Digital Lifescapes

Based upon my own observations, as a beta test user of the original Dell IdeaStorm platform four years ago, I witnessed three primary benefits from customer co-creation activity -- new product or service concepts, existing product or service enhancement, and business process or marketing related suggestions. eMarketer reports that those three scenarios are still valid. Customers want to form meaningful relationships with a select few companies that they care most about. Given today's consumer culture of increased online participation, savvy business leaders are rising to the challenge, realizing that customer collaboration can be very rewarding. "Co-creation begins with focusing on customers," said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer principal analyst. "Companies tend to take an inside-out approach to co-creation, but those that take an outside-in approach -- by listening to and observing customers -- are in a position to discover ways to create mutual value." Cus

Despite representing only a very small portion of the total pay-TV addressable market, telco IPTV services have had some impact on the evolving marketplace, forcing long-overdue change across the entire linear broadcast video entertainment delivery ecosystem. Most IPTV service providers continue to focus on customer attraction and acquisition -- by offering similar legacy broadcast video services tiers as their competition. Those services are supplemented by a limited set of more forward-looking video-on-demand (VOD) offerings. The latest IPTV market study by Infonetics Research confirms that, finally, some new and innovative IPTV services are in development, as operators move beyond basic broadcast video offerings and begin providing consumers a more personalized, integrated and portable on-demand viewing experience. Multi-screen viewing, interactive applications and social networking are some of the services expected to be implemented over the next year. The question still rem

The shift toward consumer electronics (CE) devices with integrated IP networking capabilities continued in 2010, allowing more devices to directly connect to the Internet or to a home network. Increasingly, some of those devices are being used to create or consume high-definition (HD) video content. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, there's an accelerated continuation of the trend in 2011. They're now forecasting growth in Wi-Fi 802.11n-enabled consumer devices. Annual unit shipments will increase from 53 million in 2010 to almost 300 million in 2015. Portable CE devices such as digital still cameras, e-readers and handheld games are not the only consumer devices benefiting from Wi-Fi wireless connectivity. Stationary devices such as digital photo frames, digital televisions and gaming consoles are also seeing increasing Wi-Fi attach rates -- as people discover the benefits of having Internet connectivity without the need for home network wiring. "Th

Applications for digital imagery are experiencing exponential growth. Image sensors are now being integrated into all sorts of consumer electronics (CE) devices. As personal video communication becomes more commonplace, many mobile devices -- such as smartphones and media tablets -- will now include two sensors (one on the front and back of the device). The Camera Serial Interface (CSI) is a serial interface between a digital camera module and mobile device platform. Adopting a set of standard hardware interfaces will help to produce peripheral hardware products from multiple vendors which work seamlessly with numerous integrated circuit processor and system-on-a-chip products. MIPI Alliance (a non-profit corporation) efforts have led to strong MIPI CSI-2 interest, across all computing and consumer electronic devices with an image sensor. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , they have forecast that the overall CSI total addressable market (TAM) will surpass $3.5 billio

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG)  released the results of a recent market study about the trends and opportunities in participation TV (P-TV) services -- in particular, interactive social channels across global broadcast television markets. Their research uncovered key technological and behavioural insights into the entire P-TV value chain -- from the types of devices that consumers use to interact with TV shows -- such as media tablet, internet, mobile, apps, SMS and fixedline broadband -- how they multi-task with them while watching TV and over which payment channels they prefer to purchase participation services such as voting and competitions. The study considered the role of mash-ups between established social media channels, in particular Twitter and Facebook, with broadcast TV interactivity -- concluding that there's a potential new business model. MIG calls that model "Social Participation TV." Key findings from the recent MIG market study include: Mobile

comScore released results of a U.S. market study of mobile map usage. The study found that 48 million people accessed online maps via their mobile device during the three month period ending May 2011 -- that's an increase of 39 percent from the previous year, driven in large part by the increase in smartphone adoption. The study found that map usage via mobile applications (apps) was the primary access point for smartphone owners -- as the map app audience doubled in size over the past year. A comparative look at map usage among fixed-Internet users (i.e. accessing from a home or work computer) found that map visitation saw a slight decline in total audience in May 2011 versus the previous year, dipping 2 percent, while still maintaining a substantially larger audience of 93.8 million visitors. "The strong growth in mobile map usage and flattening of desktop map usage is indicative of broader behavioral shifts being wrought by smartphones," said Mark Donovan, comSc

