Digital Lifescapes

The New York Times reports that the year is still young, yet the two leading makers of semiconductors for personal computers have already experienced moves of 20 percent in their stocks. To the great chagrin of Intel shareholders, no doubt, their stock has fallen, while Advanced Micro Devices' has rallied. Why the striking divergence? One simple reason. "The current A.M.D. offer on chips is just better," said Bob Turner, whose Turner Investment Partners runs two technology mutual funds. "What they offer is a microprocessor integrated with memory that is better than Intel's. They really got it right this time." Until recently, A.M.D. had a reputation for seldom getting it as right as Intel. But A.M.D. has caught up with its rival and even surpassed it, and it has been able to exploit this design gap, as industry analysts call it, to grab market share. "Silicon Valley has been following this saga for many years," said Kevin Landis, manager of the Fir...

Three major U.S. telecom carriers have committed to a new initiative to help simplify the connection of consumer devices to IP broadband networks and the subsequent use of new services, such as IPTV. While the Intel ViiV movement attempts to dominate headlines in the area of CE and PC convergence, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it has established a series of principles governing the vendor neutral connection of devices to emerging communications networks. The principles are designed to ensure consumers have the choice to use content, whether movies, games, audio or self-generated, on a wide variety of devices. Mapped into five main parts, the new CEA guidelines have already attracted the support of AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon, and according to CEA President Gary Shapiro, bring a mass digital media market closer to reality. Under the IP interoperability guidelines, the CEA firstly aims to develop nationwide compatibility, "enabling CE manufacturers to de...

The U.S. House lawmakers have agreed in principle to award national cable franchises to phone companies and to subject cable operators to continued local franchising requirements until phone rivals have reached 15 percent local video market penetration, according to industry and Capitol Hill aides. The agreement was reached by House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Reps. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the sources said. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have been urging Congress to adopt a national-franchise policy, but the agreement includes provisions that have not been publicly debated. Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is expected to unveil a bill soon that is expected to include cable-franchising relief for the large phone companies. Under the House agreement, one provision would withhold re...

Reuters tells a story of Anne McNamara who needs a wireless Internet network in her Germantown, Maryland, home. It's a good thing her son knows how to set one up. "If Kevin wasn't here, I probably wouldn't attempt it at all," said McNamara, 49, who describes her computer knowledge skills as "Amish." With six children and two adults across three floors of the McNamara household, someone is always online. Having a wireless network makes it easier for them to be connected at the same time, and more American homes are discovering the joys of Internet surfing from anywhere in the house. Like scores of other people, the McNamaras have discovered that successful installation can be a headache, especially for the less technologically inclined. For those without a friend or relative steeped in the technology arts or access to a professional, returning the gear may be the only option. Dena Andre, 57, returned her NetGear router to the friend who gave it to her las...

The New York Times reports that in the digital music market, France is singing a different tune. A bill under debate in the French Parliament may require iPods to be able to play music purchased from competing Internet services, not just Apple Computer's own iTunes Music Store, forcing changes in the business model that gave rise to the revolution in legal digital music downloads. The bill, which also proposes to turn individual digital piracy into a violation no more serious than a parking ticket, would go next to the Senate, where it is unlikely to be altered significantly, political analysts say. Some critics say the plan is technically unworkable, unfairly undermines Apple and opens the door to more piracy by crippling technology that protects copyrights. Supporters see France setting a long-overdue legal precedent that opens Apple's closed iPod-iTunes digital music system to competition. The amendments proposed by the government, tacked onto what is being called the author...

Point Topic reports that 2005 saw a big shift in the leadership of the DSL market away from the Asia-Pacific region and in favour of Europe. The leading Asia-Pacific countries grew their installed base of DSL lines much more slowly than the leading Europeans. Even China could manage only 56 percent growth, and the number of DSL lines in use in South Korea actually fell by 250,000. The three biggest European countries all overtook South Korea in number of DSL lines, and Spain passed Canada and Taiwan to enter the Top Ten. The UK was the fastest growing Top Ten country for the year as a whole, adding over 3 million DSL lines to increase its installed base by 73 percent. All the leading European countries grew by more than 40 percent. The UK did relatively less well in the last quarter of 2005. Although it grew by a reasonable 12.4 percent - equivalent to a 60 percent annual rate - Italy, Spain and Germany all grew more rapidly and France almost as fast. China and the USA put on 6.9 perce...

Kagan Research reports that cable system operators with more mature "triple play" bundles posted solid revenue and cash flow gains in 2005, and their operating results bode well for holding their turf against the emerging media rivals. The number six operator (by subscriber count)� Cablevision � generated a lofty $100.46 average revenue per subscriber per month for the fourth quarter of 2005, marking the first time a cabler cracked the $100 ARPU benchmark. "Cable is poised to have another good year in 2006," notes Renee Shaening, analyst with Kagan Research. "Cable bundling of voice, high speed data and enhanced services such as VOD are proving to be a magnet to hold customers." The third leg of cable's triple play strategy, telephony, is on the edge of a steep growth curve. According to Kagan the cable industry ended 2005 with 5.67 million voice subs (including customers on both circuit switched and IP based infrastructures). Cablevision's voice s...

