Digital Lifescapes

The ongoing transition to digital publishing and online content distribution has created a potentially significant upside opportunity for forward-thinking publishers. But what are the key trends in this rapidly evolving marketplace? How are electronic newspapers and magazines being monetized? What role do digital newsstands and aggregators play in marketing eNewspapers and eMagazines? And, how are publishers, advertisers and merchants addressing consumer demand for ecommerce capabilities on tablet editions? These are the questions that eMarketer considered for their latest market study of the American ePublishing sector. Theoretically, the rising adoption of tablets, smartphones and ereaders point to a favorable business climate for publishers of digital newspapers and magazines -- as well as for other stakeholders in the publishing industry. Despite this momentum though, the traditional publishing industry faces numerous hurdles in the quest to fully monetize its digital con

Over-the-Top video consumption continues to break prior records of online American viewership. comScore released data showing that an all-time high of 188 million U.S. Internet users watched 37.7 billion online content videos in August -- while video ad views totaled 9.5 billion. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in August with 150.2 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 55 million, Microsoft Sites with 53.7 million, VEVO with 49.3 million and Facebook.com with 47.7 million. Nearly 37.7 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 13.8 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 725 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties. Americans viewed 9.5 billion video ads in August, with each of the top 4 video advertising properties delivering more than one billion video ads. Google Sites ranked fi

comScore released the results from the latest market study of U.S. mobile smartphone user shopping behavior, which found that 4 in every 5 people -- 85.9 million in total -- accessed retailer related content on their device in July, 2012. Amazon Sites led as the top retailer with an audience of 49.6 million visitors, while multi-channel retailers including Apple (17.7 million visitors), Wal-Mart (16.3 million visitors), Target (10 million visitors) and Best Buy (7.2 million visitors) also attracted significant mobile audiences. "With nearly 86 million Americans now shopping on their smartphones, this pronounced shift in consumer behavior is simply too large for retailers to ignore, with the future of their business depending on how well they adapt to the new environment," said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of mobile research. comScore says that adapting to today's online retail environment requires optimizing the experience across multiple platforms -- for both mobile

If you've been following the pay-TV adoption trend in the North American marketplace, then you may have assumed that the same story of declining subscribers was happening across the globe. But that's not true. The global pay-TV market actually continues to grow in a few select markets -- despite the ongoing decline in the North America pay-TV market during 2012. ABI Research forecasts that global pay TV subscribers will reach 858.1 million at the end of 2012 -- that's a 5 percent year-on-year increment from 2011. The key growth will be driven by the Asia-Pacific market, which is expected to add more than 27 million subscribers in 2012. That being said, the cable TV operators in United States have been facing a continuous decline in pay-TV subscribers. In the first two quarters of 2012, cable TV operators lost nearly 800 thousand subscribers. The U.S. cable TV broadband subscriber base has continued to grow -- the internet access market opportunity is now the focal p

According to the latest market study by ABI research, the wireless sensor network market, led by the ZigBee standard, grew ten-fold from 2007 to 2010 and exceeded 45 million annual shipments in 2011. "Strong growth is expected for 2012 and beyond as ZigBee pervades the home automation and home entertainment markets, while Smart Meters continue to be rolled out across the globe,” said Peter Cooney, wireless connectivity practice director at ABI Research . Smart metering is the largest market for ZigBee in 2012 and will continue to be the major market growth driver as global roll outs of smart meters continue apace. ZigBee/RF4CE use in the home environment will also be a major growth driver. Home automation and home entertainment together are forecast to grow to over $300 million per annum by 2017. Until quite recently ZigBee/RF4CE has been the lead choice for interoperable low power wireless connectivity in the home automation and home entertainment markets and one look at

