 million in 2007 to $844 million in 2011 at 17 percent CAGR. "Currently, IP contact center forms the largest share of UC applications spending. During the latter part of the forecast period, conferencing applications revenues will outperform other UC applications as enterprises get serious about improving collaboration in the region. In Q2 2007, instant messaging revenue saw the highest growth over the previous quarter," says Shalini Verma, Senior Analyst for IDC's Asia-Pacific Telecommunications Research. The current growth is fueled by the adoption of IP telephony in the government, banking and financial services, and services industry verticals, as well as greenfield projects in emerging markets. These industries are also likely to be the early adopters of unified...

Broadband over Powerline (BPL) has been emerging steadily over the past several years for in-home networking, access or utility company applications, and the technology is continuing strong growth, according to In-Stat. With no new cabling needed, broadband powerline networking is emerging as a winner in the race for multimedia home networking worldwide, the high-tech market research firm says. Management and conservation of energy has become the overriding driver for smart grid, utility applications, where both broadband and low-speed powerline communications will play a roll. "As a result, we expect solutions using HomePlug Command and Control solutions to emerge in a big way, although we envision many combination solutions evolving including powerline and low-speed wireless technologies" says Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst. In-Stat's market study found the following: - Surpassing the inflection point in 2006, worldwide broadband powerline equipment based on HomePlug, ...

Worldwide sales of service provider next generation voice equipment are up 5 percent in 3Q07 from 2Q07 to $956.4 million, according to the latest study by Infonetics Research. Year-over-year, the next generation voice market is up 15 percent, the report shows. The third quarter was marked by strong gains in softswitch, session border controller (SBC), and media server sales, driven by increasing demand for voice over broadband. The SBC segment's 1-year growth rate (3Q06 to 3Q07) is in the very high double digits. "On the down side, we saw disappointing trunk media gateway deployments across categories, particularly at large North American cable MSOs," said Infonetics Research principal analyst Stephane Teral. Other Infonetics report highlights include: - The service provider next gen voice equipment market is forecast to more than double between 2006 and 2010, when it will reach $6.9 billion worldwide. - The number of worldwide residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers will g...

Music delivered to mobile phones via service provider networks is on the rise, currently representing around 13 percent of global recorded music retail value. A new industry report from Understanding & Solutions forecasts an increase to almost 30 percent by 2011, amounting to $11 billion and helping to offset some of the decline in packaged music revenues. "Alongside online, mobile music is essential to the future of the music industry," says Understanding & Solutions Consultant, David Sidebottom. Japan, closely followed by the USA, has the most efficient mobile music landscape -- both countries have a concentrated mobile phone operator base and a large pool of potential subscribers, providing economies of scale for the music companies. In the fragmented European market, some operators have become less aggressive, as they can't make money directly from selling full track downloads, but this will pave the way for off-portal and third party service providers. Most n...

More than 400 cities in the United States have planned municipal Wi-Fi networks, but after a honeymoon period there is a widespread perception -- fueled by media reports of high-profile problems -- that the concept is fundamentally flawed. According to a new study from ABI Research, however, there is a disconnect between that media-driven gloom and the reality on the ground. Municipal Wi-Fi can be a success, if its goals and business models are redefined. According to vice president and research director Stan Schatt, "We need to change our expectations of what a municipal Wi-Fi network is actually good for, from free Internet access for all, to a narrower, higher value role centering on public safety and municipal workers." The free consumer broadband Internet model, which helped sell the idea to the municipalities, is not sustainable in the long-term, says Schatt, but these networks are perfect for enhancing municipal worker's productivity and first-responder's emerg...

Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology has become a standard part of business networks, and portable computers with Wi-Fi and inexpensive wireless routers have made connectivity even more pervasive outside of the business premises, according to In-Stat's latest study. These trends, and growth in the Wi-Fi phone market, pose key security challenges for IT managers, the high-tech market research firm says. Within wireless security, there are two distinct markets: client security to protect data when it is transmitted or stored on portable devices and facility security to monitor the RF environment and enforce policies to protect network operations and assets on the business premises. Together these markets are projected to reach $10.2 billion by 2011. "In early 2007, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced that it had certified nearly 100 Wi-Fi phones," says Victoria Fodale, In-Stat analyst. "Strong continued growth in this market is expected as operator deployments of combined Wi-Fi and...