Many senior executives may want to believe that an investment in social media marketing is strategic to their business, but they're apparently still not convinced. They've read all the hype about the huge amount of people that registered on Facebook, but they question how many of their customers or prospects access the social network regularly. They wonder if people really are looking for product or service information on Facebook, when most users activity tends to revolve around sharing photos of friends, family members or their pets. The most doubtful executives hear all the talk about the power of user engagement, yet their marketing staff prefers to write checks to Facebook for consistently poor-performing ad placements. Can the launch of Google+ help to reverse some of the bad perceptions that these senior executives already have about today's social media marketing practices? Or, can Google simply avoid the debate altogether, and gain a significant market advanta

Here in the U.S. market, the notion that people would subscribe and pay for broadcast TV content delivered to their mobile phone was a classic example of unreal expectations -- based upon inconclusive market research. In contrast, on-demand mobile video consumption is apparently gaining new interest. Although many mobile video products have only recently launched, providers are experiencing significant growth in usage rates. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners have watched video on their device, while nearly 86 percent of media tablet owners have already done so. While the propensity to watch full-length premium video is only a portion of these video viewers, these numbers indicate the potential market demand. These examples are indicative of a larger trend of strong growth in mobile video consumption worldwide. As a result, In-Stat now forecasts that mobile video consumption will surpass 693 billion minutes by 2015. "

comScore released data showing that 178 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in June 2011 for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 6.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month -- establishing yet another all-time high. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in June with 149.3 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 63.0 million viewers and Yahoo! Sites with 52.7 million viewers. Microsoft Sites came in fourth with 50.7 million viewers, while Viacom Digital ranked fifth with 49.5 million viewers. Total viewing sessions surpassed the 6 billion mark for the first time, with Google Sites generating the highest number of viewing sessions (2.3 billion) and highest time spent per viewer (324 minutes, or 5.4 hours). Americans viewed nearly 5.3 billion video ads in June, with Hulu generating the highest number of video a

Almost three quarters (73 percent) of mobile phone service subscribers -- using both smartphones and other types of devices -- in the United States use them to visit social networking sites daily, sometimes more than once each day. This latest finding comes from a recent online survey of 2,000 people, conducted in March 2011 by ABI Research . The survey respondents were asked a wide range of questions about how they use their mobile devices and associated applications. All respondents owned at least one mobile phone, smartphone or media tablet. ABI practice director Neil Strother says, "Operators and brands, take note: your customers are here in droves. Users like multiple modes of social interaction." Survey respondents say the mobile phone (or smartphone) provides sufficient access to the activities they like doing with social networks: viewing content, sending media, and updating profiles. In fact, the phone is a preferred device for doing a number of activities

South Korea is already known for its leadership in landline broadband service adoption. Many of the nation's residents are also pioneers of mobile broadband service adoption. Nearly half (47 percent) of South Koreans polled intend to purchase a smartphone within the next six months, according to the results of a consumer survey conducted this year by ABI Research . South Koreans already own an average of 1.6 mobile devices each, and are among the world's most enthusiastic consumers of new mobile technologies, upgrading their devices frequently and utilizing many forward-looking applications. "South Koreans are keen adopters of mobile money services," notes practice director Neil Strother at ABI. They're using mobile devices to do banking (a very high 69 percent of respondents), and pay bills (40 percent). Curiously, though, most South Koreans have little confidence in the security of their mobile phones: only 7 percent believed they were completely or ve

Continued challenges across the global economy are impacting technology purchases. Worldwide personal computer (PC) shipments increased 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ). The results are just short of IDC's May projections for 2.9 percent growth and represent a combination of a hangover from the more than 20 percent growth in the first half of 2010 as well as competition from smartphones, other consumer products and pressure from lackluster economic conditions. As in 1Q11, the United States and Western Europe were among the weaker regions, reflecting constrained demand and lower spending in more mature markets, while emerging regions -- particularly Latin America and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) -- fared much better overall. "These preliminary results continue to reflect pressure from competing consumer and business products as well as cautious spending," said Jay Chou,

Advertising that's displayed on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is gaining momentum in the U.S. market. Relatively speaking, people that are exposed to it are more likely to engage with the content. In contrast, prior research has focused on the accelerating trend of "advertising avoidance" by most consumers in America. The slight difference in consumer receptiveness has started to impact marketer's budget allocations. eMarketer estimates U.S. advertisers will spend over $1.1 billion on mobile this year -- up by 48 percent from 2010 spending levels. Of that amount, 30 percent, or $334.5 million, will go to display ads (excluding video). Moreover, eMarketer predicts that in 2012 mobile display spending will surpass messaging -- the current leader in spending. Display banner advertising will constitute the largest portion of U.S. mobile ad spending. As more marketers from across industries begin to embrace mobile advertising, more attempts at

