Digital Lifescapes

Connected TV penetration in North America and Western Europe will surge from just over 10 percent in 2011 to over 50 percent by 2017, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Blu-ray disc player penetration is expected to have a similar progression, increasing from about 25 percent in Western Europe and North America in 2011 to over 76 percent by 2017 (standalone and game consoles included). Meanwhile, game console penetration rates by 2017 are only expected to pass 61 percent in North America and 46 percent in Western Europe -- with adoption rates significantly lower in other regions. There are four major connected video CE devices: Connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and Smart set-top boxes (STBs). Most CE manufacturers (notably, Samsung and LG) use a common platform for Connected TVs and Blu-ray players. Microsoft and Nintendo play only in the game console market, while Smart STB leaders Apple and Roku don’t compete in the other connected categories.

Perhaps there will become a time where online video usage growth reaches a plateau -- but we're apparently not there yet. comScore released data showing that more than 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 33 billion online content videos in June. Video advertising reached another all-time high in June -- as 11 billion video ads were viewed. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in June with 154.5 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 51.5 million, Facebook.com with 49 million, VEVO with 46.2 million and Viacom Digital with 38.9 million. Vimeo moved into the top 10 ranking for the first time at #10 with 21.4 million viewers. Nearly 33 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 18.3 billion, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 717.8 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties. Online vi

Is the future of digital media open or closed? How is the ascent of smart devices redefining the environment? To what extent have platforms become a dominant force in mediating the digital media experience -- for both consumers and marketers? These are the key questions that researchers attempted to answer in a recent market study of the evolving digital landscape. eMarketer says that a significant portion of the online digital experience now rests in the hands of four dominant companies -- Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. "Other than content creation, it’s difficult to imagine any aspect of today’s digital landscape where at least one of the Big Four fails to play a prominent, if not defining, role," said eMarketer in their new report entitled The Changing Digital Landscape: Key Trends Marketers Need to Know. The apparent clashes between these four companies are already reshaping the digital landscape -- affecting hardware, software, services, the delivery and s

Infonetics Research has released its latest report on the mobile network service provider ecosystem -- which tracks operator subscribers and revenue derived from pre-paid and post-paid mobile broadband data, voice, and messaging services. "The mobile world is undeniably shifting from voice to data, as mobile operators migrate as many subscribers as they can to data service plans and smartphones," says Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research . Already in North America and Asia Pacific, mobile operators derive over 40 percent of their mobile revenue from mobile broadband and messaging. But, while mobile broadband is no doubt the fastest growing revenue stream for network operators, mobile messaging and voice aren't dead just yet. According to Teral's assessment, the prophecies of doom for mobile operators' SMS/MMS cash cow are being overplayed. Despite the popularity of over-the-top messaging ap

Television broadcasters around the world are apparently deeply divided over their strategy for Social TV applications. Regardless, most seem to agree on one significant point -- they desperately need a meaningful game plan now, while the window of opportunity is still open. According to the findings from the latest market study by Futurescape , a key trend in the first half of 2012 is that some broadcasters are moving quickly to counteract the perceived influence and power that Facebook and Twitter are having over their TV audiences. The savvy broadcasters are now investing in Social TV companies and launching their own Social TV platforms. Meanwhile, others are following a diametrically opposed strategy of partnering with the dominant social networks -- in an attempt to facilitate viewer interaction. This is most evident for the kinds of major news and sports programming that viewers discuss on second screen devices -- such as smartphones and tablets -- during the live TV broadc

Mobile broadband related advances are changing the legacy business models of the telecom sector. In developing nations around the globe, many people will likely encounter the internet for the first time via an inexpensive smartphone. Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its latest 3G and 4G (LTE, WiMAX) Broadband Devices and Subscribers market study that highlights these changes. The global study and resulting report tracks smartphones, smartphone OS, mobile broadband USBs, embedded mobile broadband cards and devices, netbook and tablet OS, mobile broadband and WiMAX routers, and mobile broadband subscribers. "We expect to see some segmentation in the smartphone market in the next 12 to 24 months between high-end 'ultra smart' smartphones and a new breed of 'smart enough' smartphones aimed at the lower end of the market," says Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics Research . Infonetics says that ZTE and Huawei have already launched lo