After dipping 1 percent in the previous quarter, enterprise telephony equipment manufacturers experienced an 11 percent jump in worldwide sales in 3Q07 to reach $2.6 billion, according to the latest study by Infonetics Research. Revenue and shipments increased in all enterprise telephony categories tracked by Infonetics, led by the TDM segment, which outpaced IP PBX sales in 3Q07, the report shows. "The Big Three (Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel) had excellent quarters, all growing well into the double digits," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research. "The bump this quarter was partially due to seasonal factors, as the third quarter tends to be strong, but also because of increased demand across the board, even in the TDM segment. Overall, 2007 is on track for high single-digit growth over 2006." Highlights from the Infonetics Study include: - Cisco pulls away from the pack in 3Q07, after several quarters of neck an...

ComScore released its Video Metrix report for September 2007, revealing that nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched a video online (including both streaming video and progressive downloads), averaging three hours of video per person during the month. Google Sites, which includes YouTube.com, topped the September rankings with both the most unique video viewers and most videos viewed. September saw Americans view more than 9 billion videos online, with Google Sites once again ranking as the top U.S. video property with 2.6 billion videos viewed (28.3 percent share of videos), 2.5 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com (27.6 percent). Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 387 million (4.2 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 381 million (4.1 percent) and Viacom Digital with 304 million (3.3 percent). In total, nearly 136 million Americans, or approximately three in four U.S. Internet users, viewed online video in September. Google Sites also captured the largest online ...

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The spread of Linux into the mobile environment will face significant barriers, including vertical fragmentation due to the lack of complete stack, and horizontal fragmentation -- the result of many bodies developing solutions in parallel. Both aspects have made it very difficult for mobile phone device vendors, carriers, and third-party software developers to justify vast investment in platform development, but Google's Android may be the solution. "Android provides a ready-made ecosystem of vendors, carriers, and software developers that could provide enormous economy-of-scale right from the start," explains Stuart Carlaw, ABI Research director. Another concern over Linux involves how to monetize innovation that is subject to a public license. Android solves this through the use of the Apache V2 public license, which does not include a copyleft function. Android may produce an unexpected side-effect by providing a valuable proof-of-concept for the idea of mobile Linux, ...

ComScore announced the results of a study conducted with The Kelsey Group that examined the impact of consumer-generated reviews on the price consumers were willing to pay for a service delivered offline. The study, based on a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. Internet users in October 2007, revealed that consumers were willing to pay at least 20 percent more for services receiving an Excellent, or 5-star, rating than for the same service receiving a Good, or 4-star, rating. The study examined the offline sales impact of online reviews for restaurants, hotels, travel, legal, medical, automotive and home services. Nearly one out of every four Internet users (24 percent) reported using online reviews prior to paying for a service delivered offline. Of those who consulted an online review, 41 percent of restaurant reviewers subsequently visited a restaurant, while 40 percent of hotel reviewers subsequently stayed at a hotel. More than three-quarters of review users in nearly every category r...

A full 57 percent of Europeans now regularly access the internet each week according to research announced by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). That equates to 169 million people now frequently online across the ten European markets surveyed in the study. For the first time ever, 16-24 year olds are now accessing the internet more frequently than they are watching TV -- 82 percent of this younger demographic use the internet between 5 and 7 days each week while only 77 percent watch TV as regularly (a decrease of 5 percent since last year). Moreover, 16-24 year olds also spend 10 percent more time surfing the internet than sat in front of the television and almost half (48 percent) claim their TV consumption has dropped off as a direct result of the internet. The continued popularity of the internet amongst silver surfers and digital women has also been a key factor in driving the growth of online. Since 2006, there has been a 12 percent rise in the number of 55+...

The decline in the traditional phone company's core business continues, unabated. The trend of young U.S. wireless users opting to disconnect their home phone lines in favor of wireless-only services is growing, according to the latest assessment by In-Stat. The typical cord-cutter is under 35 years old with a small household and a lower income than the traditional phone user, the high-tech market research firm says. This was a notable finding from a recent In-Stat survey of U.S. telecom consumers. "The largest number of current cord-cutters -- those who do not have a landline, but rely solely on their mobile phone -- are those one might expect: young, single, living alone, or sharing quarters such as a dormitory or rooming house," says Jill Meyers, In-Stat analyst. "In many cases, these are people who are the least-likely candidates to have a landline phone." That said, when these young people have the means to install a wireline phone and maintain their mobile...