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, despite the ongoing marketing campaign to educate audiences about the Intel-based ultrabook computers, most mainstream potential users have not been interested in these relatively high-priced systems. In hindsight, ABI believes that Intel was too optimistic with its prediction that 40 percent of all notebook computers this year would be ultrabooks. Clearly, that has not happened. Uptake of expensive thin and light notebook computers during the first half of 2012 was disappointing, though new market data from ABI Research now forecasts 20 million will ship worldwide in 2012. Ultrabooks -- a term coined by Intel for ultra-portable computers based on its processor architecture -- are part of the broader portable computing market typically associated with the latest notebook PC phenomenon. Targeted at the mid-range to high-range price category, the most popular ultra-portable computer today is the Apple MacBook Air. "Init

Marketers that are seeking growth within the online North American marketplace should not underestimate the upside potential that's developing outside of the United States. In fact, while market saturation may be an issue in the region, new high-growth opportunities still exist. Canada, with a population about one-tenth the size of the U.S. market, also has a significantly smaller business-to-consumer ecommerce market. But when viewed holistically, there's much more to consider than the mere market size. This year, according to the latest market study by eMarketer , online sales of retail and travel products will reach $21.45 billion in the Canadian market -- that's compared to $343.43 billion in the United States. That online revenue gives Canada a 2 percent share of all B2C ecommerce sales around the world, or 5.9 percent of the market in North America. And while its worldwide share will drop slightly in coming years as emerging economies grow their online sale

Mobile network service providers are increasingly coming under pressure to improve their profit margins -- as well as introduce new services to counter the competition from freemium Over-the-Top (OTT) services such as Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, and FaceTime. To date, mobile network operators have had limited options with 3G, but 4G LTE should give them some new tools that should help to expand their service delivery horizons. In 2Q 2012, minutes of use showed the greatest declines compared to 2011 in Asia-Pacific (-7.36 percent), Africa (-6.3 percent), Western Europe (-2.32 percent), and North America (-2.12 percent). "The only regions with any significant positive growth were the Middle East (8.5 percent) and Latin America (5.87 percent)," said Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research . LTE does not just transform the delivery of broadband data, it also can enrich the voice services market potential. SK Telecom, Korea's largest mobile network operator, launched

According to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch, smartphone shipments are forecast to reach 567 million in 2012, and nearly double by 2016 as new phones continue to enter this established market. "Apple’s iPhone 5 will be a key product for the smartphone market in the second half of 2012. Apple shipped more than 140 million phones in 2010 and 2011, so we can expect smartphone shipments to continue flourishing as users upgrade to the new iPhone," said Hiroshi Hayase, vice president at NPD DisplaySearch . Despite the excitement surrounding the new Apple iPhone, the volume of new smartphone shipments is actually lower than they had expected. Therefore, NPD DisplaySearch downgraded its 2012 forecast of new purchases from 220-230 million to 177 million devices. The volume of replacement phones, however, is expected to increase as new smartphones enter the market. The upside potential of the replacement market will likely become the forward-looking focal point for i

comScore reported on the key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending July 2012. Their latest market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.6 percent market share. Google Android continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for 52.2 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple secured just 33.4 percent. For the three-month average period ending in July, 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 18.4 percent share. Apple continued to gain share in the OEM market, ranking third with 16.3 percent of mobile subscribers (up 1.9 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 11.2 percent and HTC with 6.4 percent (up 0.4 percentage points). More than 114 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the

Mobile broadband now represents the leading edge in innovation and development for computing, networking, Internet technology and software. "The mobile broadband market has continued to explode thanks to widespread adoption, powerful new networks, stunning new handheld devices, and more than a million mobile applications," said Peter Rysavy, President of Rysavy Research and author of the latest market study for 4G Americas. The resulting report discusses the evolution of HSPA and LTE, as well as the capabilities of these technologies and their position relative to other primary competing technologies. It explains how these technologies fit into the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) roadmap that leads to International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) and beyond. Their new white paper notes that major developments this past year include not only HSPA ubiquity, but rapid deployment of LTE networks; deepening smartphone capability; the availabilit

