Digital Lifescapes

In the U.S. market, eMarketer estimates that 158 million internet users will likely watch video online at least monthly in 2011 -- up from 145.6 million in 2010. One in five consumers in the U.S., UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Spain told Accenture in March 2011 that they were watching significantly more online video. Increased convenience is the key to online video demand around the globe. Two in five internet users surveyed said the ability to catch up with episodes -- by pausing and watching at their leisure -- was the most important feature of online video. Another 24 percent said being able to use online video like a personal video recorder was the most important feature. That said, interactivity and social features were the least popular choice globally -- cited by only 11 percent of all internet users polled. Online video viewers reported that their leading frustrations include delays due to buffering and poor video quality. Moreover, advertising interruptio...

There's been numerous recent reports of financial turbulence within the traditional pay-TV sector, but there are still valid instances of some meaningful revenue and profitability progress in the global ecosystem. Despite the fact that actual device shipments remained relatively flat over the last year, worldwide set-top box (STB) revenues were actually up in 4Q10 over 4Q09. Total revenues for the quarter were $5.7 billion -- as compared to $5.3 billion in 4Q09, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Even though overall growth in the market was not dramatic there were certainly regional nuances that are worth noting," says Norm Bogen, VP Digital Entertainment at In-Stat. For instance, there was a significant migration from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) in the larger and more advanced markets -- such as North America and Asia-Pacific. While in the developing regions -- such as the Middle East/Africa and Latin America -- there has be...

In the U.S. market, video entertainment "cord cutting" refers to the disconnection and replacement of high-cost pay-TV services. Video cord shaving refers to the elimination of premium channels, or the migration to lower-cost pay-TV service offerings. Total U.S. pay-TV subscribers remained flat, growing by only some 148,000 during 2010, that's a 0.15 percent annual growth rate -- indicating no significant trend toward video cord cutting/shaving, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "A substantial portion of pay-TV subscribers, however, exhibit similar characteristics to video cord cutting households," says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. In-Stat believes that it's important to track these at-risk subscribers, rather than the pay-TV subscriber base as a whole -- because they're the early-adopters that would lead a new trend that could quickly gain momentum. In-Stat says that 30 percent of U.S. MSO customer base would qualif...

Several factors contributed to the latest contraction in the worldwide PC market. Global PC shipments declined 3.2 percent during the first quarter of 2011 -- compared to the same time last year, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ). In contrast, IDC expected a mere 1.5 percent growth in shipments. Clearly, a spike in fuel and commodity prices and the disruptions in Japan added to the industry problems, further dampening a market struggling to maintain momentum. The PC market showed clear indications that frugality, combined with a shift of focus, will be the norm for the time being. Mature regions are more focused on necessary replacements, as few compelling reasons were present to buy secondary PCs. Emerging markets fared better due to lower saturation rates, but also slowed somewhat with Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) slowing to a 5.6 percent growth and China continues to slow after experiencing high growth in 2010. "While the c...

The big news this week in the U.S. market was the Netflix Q1 2011 results , which demonstrates that we continue to witness a period of significant transition within the realm of video entertainment market leadership. That said, perhaps there's still an upside opportunity for legacy channel-centric pay-TV service providers that invest the time and effort to prepare for the apparent market segmentation challenges -- as on-demand services continue to gain market share. Furthermore, while some of the world markets with a historically vibrant broadcast TV viewership have lost momentum, or are already showing signs of a major contraction, other emerging markets show promise. In some regions of the world, market fragmentation is shifting the balance of power -- and the associated video entertainment revenue streams -- as a growing segment of consumers search for lower-cost alternatives to legacy pay-TV services. Global Pay-TV Markets in Transition As a result of the changes with...

The business of mobile phone subscription market development is a constantly evolving challenge. As new wireless technologies are introduced they tend to displace the older ones, if not immediately, eventually. By 2015, the Asia-Pacific region will surpass 3 billion cellular mobile service subscriptions, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Perhaps no global business model is more fluid than the marketing of cellular communications," says Chris Kissel, Analyst at In-Stat. Depending upon market conditions, mobile operators can now offer simple 2G analog services or extremely sophisticated mobile networks capable of delivering 40-60Mbps downlink speeds, with many additional offerings in between. In-Stat's market research found the following: - FDD-LTE subscription in North America will exceed 10 million in 2012. - Eastern Europe will realize their 100 millionth 3G cellular subscription in 2013. - 2011 is the last year that 2G GSM North American ...