The WiMAX market is heating up quickly, with worldwide sales of fixed and mobile WiMAX equipment up 6 percent in 3Q07 to $206 million following a 14 percent jump in 2Q07, according to Infonetics Research. Worldwide unit shipments of fixed and mobile WiMAX equipment are up 16 percent in 3Q07, driven by continued rollout of new fixed and mobile WiMAX networks, and further expansion of those already in operation, the report shows. In addition to Sprint-Nextel's much-publicized rollout, carriers including Vodafone, Brasil Telecom, Telmex, SK Telecom, Wateen, and NTT, amongst many others, have made a commitment to WiMAX, demonstrating that adoption is reaching all corners of the globe. Also this quarter, the ITU added mobile WiMAX as an approved 3G technology into its official IMT-2000 set of standards, consolidating WiMAX's position as a technology with a long-term future and posing a more serious challenge to W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network deployments. Add in Cisco's entr...

Last year across the USA, Japan and Europe the annual demand for television displays grew by 5 percent in volume terms, resulting in shipments of close to 79 million units. According to projections from Understanding & Solutions, this rate of growth will continue, averaging 4 percent per annum between 2007 and 2011, with annual shipments exceeding 90 million units by the end of the period. Market development has been driven by the rapid uptake of flat panel displays, resulting in a groundswell of HD Ready TV ownership, with many first tier brands now looking to maintain a brand premium by increasing production of 1080p panels and upping consumer awareness of Full HD capability. "On the whole, this consistent growth can be attributed to the aesthetics of flat panels," says Simon Bryant, Business Director at Understanding & Solutions. "These screens integrate seamlessly into modern living spaces; they look fantastic and the slim-line design allows consumers to own ...

Shipments of GPS-enabled mobile phones will generate over $50 billion in revenues in 2008, rising to $100 billion in 2012. The market for these handsets is expected to grow from around 240 million units in 2008 to over 550 million handset shipments in 2012. At present, most current GPS-enabled handsets are CDMA devices, but increasing numbers of GPS-enabled handsets for 3G/WCDMA networks will start to appear in the market from 2008 onwards. According to ABI Research industry analyst Shailendra Pandey, "The ongoing consolidation in the mobile industry -- including Nokia's acquisition of NAVTEQ, Broadcom's acquisition of Global Locate, CSR's acquisition of NordNav Technologies and Cambridge Positioning Systems, and the tussle between TomTom and Garmin to acquire Tele Atlas -- gives a clear indication of the plans and commitment of industry players to address the GPS-enabled handset market." ABI Research believes that the mobile industry has reached the stage where w...

IPTV has become one of the most discussed topics in the consumer telecoms space over the past 12 months, and for good reason. France was the first country to break the 1 million IPTV subscriber barrier with 4 percent of household penetration. At the end of 2006, Hong Kong had 758,000 IPTV customers with 35 percent household penetration. By 2011 Ovum estimates that there will be over 55 million IPTV subscribers worldwide. However, with a total TV market of over 1.2 billion households, it still represents a small portion of the TV industry. In the developed world, revenues from consumer fixed telephony services are generally declining. Developing a successful value-added service business is essential for future revenue growth for wireline operators. Of such services IPTV is currently one of the promising opportunities. That said, IPTV is still big on promise, but relatively small on global market adoption. Findings from the market study include: - IPTV is driving next-generation access....

Informa Telecoms & Media reveals that worldwide mobile subscriptions will hit 3.3 billion -- equivalent to 50 percent of the global population -- just over 26 years since the first cellular network was launched. Since its birth in 1981, when the first mobile telephony network was switched on in Scandinavia, the now ubiquitous mobile phone has become one of the world's great success stories. "The mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth," said Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms & Media. "For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when." It is difficult to imagine how a modern economy could function without mobile telephony and a number of recent studies have shown that the mobile phone is having a hugely positive impact on the economies of emerging markets. As of the end of September there were operational netwo...

Third-generation (3G) handsets will continue strong growth over the next five years as second-generation technology wanes, according to a new market study by In-Stat. Through 2012, fourth-generation network handsets are not expected to enter the market in sizable numbers. Helping to boost overall sales, subscribers owning and using several handsets will be more prevalent over the next several years. This development is already widespread in many areas, especially where employers provide a mobile device. The research entitled "2007 Global Handset Market Forecast" covers the worldwide market for wireless handsets. It provides forecasts for global handset unit sales and revenue by region and by technology through 2012. It also includes analysis of global and regional trends in the handset market. In-Stat's study found the following: - Worldwide handset revenues will reach $165 billion by 2012. - Low-cost and ultra-low-cost handsets will push down the average selling price ov...

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