The total revenue for touch screen modules will reach $16 billion in 2012, and nearly double in six years, reaching $31.9 billion by 2018, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch. The market growth is being driven by increased demand from applications such as media tablets, smartphones, and emerging new notebook PCs. While the leading touch technology is projected capacitive touch, demand for other technologies is also on the rise. Touch screen penetration has rapidly increased in mobile phones, handheld games, and game consoles, as well as in tablet applications, which are forecast to collectively account for more than $13.6 billion in touch screen revenues this year. In addition, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts strong touch screen growth over the next several years driven by demand in larger display applications such as convertible or hybrid notebook PCs. Today, mobile phones are the biggest application for touch screens in terms of unit shipments, accounting f

In the near future, gesture recognition technology will routinely add yet another dimension to human interactions with consumer electronic devices -- such as PCs, media tablets and smartphones. According to the latest market study by ABI Research , they now forecast that 600 million smartphones will be shipped with vision-based gesture recognition features in 2017. "Gesture recognition is a very exciting prospect, particularly for smartphones and tablets," says ABI Research senior analyst Josh Flood. Camera-based tracking for gesture recognition has actually been in use for some time. Leading video game consoles -- Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation -- both have gesture recognition built-in; known as Kinect and PlayStation Eye respectively. These devices are in their seventh and eighth generation. However, several challenges remain for gesture recognition technology for mobile devices, including effectiveness of the technology in adverse light conditions, vari

Why are savvy marketers using promotional video content in their online campaigns? Because they believe that it effectively engages their target stakeholders, but they're really not certain of the actual impact. With online video advertising in the U.S. expected to experience steady growth -- eMarketer now estimates that spending will climb from $3.1 billion in 2012 to $9.3 billion in 2016 -- marketers will need to figure out how to best employ metrics to gauge the value of campaigns on a more individualized basis. As marketers continue to expand the slice of their digital ad budget that's being applied to online video, a better understanding of metrics in this area has become a key part of the process. But due to the common inexperience with online video, as well as the absence of any clear measurement standards, setting goals that define meaningful outcomes will likely present challenges to marketers as these types of campaigns mature. In its latest survey of ad a

The worldwide personal computer (PC) market saw growth stall in the second quarter of 2012 (2Q12), with shipments falling 0.1 percent from a year ago, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The results are slightly below IDC's May projections of 2.1 percent year-on-year growth, but in-line with projections of a slow second and third quarter before faster growth by year end. Part of the reason for slow 2Q12 sales was disappointing sell-out of distribution channels during the first quarter. This limited demand from channels that are wary of building inventory ahead of new product launches this fall. Moreover, consumers remained reluctant about purchasing PCs in this environment of tech transition and soft economics. Ultrabooks have not yet produced any meaningful rise in volumes, perhaps due to the perceived high price and questionable added value. Constrained demand in Europe and the U.S. has also been felt in emerging markets for some

The world was a much simpler place for pay-TV providers when all their competitor user interfaces (UI) had the same unintuitive design, set-top box remote controls had dozens of tiny buttons, channel guides were not interactive and nobody cared to change the status-quo of perpetual mediocrity. Then unwelcome outsiders introduced alternative offerings and the bar of UI design expectations was raised off the ground. The result? The legacy pay-TV companies are now struggling to keep up with the superior video experiences enabled by connected TVs, smartphones and media tablets. Their apparent situation, caused by an apathetic slow-moving business model, as well as serving less technically savvy consumers, is exacerbated by suffering a significant hardware disadvantage -- as they typically rely upon cheap set-top boxes that are based upon a 5-7 year-old technology. Meanwhile, the savvy consumers are looking at video content from a much wider selection of choices -- including more c

Connected Device Platforms (CDP) are software systems that help to facilitate the deployment and management of connected devices for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications over cellular wireless networks. With an expected market of $2.14 billion in 2017, CDPs are typically provisioned by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and delivered to M2M application deployment companies as a cloud service, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . While several large MNOs have built their own CDP, there is a clear trend in the market towards third-party-provided solutions. “Several vendors are active in the market, including Ericsson, NSN, and NEC, among others, but the clear leader, in terms of sheer number of operator partners and market traction, is pure-play provider Jasper Wireless,” says ABI research practice director Sam Lucero. As the M2M market becomes a more mainstream segment of the overall mobile industry, CDPs are increasingly becoming a required component of the MNOs

Shipments of LCD TVs are now expected to grow at a slower pace in 2012 than 2011, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch . Moreover, the overall TV set market is expected to decline this year -- even as segments such as emerging markets, large screen sizes, LED backlights, and 3D continue to grow. Total TV shipments are forecast to fall 1.4 percent in 2012 to 245 million units, while LCD TV is expected to increase by 5 percent — compared to 7 percent growth in 2011 — reaching 216 million units. The decline in overall TV market demand and the slower growth in LCD TV shipments can be attributed to the slower rate of price erosion and cautious spending by consumers in Europe and Asia. Average LCD TV selling prices are only expected to decline 4 percent in 2012 compared with 6 percent erosion in 2011 and 10 percent erosion in 2010. The growth is also slower this year as the transition to digital broadcasting, which accelerated purchases in major markets over the pa

