Digital Lifescapes

Wireless fourth-generation (4G) mobile network subscriber adoption will escalate in 2012 -- as a variety of 4G-enabled mobile devices, such as USB dongles, smartphones, media tablets, 4G portable hotspots, and wireless broadband CPE modems, are shipping this year. "4G devices are expected to generate 87 million in unit sales in 2012, that's up 294 percent year-on-year,” states Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting at ABI Research . According to their latest market assessment, the lion’s share of the global market is now backing LTE as service provider and vendor support has fallen away from the WiMAX fourth generation wireless network standard. Observing the success of 3G cellular services, ABI analysts believes that it is clear there is a natural evolutionary demand from end-users, both business and consumer, to jump onto the 4G data bandwagon. However, there are still some teething issues that will need to be resolved. Some operators in Western Europe have st...

The upcoming London 2012 Summer Olympics is being billed as the most connected sporting event the world has ever seen. The United Kingdom has one of the world's most developed digital ecosystems -- the ICT, software and digital content sectors are estimated to be worth £100 billion combined. According to the latest market study by eMarketer , the UK is considered a leading Digital Nation -- measured by the percentage of the British population that accesses the internet regularly, and the amount of time spent online by those internet users. A near-ubiquitous, multi-layered web infrastructure drives increased adoption. Internet usage is expanding to all demographic segments and it's being accessed via a wider variety of wired and wireless digital devices. "For the three-quarters of the UK population who are web users, the internet is everywhere," said Karin von Abrams, eMarketer senior analyst. "British consumers are accustomed to managing several web-ena...

Some UK retailers have apparently found a reason for celebration -- even within a historically weak economy. British consumers spent £5.8 billion online in March, 2012 -- that's the equivalent of £114 per person, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. This equates to a year-on-year growth of 14 percent for the e-retail sector and a 9 percent increase on February. With more and more tech-savvy Brits using smartphones and tablets outfitted with purpose-built applications, shopping via mobile devices has become an important driver of online shopping via the internet. As a result, mobile retail (m-retail) has recorded huge growth, up a staggering 254% on March 2011 and averaging 300% year-on-year growth for Q1 2012. Interestingly, the conversion rates for mobile  -- those shoppers that visit a retail site via a mobile device and make a purchase from it -- remains very low at 0.7 percent in Q1 2011, increasing to 1.4 percent in Q1 2012, and that's compare...

comScore released the results from a U.S. market study on mobile travel related activities. The results indicate that 51 percent of smartphone owners accessed travel content on their devices during the three month period ending February 2012 -- with nearly 1 in every 5 smartphone owners using their device to book air travel or hotel reservations. "The on-the-go convenience of smartphones has facilitated their emergence as an essential companion for travelers," said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of mobile. "We all know how hectic a travel experience can be, but smartphones have really stepped in to meet a variety of needs for travelers, such as coordination of schedules, locations, trip itineraries and transactions." With more than half of all smartphone users now engaging with travel content and related apps, there has never been a better opportunity for suppliers and OTAs to invest in their mobile strategies to provide a great experience and win loyalty from thei...

Businesses smartphone users are moving away from BlackBerry, and the rise of the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon is making mobile device management (MDM) one of the hottest markets for enterprise IT, according to the latest market study by Ovum. The challenge for already busy CIOs is how to manage and secure data, while exploiting the innovation and productivity benefits that embracing the major smartphone platforms can deliver. In its latest Solutions Guide, Ovum reveals that no longer is MDM purely the domain of specialist enterprise mobility vendors. Vendors from a variety of backgrounds across the IT and telecoms space are looking to grab clients in this market -- as it becomes a gateway to a larger enterprise managed mobility sector. The guide also highlights strong support for remote device security capabilities across a range of mobile operating systems. However, limitations of the major operating system (OS) platforms are preventing vendors and enterprises from im...

Back in 2002, mobile network operators in the Asia-Pacific region trailed behind their North American and European counterparts -- in terms of planned fourth-generation service development. Fast forward to the present day and the situation is very different. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, Out of 110 mobile networks, 10 operators (9 percent) have commercial 4G LTE networks up and running. Another 58 (53 percent) either have specific plans to roll out LTE or are conducting trials. "We estimate total Asia-Pacific mobile capital expenditure to reach $53.3 billion by the end of 2012," says Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting at ABI Research . About 62 percent of the capital expense is still earmarked for radio access network deployment. Other key investment areas include EPC and gateway upgrades to the core network at 9 percent -- as well as improving in-building wireless coverage into dense urban centers at 5.7 percent. Evidence for the inv...