If you're thinking that all the commentary you have read about the rise of the tablet computing era is pure hype, then think again. There's much to be learned by following the development of this evolving trend. eMarketer reports that research on tablet usage has found that they're primarily being used for entertainment, and the availability of media content on the devices is still driving purchase intent. A March 2011 market study by mobile ad network AdMob amplifies those findings further, with survey results showing that for many owners tablets are fast becoming a primary source of digital entertainment. Nearly seven in 10 tablet owners reported spending at least 1 hour per day using the device, including 38 percent who spent over 2 hours on the device. And, while just 28 percent consider it their primary computer, 77 percent are spending less time on desktop or notebook PCs -- since they acquired a tablet. More than two in five respondents now spend more time ...

comScore released data showing that 174 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in March 2011 for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.7 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in March with 143.2 million unique viewers, followed by AOL, Inc. with 57.0 million viewers and Yahoo! Sites with 56.4 million viewers. Microsoft Sites came in fourth with 53.1 million viewers, while VEVO ranked fifth with 52.6 million viewers. Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions as it neared the 2 billion mark, and highest time spent per viewer at 276 minutes, or 4.6 hours. Americans viewed 4.3 billion video ads in March, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.2 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad ...

Residential gateway devices are critical to ensuring the successful delivery of multiple broadband service applications -- such as on-demand digital video, IPTV and VoIP -- to subscriber homes. These broadband service applications are required to help operators increase their revenue-per-subscriber, by positioning service providers as being able to offer more than basic Internet access. Infonetics Research recently conducted a survey of incumbent and competitive telecom operators in North America, EMEA, and CALA who use residential gateways and CPE to offer broadband and multi-play services. The resulting market study report captures service providers' strategies for deploying and pricing residential gateways, and their top picks for vendors, services, technologies, and features. "There is consistency among our survey findings from last year and this year: Service providers want to deploy residential gateways that are powerful and flexible and have multiple options for...

The broadband Internet access market is gaining momentum in Britain, with the total number of superfast lines delivering speeds in excess of 25Mbps set to pass the 250,000 mark this April - according to the latest market study by Point Topic. Point Topic's Chief Analyst, Tim Johnson, says the number is still quite modest -- currently only 1 percent of homes in Britain -- it does mean that superfast broadband could be in a position to follow in the footsteps of first-generation broadband that was deployed 10 years ago. "We went on from there to reach over 13 million broadband lines within five years," he said. "Now we have over 19 million. It's dangerous just to assume that history will repeat itself -- but it's still a good pointer to what will happen to superfast broadband in this decade." Point Topic's estimates for the current penetration are based on its market data from the end of 2010. These show there were 175,000 superfast broadband lin...

Infonetics Research released its latest quarterly home networking devices market forecast -- which tracks, ranks, and analyzes vendors that make residential gateways, broadband routers, powerline adapters, coax-Ethernet adapters, and home network attached storage (NAS). Sales of home networking devices grew 11 percent in 2010, to $5.15 billion, on the heels of a 46 percent jump the previous year, with all segments of the market posting increases. "We're expecting a challenging year for residential gateways this year, as operators have a lot of inventory on hand. They're also having trouble adding new DSL and cable subscribers, said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access at Infonetics Research . This overall trend will keep the market flat in 2011 -- despite strong sales of Homeplug Powerline adapters, MoCA coax-Ethernet adapters, and some home NAS devices. The Infonetics market study highlights include: - Quarter-over-quarter, the home network device...

The global digital still camera (DSC) market began to recover in 2010 after a significant downturn in 2009, primarily caused by worldwide economic conditions and the increased strength of the Japanese Yen. DSC unit sales are expected to rise faster between 2011 and 2012, and then continue a steady growth rate over the forecast period -- fueling worldwide revenue to approximately $43.5 billion by 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "The DSC market will continue to evolve over the next five years. Semiconductor vendors have a renewed opportunity to address these new demands by supplying solutions to DSC manufacturers looking to differentiate from the competition," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat. There's been new progress on the following features: sensitivity, image quality, and video functions. Compact DSC revenue will remain relatively flat over the forecast period. However, the technology will continue to improve due to the a...

  Over the last few months I've shared a variety of market study summaries that highlight the now rapid adoption of new smartphones, within the U.S. marketplace in particular. This transition is much more pervasive, and global, than you may have imagined. The European EU-5 marketplace is no exception. eMarketer now forecasts that the number of mobile web users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain to double between 2010 and 2015. More than 58 million residents of the EU-5 will use the mobile internet at least monthly, according to eMarketer estimates for 2011. But that will still represent less than a quarter of the population. "Greater use of browsers and apps, in addition to the already widespread use of text messaging, mean enhanced opportunities for marketers to engage customers at every stage of the purchase process, from building awareness all the way through to after-sales service and customer relationship management," said eMarketer principal analyst...