Advertising on mobile devices and mobile money services are making strong inroads among the growing affluent segments of China's population, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . This perhaps counters the conventional thinking that consumer response to mobile advertising -- and the use of mobile devices for financial transactions -- are limited to the mature North American and European markets. ABI's online survey of 1,000 Chinese consumers was conducted in March-April 2011. Note, however, that given the online approach to the survey, the sample is entirely drawn from the technology-enabled part of the Chinese population. "Respondents were asked to indicate what actions they had taken as a result of clicking on an ad displayed on their mobile phones over the previous three months," said practice director Neil Strother. Nearly half (49 percent) of survey respondents had received a coupon, while 46 percent had investigated the product or service

The initial development plans for telco IPTV was introduced with great fanfare and anticipation -- launched by service providers who promised to re-invent the traditional pay-TV experience. Instead, what they delivered was an unimaginative replica of the channel-centric legacy cable TV offering. Regardless of the anticlimax, those new IPTV services have gained some traction in the marketplace. But the sustainability of that growth has always been in question -- and still is with some skeptical industry analysts. The pay-TV sector is going through a transition, and therefore somewhat volatile. Worldwide set-top box revenue, as a whole, will decline slightly in 2011 over 2010, with Latin America and Middle East/Africa markets being the only regions showing any increase in shipments. However, despite the general maturation and stagnation of the market, IP set-top box (STB) shipments are forecast to increase by over 1 million units in 2011, according to the latest market study by In-

Applications of Mobile Voice over IP are an extension of VoIP technology that allows for IP-based phone calls to be made from a mobile handset. Voice traffic travels over the available wireless broadband connection -- whether that connection is 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi, or GPRS. Similar to landline VoIP, mobile VoIP service is being adopted in both the consumer and business segments, but has only recently begun to be implemented within the typical business communication environment. Even though it's an emerging application, mobile VoIP growth rates are strong and by the end of the forecast period in 2015, users will have grown to nearly 83 million lines, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "There are several reasons that adoption of mobile VoIP makes sense," says Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst at In-Stat. Some of these reasons include the ability to take the desktop telephone experience with you while mobile, the ability to utilize the benefits of IP-based commu

As more Americans each month abandon landline phone service, mobile phone service growth becomes increasingly important to the legacy telecom service providers, such as AT&T and Verizon. However, Google and Apple continue to drive the upside opportunity in this market transition -- based upon the adoption of new smartphone applications. comScore released data about the key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending May 2011. Their latest market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile phone service subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.8 percent market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms with 38.1 percent market share. For the three month average period, 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, followed by LG with 21.1 percent share and Motorola with 15.

While there's still some competitive battles among powerline communications standards -- such as HD-PLC and UPA -- HomePlug has emerged as the victorious market leader for powerline home networking solutions. In addition to being the leader in the sector, the HomePlug Alliance has also signed liaison agreements with the Multimedia Over Coax Alliance (MoCA), the Wi-Fi Alliance, and the ZigBee Alliance to promote cooperation and interoperability in home networking. That truce, and the resulting cooperation, should benefit both CE manufacturers and consumers. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , HomePlug node shipments will surpass 30 million units by 2014. "HomePlug products are expected to maintain their lead and continue to grow considerably over the next five years. We expect the European region to remain the main target market for HomePlug products, though Asia Pacific will see the highest growth rate over the next 5 years," says Vahid Dejwakh, Analys

Introduced last year, the Apple iPad quickly established a new market for media tablets. eMarketer estimates that 9.7 million U.S. consumers owned a tablet device by the end of 2010, and that 24 million will have one by the end of 2011. In a May 2011 survey on device ownership -- the first one taken by a research team at least a year after the iPad’s release -- the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that overall tablet penetration increased from 5 percent of American consumers in November 2010 to 8 percent in May 2011. According to an eMarketer report, device ownership increased the fastest among young adults ages 18 to 29, Hispanics, those with the highest incomes, and people who had attended some college -- all groups that now have the highest levels of tablet penetration. In addition, men are more likely than women to own a media tablet. By contrast, overall eReader penetration is higher -- at 12 percent of American consumers -- and has doubled since November

Many consumer electronic (CE) products now include Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connectivity using the available Wi-Fi standards 802.11b/g, 802.11n, and the soon-to-be available 802.11ac. Most of these CE products can be categorized as portable or mobile. More recently, products typically cast as stationary -- such as TVs, DVD/Blu-ray players, and digital photo frames -- can now wirelessly connect to the Internet or a home network, providing access to digital media content. Even though the WLAN attach rates of these stationary devices remain relatively low in comparison to their portable counterparts, the size of the combined WLAN-enabled CE markets will surpass 419 million units shipped by 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "WLAN connectivity in portable CE devices is not a novel idea and, in fact, an absolute requirement in most cases," says Frank Dickson, Vice President of Research at In-Stat. The global embedded base of web-enabled and