IDC has released its "Smart Cities Maturity Model" and a report tracing a city's journey to becoming smart and connected -- based upon the dimensions of government, buildings, mobility, energy, environment and services across three major stages of data availability and its level of integration. The model is the next step in the development of the IDC "Smart Cities Index," which was created to rank a city's smartness factors. After successful application in Spain, the index is currently being applied in Germany and France, and also being evaluated for application in other countries and regions around the world. For more insight into the model, see the IDC report entitled "Becoming a Smart City: IDC Energy Insights' Smart Cities Maturity Model." The report includes IDC recommendations designed to create concrete opportunities for actions for cities undertaking the smart city journey. As smart city initiatives are undertaken by many cities ...

Market disruptions continue to upset the U.S. music recording industry. As a result, the changes have shrunk it in half in just over a decade, according to the latest market study by eMarketer. The legacy big media company's past experiments with digital media seemed promising, but they haven't generated enough revenue to stem losses from the sale of compact discs. Analysts now wonder if cloud-based music streaming services could revive the industry. Regardless, it's clear that the legacy music recording industry must reduce its traditional high-cost operating model -- in order to be competitive with low-cost indie performing artists that sell their content direct to online distributors and/or consumers. Can the old guard survive, given this scenario? "The short answer is maybe," said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. "Key trends are pointing in the right direction, including positive technology adoption forecasts, a profusion of social sharing ac...

According to the latest market study by The NPD Group , the average monthly pay-TV subscription fee for basic pay-TV service and premium-TV channels in the U.S. has reached $86 in 2011. As channel licensing fees continue to rise, pay-TV subscriber rates have grown an average of 6 percent per year -- while American consumer household income remained flat. If nothing changes, NPD forecasts that the average pay-TV monthly payment will reach $123 by the year 2015 and $200 by 2020. I've previously reported about the U.S. sports networks, ESPN in particular, and how they're a significant part of the rising costs problem for all pay-TV service providers. The forced bundling of these high-cost channels merely aggravates the situation -- because a-la-carte channel selection is not an option. According to the findings from NPD’s recent study, 16 percent of U.S. households do not subscribe to pay-TV services. Moreover, the recent U.S. economic troubles have resulted in five million f...

According to the latest market study by Leichtman Research Group ( LRG ), 38 percent of all American households now have at least one TV set connected to the Internet via a video game system, a Blu-ray player, a streaming media set-top box, and/or the TV set directly. The current U.S. connected TV adoption estimate is up from 30 percent last year, and 24 percent two years ago. As a result, watching over-the-top video content has become a mainstream consumer activity, with many more people engaging with online video entertainment applications. Video game consoles are the primary over-the-top video viewing devices, with 28 percent of all households having them connected to the Internet. Just 4 percent of all households are connected directly via an Internet-enabled TV set, and Apple TV or Roku set-top boxes are the chosen devices in 1 percent of all households. Overall, 13 percent of all adults watch video from the Internet via a connected device at least weekly, compared to 10 per...

The worldwide personal computer (PC) market saw a slight increase in volume during the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12) -- when compared to the same quarter in 2011 -- with shipments rising 2.3 percent, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The results are slightly above IDC's February projections of a 0.9 percent year-on-year decline due to anticipated hard disk drive (HDD) supply constraints in addition to weak economic conditions, competition from other devices, and continued uncertainty about Microsoft Windows 8. HDD supply remained an issue through most of the first quarter, although PC makers generally had better access to drives than customers in the retail and distribution channels. As a result, large PC vendors were able to maintain system shipments by managing inventory or absorbing price increases, while the impact to shipments from smaller PC makers was in line with IDC expectations. "PC market growth was reduced in the f...

Due to a partial improvement in both the fixed (wireline) and mobile (wireless) network communication sectors, telecom service provider revenues passed the $1.91 trillion mark in 2011 -- that's compared to $1.79 trillion in 2010, according to the latest global market study by Ovum . Carrier capital expenditure (capex) investment also rose in 2011, but late-year economic jitters depressed the global growth rates. In a new Ovum report, Matt Walker, a Principal Analyst in Ovum’s Networks practice, said: "Economic worries caused budget cuts late in the year, hitting Service Provider capex." Overall for 2011, capex grew 9 percent to $306 billion, due to double-digit percentage growth in the first three quarters; capex declined 1 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in 4Q11. Among the top 10 capex spenders were two from North America (AT&T, Verizon), China’s three big carriers, NTT, and four European operators with multinational operations (DT, Telefonica, Vodafone, and FT...