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, cellular wireless machine-to machine (M2M) application development has traditionally been a complex, costly, and time-consuming endeavor. Typically, software developers create their applications from start to finish as entirely custom projects. However, across different applications and verticals, there is actually much commonality of requirements in terms of core features and functionality. For example, how to model an object in the application, how to create rules and alerts, and how to provide security mechanisms are all features that span the M2M market. Increasingly, third-party providers of what ABI Research calls Application Enablement Platforms (AEPs) -- software designed to provide these core features for multiple M2M applications -- are stepping up their efforts to abstract away much of the burden of application development. "ABI Research believes the Market for AEP software will grow from about $169 million

How quickly will online media and entertainment spending grow between 2011 and 2016? What percentage of Facebook advertising impressions are generated by entertainment-related companies? What are the most common goals of entertainment-related mobile advertising campaigns? Those were the questions that eMarketer attempted to answer during their latest market study of the U.S. media and entertainment industries. Overall, the market outlook is very promising, with a few caveats. Online ad spending by the U.S. media and entertainment industries will rise from $2.77 billion in 2012 to $4.34 billion by 2016, according to a new eMarketer report. As more consumers turn to the internet for news and entertainment, advertisers are using digital campaigns to raise awareness, generate buzz and encourage online sales. eMarketer’s ad spending forecast combines media and entertainment because they say that the line between media companies and entertainment companies is becoming increasingl

The apparent saturation of pay-TV subscribers in North American and Western European markets has troubled set-top box vendors for some time. They have had to look elsewhere for new upside opportunities. As an example, while the number of U.S. households that subscribe to  pay-TV service has remained flat during the last two years, those subscribers who are struggling with economic pressures are more likely to switch providers or totally cancel service, according to a recent report from Leichtman Research Group. As a result, emerging markets have become the new high-growth potential opportunity. However, the emerging market environment is very different from the traditional pay-TV arena. It has economic demands that many mainstream device manufacturers simply can't meet. A jump in cable and satellite set-top box shipments in Asia-Pacific markets is being driven by cable digitization in India and China -- as well as China's roll-out of digital satellite boxes to its

comScore reported the key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending May 2012. Their latest market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung is still the top handset manufacturer overall with slightly increased market share. Google Android continued to grow its share in the U.S. smartphone market, accounting for 50.9 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple captured 31.9 percent. Moreover, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by LG with 19.1 percent share. Apple continued to grow its share in the OEM market, ranking third with 15.0 percent (up 1.5 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 12.0 percent and HTC with 6.1 percent. Nearly 110 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May, up 5 percent versu

Information security has always been one of the forefront considerations within the enterprise mobile device industry. BlackBerry mobile phone maker Research in Motion (RIM), for example, gained the attention of Wall Street bankers because of the financial industry's need for high levels of data protection and security -- along with the convenience of mobile data use. While much attention in the mobile industry tends to focus on software-based security -- through detection and preventative applications -- very little seems to be said about the apparent need for embedded mobile device hardware security. Valued at approximately $430 million in 2012, the mobile device hardware security market will be worth $1.9 billion by 2017, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. The bulk of the mobile security market is attributed to embedded chip security technology -- such as the ARM TrustZone -- and the other semiconductor company security solutions. Revenues generated by

Use of media tablets -- such as the Apple iPad and the numerous variations of Google Android-based devices -- by consumers for viewing television or video content more than doubled in 14 regional markets that were surveyed recently, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch. This growth has occurred in conjunction with increased tablet adoption in these markets. The widespread tablet adoption was driven by improved broadband connectivity that has facilitated use of these devices as alternate content-viewing devices. The fastest growing region for media tablet usage is Turkey, with tablet use growing from 3.1 percent in 2011 to 16.5 percent in 2012. In addition, there was strong tablet usage growth in Germany (up nearly fourfold Year-over-Year), France and the U.S. (both up more than threefold Y/Y). Tablet Usage for TV/Video Content Viewing by Countries Surveyed Besides media tablets, consumers are also leveraging other alternate electronic devices such as not