Media tablet adoption is already having an effect on other mobile reading devices. Eleven million eReaders are projected to be shipped globally in 2012. That's down from a peak volume of 15 million devices in 2011. Moreover, the growing popularity of media tablets -- along with declining U.S. baby boomer population and lack of organized digital bookstores outside of the America and Western Europe -- will reduce the eReader opportunity over the next five years. “Regardless of the tremendous historical eReader success, the market tides have already begun to turn,” says Joshua Flood, senior mobile devices analyst at ABI Research . Despite the average tablet selling for more than $465 as a result of Apple’s dominant market position, tablets are expected to outsell eReaders by a factor of nine to one this year. Nevertheless, the eReader market will not be totally cannibalized by media tablets. We believe there will always be a niche market for the dedicated reading device for v

End-user demand and a desire for lower-priced smartphones will make China (PRC) the largest market for smartphones this year, overtaking the United States as the global leader in smartphone shipments. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), China will account for 26.5 percent of all smartphone shipments in 2012 -- that's compared to 17.8 percent for the United States. "Looking ahead, the PRC smartphone market will continue to be lifted by the sub-$200 Android segment," said Wong Teck-Zhung, senior market analyst at IDC Asia-Pacific. Near-term prices in the low-end segment will come down to $100 and below as competition for market share intensifies among the primary smartphone vendors. Carrier-subsidized and customized handsets from domestic vendors will further support the migration to smartphones and boost shipments. Looking ahead to the later years in the forecast, the move to 4G networks will be another growth catalyst.

Smartphones in the workplace are now considered to be one of the most significant trends that will further drive demand for new mobile business productivity applications. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they now estimate that by 2017 about 2.4 billion enterprise employees will be using smartphones. This represents a growth rate of 17 percent and is nearly three times more smartphones than employees use today -- in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) segment of the global marketplace. "Billions, not millions, is the size of the BYOD smartphone market. Mobility suppliers and enterprises need to think in terms of serving all employees with tools, apps, and services via their smartphones instead of only mobile employees or corporate liable employees," said Dan Shey, enterprise practice director at ABI Research . The most immediate opportunities are in the mobile business customer base which includes employees using their phone for business reasons. This g

The recorded music industry has experienced a major loss of value during the last decade, primarily due to the legacy companies choosing a slow and painful path to transition their business models and thereby embrace digital media distribution. That being said, lately they appear to be more in sync with consumer demand. The global digital music market is expected to grow at 15 percent annually, reaching nearly $22.5 billion by 2017, according to the latest market study by Ovum. Revenue is being boosted by streaming music subscription services, which are predicted to show a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46 percent -- much of that upside will be due to bundling partnerships with telecom service providers. New forecasts from Ovum reveal growth across most regions -- except North America and Europe, where mobile music is expected to decline by 5 to 7 percent (excluding unlicensed, non-music, and mobile subscriptions) as phone ring back tones fail to make up for the dec

The latest smartphones and media tablets have already helped to evolve the user requirements for the human interface with computer-based devices -- people like to touch the screen. Now, notebook and all-in-one PCs will help drive total touch screen module revenue to nearly $16 billion in 2012, and almost double to $31.9 billion by 2018, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch. Touch screens used in smaller consumer electronics devices -- such as smartphones and tablets -- will continue to grow as well. Tablets are the fastest growing application for touch technology, with 2011 shipments tripling to 79.6 million units. NPD forecasts that more than 130 million touch screens will be shipped for tablets in 2012, and over 190 million in 2013. Revenues for touch screens in tablet PCs are expected to grow by more than $3 billion in 2013. "Over the next few years, demand for thin, lightweight, and lower-cost touch devices will drive strong touch screen growth in di

The number of mobile phone users worldwide will continue to grow through 2016, and smartphone users, in particular, are on the rise. This year, there will be 950 million smartphone users around the world, reaching 1.94 billion by 2015. In the developing nations of the world, a mobile device may be the first and only way that many of their consumers will access the internet. As people prosper and move upward in the local economy, their expectations and related product or service needs evolve. According to the latest market study by eMarketer , business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sales in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) -- including sales of travel, digital downloads and event tickets -- are growing much faster than in any other region in the world by a margin of nearly 10 percentage points. But the growth in this region is somewhat limited by a very low base of online spending. eMarketer estimates online buyers in the region will spend $20.61 billion this year, making MEA the