How have mobile network service providers been preparing for the continued adoption of smartphones that will create a groundswell of new data traffic? We now know that global capital expenditure (CAPEX) weakened in the fourth quarter of 2011 for many mobile operators -- as they trimmed their budgets for the remainder of 2011. However, according to the latest market study by ABI Research , confidence is returning in the first half of 2012 as mobile network operators start to switch over from LTE trials to commercial service deployment in a number of key markets. "Mobile capital expenditure is forecasted to grow 9 percent to $111.1 billion in 2012, supported by renewed investment in radio access network (RAN) infrastructure and in-building wireless access," says Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting at ABI Research. Operators have been reviewing their macro RAN architectures and are opting to scale up their rooftop and street-level small cells as well as distribute...

Marketers are investing a greater portion of their media budgets in digital advertising, and they're facing increased pressure to prove digital media branding effectiveness -- both as a single channel and in concert with a broader multichannel campaign. Some have discovered that measuring digital campaign effectiveness is problematic. "Digital’s legacy of direct-response metrics has caused many to fall back on measures that drove the first wave of online advertising -- click-through rate and page-view,” said Lauren Fisher, analyst at eMarketer . But these metrics can be inaccurate for quantifying digital branding effects -- especially when considering internet users click on less than one percent of display ads and are never in view of about a third of all ad impressions served in the U.S. market. Others are incorporating digital measurement into traditional offline count metrics -- such as the gross rating point (GRP). A December 2011 survey from DIGIDAY and Vizu of ...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, mobile Internet usage will account for 25 percent of China's mobile phone service revenues in 2012 -- that's up from less than 23 percent in 2011. In India, mobile Internet is forecast to represent 19 percent of this year's service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region's leading markets -- such as Japan (40 percent) and Hong Kong (44 percent). ABI Research senior analyst, Aapo Markkanen said, "It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up." Moreover, such moves also allow mobile network service providers to gain valuable mindshare among local content providers and ap...

comScore released data that outlines the key trends in the U.S. mobile phone service industry, during the three month average period ending February 2012. Their latest market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile phone service subscribers. They found Samsung to be the top mobile handset manufacturer overall with 25.6 percent market share. Google Android continued to grow its share in the U.S. smartphone market -- crossing the 50-percent threshold in February to capture a majority share for the first time in its history. For the three-month average period ending in February, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 19.4 percent share. Apple captured the #3 ranking in February with 13.5 percent of mobile subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points), followed by Motorola at 12.8 percent. HTC moved into the #5 position in February at 6.3 percent (u...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, smartphone users will download nearly 36 billion apps in 2012 and Google Android and Apple iOS will account for 83 percent of the app downloads. Unfortunately, only 2 percent can be attributed to the Microsoft Windows Phone platform. In fact, the lack of interest in Microsoft's mobile ecosystem is so dire that the company has had no choice but to pay application developers to embrace their niche smartphone Operating System (OS) -- apparently they will pay as much as $600,000 to a popular app developer. Clearly, it's an unsustainable business model. It's an approach that's devoid of any real upside profit potential and an apparent act of desperation. ABI Research associate Lim Shiyang says, "Although Windows Phone lags behind RIM’s BlackBerry and even Nokia’s Symbian, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that the two percent that we forecast for 2012 would be twice the share the platform achieved last year." ...

comScore released the results from a comparative analysis of mobile and Wi-Fi Internet usage on smartphones in the United States and United Kingdom. They studied the share of unique smartphones connecting to mobile operator and Wi-Fi networks to provide insight into Internet connection patterns across markets. Among its findings, the market analysis shows a significantly higher percentage of Apple iPhones than Google Android phones connecting to the Internet via Wi-Fi networks. "With the rise in adoption of smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices, network operators have seen a surge in mobile web activity and face new challenges in keeping up with data demands while maintaining their quality of service," said Serge Matta, President of Operator and Mobile Solutions at comScore . As bandwidth usage increases and the wireless radio spectrum becomes scarce, all members of the ecosystem should understand the different dynamics between the use of mobile and Wi-Fi n...

According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), smart connected devices -- including PCs, media tablets and smartphones -- saw shipments of more than 916 million units and revenues surpassing $489 billion in 2011. "Whether it's consumers looking for a phone that can tap into several robust app ecosystems, businesses looking at deploying tablet devices into their environments, or educational institutions working to update their school's computer labs, smart, connected, compute-capable devices are playing an increasingly important role in nearly every individual's life," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays at IDC. Looking ahead, unit shipments for smart connected devices should top 1.1 billion worldwide in 2012. By 2016, IDC predicts shipments will reach 1.84 billion units, more than double the 2011 figure, as consumers and business around the world are using more smart connected devices. This upside gr...