Demand for Media Tablet and eReader devices continues to be strong, with product design innovations increasing user adoption. As a result, worldwide revenues for device semiconductors grew over 2,000 percent to $3.3 billion in 2010, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ). With the arrival of Android Honeycomb, dual core processors, and increased bandwidth, IDC expects Media Tablet and eReader semiconductor revenues to grow by 120 percent year over year in 2011. "The opportunity for semiconductors in Media Tablets and eReaders has exploded and semiconductor suppliers are scrambling to bring to market semiconductor and software platforms to enable these products," said Michael J. Palma, research manager for Consumer Semiconductor research at IDC. Beyond semiconductors, these suppliers are also providing OEMs with much of the system software as well as support for access into app stores, which is helping to dramatically shorten produ...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research , the global mobile phone services industry concluded 2010 with 5.5 billion subscriptions. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 53 percent (2.9 billion) of that total. One-third of this can be attributed to the huge 2G market in India -- another one-third to China. As of December 2010, China had 860 million subscribers, although 3G subscriptions accounted for fewer than 50 million, or roughly 5.5 percent of the total. "While there are wide differentials in disposable income, it is still surprising how slow China's 3G rate of growth has been," said ABI Research practice director Neil Strother. China's literacy rates are high, familiarity with the Internet is also high through PC use in extended families as well as ubiquitous Internet cafes. And yet, 3G adoption has been muted. At the end of 2010, China Mobile's TD-SCDMA subscriber base stood at more than 20 million, China Unicom’s WCDMA had 14 million ...

comScore released data about the key trends within the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending February 2011. Their latest market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers. For the three month period ending February, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers -- up 0.3 percentage points from the three month period ending in November. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (16.1 percent) and RIM (8.6 percent). Apple saw the strongest gain, up 0.9 percentage points to account for 7.5 percent of subscribers. 69.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in February 2011 -- up 13 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android grew 7.0 percentage points since November, strengthening its number one position with 33.0 percent market share. RIM ranked seco...

Infonetics Research earlier this month released its fourth quarter 2010 (4Q10) Cable, Satellite, IPTV, and Over-the-Top (OTT) set-top box (STB) subscriber market share and forecast. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Infonetics witnessed the dramatic growth of over-the-top video entertainment services, as service providers and equipment vendors seemed to reach their optimal price-points. However, by and large, these services continue to complement traditional pay-TV rather than fully replace it. On a global basis, demand for set-top boxes continues to increase as more countries transition from analog to digital broadcast television and more operators offer enhanced services -- such as HDTV and DVR. "There is increasing demand for hybrid set-top boxes, which leverage the existing broadcast infrastructure, but utilize the broadband connection to incorporate OTT content and increase interactivity and on-demand services," notes Teresa Mastrangelo, directing analyst for video at...

Last year, in the fall, the U.S. cable TV service providers decided to work together -- in an unprecedented collaboration effort -- to promote their collective Video-on-Demand (VoD) offerings. They agreed to invest $30 million in an advertising campaign, and they created a dedicated web site (which is now redirected to a Facebook page). If there was increasing pay-TV subscriber interest in their offering, then they would have increased their share of the growing on-demand video market. So, what was the outcome? Across the whole U.S. market, to date about 10,000 people say they "like" the Movies on Demand brand. Clearly, this experiment demonstrates that the traditional pay-TV sector has a very tough road ahead -- as more and more people's video entertainment needs shift away from the channel-centric pay-TV model. Infonetics Research earlier this month released its fourth quarter 2010 (4Q10) Cable, Satellite, and IPTV Video Infrastructure and Subscribers market sha...

Many companies in technology-centric industries like to believe that they employ lots of thought leaders, when in fact they don't. Why are they mistaken? They confuse product subject matter expertise (SME) with real thought-leadership. It's not the same. Moreover, informed people understand the key differences. What is Respected Industry Thought Leadership? According to Craig Bading , who wrote a book on the subject, "Thought Leadership is establishing a relationship with and delivering something of value to your stakeholders and customers that aligns with your brand/company value. In the process you go well beyond merely selling a product or service and establish your brand/company as the expert in that field and differentiate yourself from your competitors." Are you still confused -- does your company employ recognized thought leaders? Let's consider some of the common characteristics of corporate SMEs who are likely NOT industry thought leaders: You a...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research , 302 million smartphones shipped in 2010, resulting in a resounding 71 percent growth over the 2009 shipment levels. Android's success since its launch is expected to continue. Approximately 69 million smartphones running the Android operating system (OS) shipped last year, and ABI Research expects that by 2016 Android will have captured 45 percent of the market. "Android, Bada and BlackBerry have a great opportunity to fill the vacuum being left by the disappearance of the Symbian OS within the next two years," says senior analyst Michael Morgan at ABI. ABI believes that the Apple iOS, which held a 15 percent share of the market in 2010, should continue moderate but steady growth over the mid-term -- likely backed by new product introductions. ABI Research forecasts a relatively modest 19 percent market share for iOS in 2016. RIM, which held 16 percent of the market in 2010, is expected to lose just a little...