In 2010, nearly $2 billion was spent by marketers on mobile advertising. In 2012, according to the latest market study by ABI Research , that figure will be more than $7 billion. And by 2016, their forecasts suggest that as much marketing budget -- approximately $24 billion -- will be spent on mobile advertising as is currently spent on all online advertising put together. "ABI Research forecast clearly indicate a major boom in mobile advertising is on the way," says practice director Neil Strother. All the pieces are falling into place: the technology, the behavior and the funding (advertiser spending) is following. Today mobile marketing spend is still relatively tiny, by online standards -- often just 2 or 3 percent of a marketer's overall advertising budget -- but spending on mobile ads will accelerate and grow. What has changed? Mobile marketing is truly considered promising, but the pool of potential viewers and readers has been relatively small -- especia

According to the latest market study by ABI Research , users of enterprise B2E (business-to-employee) and B2C (business to customer) smartphone and media tablet mobile applications (apps) are forecast to grow at a CAGR of nearly 90 percent -- and exceed 830 million active users by 2016. The growth forecast includes B2E apps -- such as line-of-business apps -- and B2C branded company apps. In both cases, enterprises are leveraging their vast stores of corporate data to make employees more efficient and to foster greater customer intimacy. Enterprise smartphone and media tablet adoption is providing the foundation for enterprise app development and deployment. But, according to enterprise practice director Dan Shey, "Mobile suppliers are providing the critical enablers boosting app adoption." There are two important supply-side drivers. First, the supplier market offering mobile application platforms has exploded. With these platforms, an app can be written once and dep

The success of media tablets is raising questions about the e-reader market sustainability. E-readers still offer the best reading experience and appeal most to avid book readers, but a broader group of people prefer additional multimedia functionality -- such as web browsing, video and gaming. Media tablets are optimized to deliver a multifunction experience, and therefore, represent a stronger opportunity for consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers. As a result, In-Stat is forecasting that tablet shipments will outpace e-reader shipments by the end of 2011. "Of the two, the tablet market is the stronger and more sustainable opportunity," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat . In fact, e-reader manufacturers will likely begin adding tablet-like features to some devices in their product line. Barnes & Noble already offers the Color Nook, which is often compared to a tablet, and Amazon, the leader in the e-reader space with its Kindle, will likely launch

comScore released data showing that 176 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in May 2011 -- for an average of 15.9 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.6 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 May with 147.2 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 60.4 million viewers and Yahoo! Sites with 55.5 million viewers. Facebook.com came in fourth with 48.2 million viewers, while Viacom Digital ranked fifth with 46.5 million viewers. Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with more than 2.1 billion, and highest time spent per viewer at 311 minutes, crossing the 5-hour mark for the first time. Americans viewed 4.6 billion video ads in May, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.3 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (an

  Why do so many of today's service providers still cling to legacy mass-media marketing practices, when they know that there's an alternative? It's puzzling, especially to those who track current marketing trends. eMarketer reports that service providers in several industries are not meeting customer needs for personalized offerings, or even fulfilling relevant communication needs, according to a recent U.S. market study. Customers are increasingly frustrated a lack of basic personalization or targeting and believe that many businesses simply don't care about their preferences. In fact, despite the wealth of options enabled by digital media channels, most internet users are dissatisfied. Research from customer engagement firm Thunderhead found that the banking industry was most likely to use a customer's preferred digital channels -- with 54 percent of respondents reporting positive experiences. But just 27 percent of internet users said gas companies com

Today's smartphones now act like full-featured media servers -- capable of connecting automatically to other consumer devices such as TVs, picture frames, game consoles and audio systems. DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct certification programs will further simplify wireless connectivity. But new mobile cloud services may provide even easier access to people's content while at home. "Wi-Fi Direct enables a device to connect directly to another device without a wireless network. DLNA‑certified devices discover other certified devices, eliminating the need for a consumer to configure the connection," says ABI Research senior analyst Victoria Fodale. Both programs help mitigate the difficulties that consumers often face when attempting to connect Wi-Fi enabled devices at home, and both bring wireless technology further into the mainstream market. ABI Research expects that both Wi-Fi Direct- and DLNA-enabled smartphones will grow strongly, at compound average growth rates (C