According to the latest market assessment by eMarketer, they anticipate strong growth in the amount of marketing budgets being applied to online display advertising -- in particular, commercial video content. In the U.S. market, eMarketer forecasts that advertisers will increase video ad spending by 54.7 percent and up investments in standard banners by nearly 20 percent. Moreover, eMarketer predicts much lower growth for traditional rich media ads, however, at just over 4 percent -- as brands turn to more engaging online video instead. More marketers are moving beyond a typical direct-response centric model for online display advertising. They're now recognizing that despite low click-through rates, banner ads also have a residual branding benefit. Research suggests that adding video to those banner ads can improve engagement -- increasing the likelihood users will click the ads, as well as boosting the lingering brand awareness that results from viewing creative digita...

The mobile communications ecosystem is now responsible for stimulating demand in many other related areas of the technology sector. As an example, mobile device semiconductors were one of the few bright spots in a chipset market that had stalled in 2011. Revenue from chipsets designed specifically for mobile devices increased by more than 20 percent to $35 billion, while the total semiconductor market in 2011 reached just a 2 percent year-on-year growth. "It’s tempting to describe this industry as lackluster," says Peter Cooney, practice director, semiconductors at ABI Research . "But then, some segments of the semiconductor market are booming and vendors concentrating on the mobile device sector have delivered very healthy growth in 2011." Shipments of mobile devices such as smartphones, media tablets, and e-book readers are in high-growth. They, as a result, are driving related growth for a range of semiconductor components -- including modems, application...

Total mobile phone handset shipments across all markets will increase by 29 percent -- from 1.7 billion in 2012 to 2.2 billion in 2016. The key driver of this global growth will come from the smartphone segment, which is forecast to become larger than the ultra-low cost, low-cost, and feature phone segments combined by 2016. The total shipments of non-smartphone devices will grow 1.08 billion in 2012, and to 1.09 billion in 2016 while smartphone shipments will grow from 643 million to 1.1 billion over the same period. Mobile device manufacturers that have had prior success addressing the low-cost handset segments will be under pressure to shift their new product portfolio to smartphones -- or plan the projected market downside. Considering that they currently serve consumers with low disposable incomes, these OEMs will need to deliver smartphones that are price competitive to low-cost feature phones. "This emerging scenario could become a very dangerous situation for Nokia...

comScore and EXPO released the results of a study on the synergy of professionally-produced video content and related amateur video used in marketing campaigns. The study evaluated an actual campaign that included a combination of a professionally-produced “how to” video and a user-generated product video that was created and submitted by a product user. The results of the study indicate that professionally-produced video content and user-generated product videos are complementary, driving higher levels of sales effectiveness when used together. “This study aimed to answer a critical question for today’s digital advertisers: how do user-generated videos complement professionally-produced content, if at all? What we found was strong evidence of incremental benefit with exposure to both forms of media,” said Frank Findley, Vice President, Research and Development at comScore . In the sample campaign, professionally-produced content and product videos drove strikingly higher lifts w...

comScore released the results of a U.S. market study of digital media usage related to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The study, which analyzed browser-based (i.e. non-app) page views to the Sports content category, showed that sports fans increased their access across all three primary screens for web content -- PC, media tablet and smartphone -- as they followed the game results. “The NCAA Tournament, like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, is one of those events where sports fans don’t want to miss a beat of the action -- especially if they can’t be in front of a TV,” said Debbie Bradley, Sr. Director at comScore . Given the emphasis large advertisers place on these sporting events, it’s important to consider how all media channels can be leveraged to maximize a brand's awareness and its communication with the consumer. As part of the study, comScore analyzed computer vs. non-computer traffic (predominantly smartphones and media tablets) for the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tou...

Within India, the diverse local markets are full of upside potential -- especially for wireless telecommunication services. At the end of 2011, there were 900 million mobile phone network subscribers. However, a note of caution -- there are several challenges that must be overcome. The overall market is heavily fragmented, with more than 70 3G licensed circles. Considerable expectations were placed on 4G WiMAX, which failed to materialize. WCDMA and TD-LTE subscriber adoption will eclipse 90 million and 5 million by 2013, respectively. ​The Indian mobile subscriber market has demonstrated strong growth in the past decade or so, but when it comes to the adoption of mobile data services, the results are more mixed. "Yes, total wireless data subscribers stood at more than 370 million at the end of 2011, but only 17 million had access to WCDMA services; the rest are being served by GPRS/EDGE,” says Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting at ABI Research . There are known ...