Video games had been the domain of teen males in the past, but this is no longer the case. Two distinct developments have changed the player demographic of online games. First, the development of social networking sites, such as Facebook. Second, the increasing prevalence of mobile smartphones. In the past, within the U.S. market you had to pay $30 to $50 for a game -- or $20 per month for a subscription -- but now you can play them for free, thanks to the rise of the virtual goods revenue model. This transition has driven the number of social networking and online worlds (SNOW) accounts beyond 10 billion in 2010 -- with nearly 4.5 billion of those considered active accounts, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "The virtual goods revenue model is one of several mediums that SNOWs use to generate revenue," says Vahid Dejwakh, Industry Analyst at In-Stat. The basic premise is to allow everyone to create an account and play for free and then offer users the...

The worldwide mobile smartphone market is forecast to grow 49.2 percent in 2011 as more consumer and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with advanced features. Those devices will most likely be based upon Google Android. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010. Moreover, the global smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market. "Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC. Last year's high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from 2010. To capture the strong consumer demand for smartphones, manufacturers hav...

According to the latest market study by Portio Research , over the last 2 years the mobile app store sector has grown to a $6.6 billion industry in 2010 -- this revenue growth is forecast to continue over the next 5 years. Smartphones allow users to download, install and run advanced applications (apps). One factor impacting the growth of mobile applications has been the accelerated worldwide adoption of smartphones. Furthermore, the success of Apple's App Store has inevitably led to others in the mobile space following suit and introducing their own application storefronts. Today, there are a rapidly increasing number of app stores in the market, with no signs of the trend slowing. Smartphone and platform vendors, MNOs, and third-party players and independent retailers are also entering the mobile applications market -- demonstrating that mobile apps present great opportunities for all players. The mobile applications ecosystem encompasses platform developers, application ...

Mobile phone usage is changing and becoming richer with applications. The movement from 2G to 3G is helping to facilitate instant messaging and web-browsing. Given the high cost of wireline broadband Internet access in some parts of the world, a mobile phone will be the way many experience the Web for the first time. Now, video-intensive applications are being accessed by mobile phones, which is adding to the traffic growth on mobile networks globally. As a result, the number of macro base stations deployed will increase to over 6 million by 2014, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "The amount of infrastructure spending in China, India, and the U.S. is mind boggling," says Chris Kissel, Industry Analyst at In-Stat. "Over one third of new base stations deployed from 2011 to 2014 will be in China, India, or the U.S., resulting in a substantial shift in the structure of the industry." Clearly, CAPEX spending will move industry leadership from Weste...

Online advertising was predicted to gain share of U.S. marketer spending by more than 10 percentage points between 2009 and 2015. However, the current spending on digital media -- including internet and mobile -- has not yet risen significantly, according to the latest assessment by eMarketer . Among the major media of television, internet, radio, mobile, newspapers and magazines, U.S. adults still spend the most time each day with TV. eMarketer estimates adults watched television for 42.9 percent of the time they spent each day with those media in 2010, and ad dollars align closely, at 42.7 percent. The internet, by contrast, took up 25.2 percent of U.S. adult daily media time in 2010, but received just 18.7 percent of marketer's ad budget. "Those of us focused on the internet channel have complained for years that it hasn't been getting its fair share of media dollars based on time spent," said eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey. "However, the precise extent of ...

comScore released the latest insights on the state of the mobile financial services market. The report found that in Q4 2010, 29.8 million Americans accessed financial services accounts (bank, credit card, or brokerage) via their mobile device, an increase of 54 percent from Q4 2009. The comScore market study analyzed the reasons inhibiting consumers from accessing financial accounts via mobile devices, finding that preference for online access and security concerns topped the list for both smartphone and feature phone users. "More people are turning to the convenience of mobile devices for their financial service needs, fueled in part by the adoption of smartphones, 3G devices and unlimited data plans," said Sarah Lenart, comScore vice president. In Q4 2010, 29.8 million Americans accessed financial service accounts via their mobile device -- up 54 percent from the previous year. And, 18.6 million users accessed their financial accounts via mobile browser in Q4 2010 -...