Mobile networking service providers are good at providing basic connectivity, but they typically fail to deliver value-added services (VAS) that their own subscribers need or want. According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, mobile network operators will see their share of mobile content and commerce-related revenue drop from 44 percent in 2011 to 31 percent in 2016 globally. The telecom service provider market share will shrink in areas such as mobile music, mobile games, mobile TV or video, mobile messaging, location-based services and chat or social networking over the next five years. These new services will increasingly be provided over the top (OTT) by third parties that specialize in these creative offerings. According to Informa's assessment, this fall in market share would be more precipitous if it wasn't for the growing role that operators will play in mobile app payments. The app stores have unseated the operators from their former

The upcoming summer Olympic Games in London, England will set a precedent for the use and application of advanced digital technology -- that's from the perspective of both multimedia content producers and consumers. The BBC says that London 2012 will be the first truly digital Games. They will ensure audiences never miss a moment, delivering unprecedented coverage across multiple digital platforms -- so that sports fans can stay up to date wherever they are, whenever they want to view the action. The BBC will give audiences more choice, with access to: Every Olympic event, sport and venue live, on-demand and interactive on bbc.co.uk/sport , with up to 24 live HD streams and 2,500 hours of coverage. Pages for every athlete, sport, venue and country, enabling detailed access to real-time updated Olympics data, statistics and news. High quality coverage that’s personal and social, enabling audiences to follow and favorite every athlete, sport, event and country and get tailore

Cell-based mobile networks are going through a global metamorphosis -- driven by the emergence of small cell technology deployments. Informa Telecoms & Media issued its latest quarterly small cell market status report, which highlights growing network operator interest in public access small cells as well as progress in the femtocell market. Their report also highlights that small cells will outnumber all macrocells globally during Q4 2012 and that femtocells (aka residential small cells) alone will outnumber all macrocells shortly afterwards in Q1 2013. In the public access market, SK Telecom has successfully started rolling out the world's first LTE small cell deployment while AT&T, Sprint and China Mobile have all committed to rolling out 3G small cell services -- AT&T and Sprint plan to launch later this year. Verizon Wireless also announced its intention to launch LTE public access small cells in the future while Sprint is planning to roll out its first LTE d

According to the latest market study by Infonetics Research, traditional pay-TV service providers have a window of opportunity to innovate and re-imagine the forward-looking video entertainment experience -- while they still have a leading position in the global marketplace. Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Pay-TV Services and Subscribers report, which forecasts and analyzes the telco Internet protocol television (IPTV), cable video, and satellite video services markets. "Cable video still makes up over half of the global pay-TV market, but revenue growth is decelerating due to a slowdown in new subscribers, especially in the lucrative North American market, as competition from satellite and IPTV operators intensifies and as OTT offerings from Netflix, Hulu, and others siphon away a small, but growing number of households," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research . That being said, going

According to the latest market study by Infonetics Research, the increased adoption of connected consumer electronics devices -- and various other Internet-enabled devices within the home -- creates exponential demand for high-speed local area networks. "Media tablets, connected TVs, digital media players, and a growing list of other devices are driving sales of home networking devices, and this is nowhere more apparent than in North America, which captured 37 percent of networking device revenue in 2011," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research . Infonetics has forecast that the demand for broadband peripherals -- especially those with integrated MoCA chips -- will continue to increase globally as broadband service providers in all regions launch new home automation, energy management, entertainment, and communications services that require high-end networking devices. I anticipate that the upside for new high-speed

The worldwide personal computer (PC) market is forecast to grow at 5 percent year-over-year in 2012. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), nearly 383 million PCs will ship into the market this year. That's a slight improvement over the tepid growth seen in 2011 -- as PC sales continue to falter amidst intensifying competition from alternative devices and a highly volatile global economy. In addition to rising consumer saturation in mature regions, economic uncertainty -- as well as the anticipated launch of Microsoft Windows 8 -- and growth of competing media tablet devices are the key factors affecting the market outlook. With the threat of a relapse into recession in several markets adversely affecting public spending and business confidence, the 2012 forecast for several key segments has been reduced -- especially among small and medium-sized firms. IDC believes that Windows 8 could help to reinvigorate a consumer market that has l

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest market study of global service providers, which analyzes telecom operator revenue and capital expenditures (capex); forecasts capex by operator type, region, and telecom equipment segment; and provides insight into important telecom spending trends. "We're expecting a telecommunications capex hike in 2012, as operators around the world ramp their spending like crazy to launch LTE networks, modernize their mobile networks, and carry out national wireline broadband initiatives, said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research . According to the Infonetics assessment, network operators must invest in their networks or they'll suffer the consequences -- after all, worldwide competition for telecom leadership is very intense. And, this twenty-first century infrastructure is a key lever for sustained national prosperity and growth. What's driving the lates