USA Today reports that the cable industry criticized the Federal Communications Commission for its report last month that concluded many consumers could reduce their monthly bills if they could subscribe just to channels they want. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association and Disney released separate studies each commissioned that reached a similar conclusion: The FCC made errors in its analysis, and as a result, favors a policy of a la carte pricing that would result in higher prices as well as fewer and less diverse programming options. Meanwhile, The FCC stood by its study. Why? The new reports are a sign of "industry hysterics," says Consumers Union's Gene Kimmelman. "In Canada, you can buy a la carte as many channels as most Americans watch for about 20 percent less. In France, you can get ESPN for 40 cents a month, so it's hard for me to believe it would be $20 here in the U.S." Moreover, PCCW offers IPTV-based a la carte programming wit...

European telecom operators need to develop strategies that are tailored to their local markets if IPTV is to be a revenue earner rather than simply a product differentiator, according to UK research firm Analysys. IPTV services offer significant potential for operators to offset the impact of declining voice revenues and falling broadband prices, but the European market is more disparate and complex than that of the US, where much of the noise about IPTV services started. "There are profound national differences in pay-TV and multi-channel adoption, in broadband take-up and digitalization and in the range of competing platforms," said report author Windsor Holden. "It is therefore essential for operators to develop local strategies that reflect these conditions if they are to acquire a critical mass of subscribers." While IPTV faces competition from pay-TV platforms and from free-to-air digital terrestrial television offerings, Analysys says that there will be oppor...

After an explosive year of growth in 2005 that has seen the Bluetooth market more than double, 2006 looks set to provide another healthy year of profits for Bluetooth vendors. ABI Research concludes in a new study that the market for Bluetooth radios will grow by 71 percent to a level just over 500 million radio shipments in 2006. Stuart Carlaw, Principal Analyst, Wireless Connectivity, notes, "This growth will be attributed to extremely robust attach rate gains in the cellular handset market as well as a continuation of the explosive growth in the headset market." The report forecasts that the market will grow at a compound annual rate of over 40 percent between 2004 and 2011, and equipment shipments are expected to break the 1 billion mark by 2009. Several new applications for Bluetooth are likely to come to the fore in the medium term: most notable among these is the gaming market, which is likely to be spurred by the releases of the Nintendo Revolution and Sony's Play...

Even as markets approach saturation and prices continue to fall, spending on mobile services in Central and Eastern Europe expanded last year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. According to an IDC study of 11 markets in the region, spending rose 13.5 percent in 2005 to $15.12 billion, and should rise by 9.5 percent this year. Subscriptions rose a substantial 15.7 percent across the region, bringing total penetration to 78 percent, with three more countries passing the 100 percent mark, bringing the total to four (Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, and Slovenia). "The CEE mobile markets are growing but they are also going through turbulent times, with high saturation fueling rivalries," said Kresimir Alic, research analyst, Communications, IDC CEMA. "Operators have redoubled their efforts to encourage prepaid customers to take on postpaid contracts, ramping up data and 3G offerings to create new revenue streams. The nature of the technology has become...

Ultra Wideband (UWB) is set to revolutionize the way that devices are connected to each other, affecting the markets for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even the USB on PCs. This technology is due to start being incorporated into devices from 2006, and the number of UWB-enabled devices will increase by more than 400 percent year-to-year through 2008. These are the findings from the latest report by research firm Visiongain. The basic concept of UWB is to develop, transmit and receive an extremely short duration burst of RF energy. It is a cheap, lower power solution that will enable electronic devices in homes and offices to be connected efficiently and without the burden of cabling. This will be especially important for connecting multimedia devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, PCs, HDTV monitors and printers. As such, UWB represents a major step forward towards making the concept of the wireless digital home a reality. �UWB offers a promising solution to the scarcity of RF spectrum b...

Current Analysis reports that in 2005, Media Center desktops reached a long-sought breakthrough in consumer adoption, as they increased from an 8 percent share of U.S. retail desktop sales in January 2005 to 48 percent in December 2005. This was based in large part on the lower price points obtained by omitting the TV tuner hardware component. However, recent Current Analysis data show that TV tuners, which allow Media Center users to receive and record television signals, are making a comeback. Desktop computers equipped with TV tuners bottomed out in October 2005 with an 8.7 percent unit share but increased each month thereafter, culminating in a 12.8 percent unit share for February 2006. The television arena is pivotal turf in the war for the Digital Home because it offers the most opportunity for lucrative infrastructure and broadcast content. Viewed in this light, music is in second place in terms of its ability to generate revenue, with photos and radio in distant third and fourt...

AOL and Warner Bros. are saying "Welcome Back" to thousands of classic TV shows with the launch of In2TV, the first broadband television network, on AOL.com. The network offers the largest collection of free on-demand TV shows on the Web, including full episodes of favorite Warner Bros. programs from the past 40 years such as Welcome Back, Kotter, Chico & The Man, Alice, Growing Pains, Sisters, Kung Fu, Lois & Clark and many others, along with interactive features and viral videos that enable audiences to experience and interact with television programming in an entirely new way. �In2TV breaks new ground as the first true broadband television network. With the largest collection of full length television programming anywhere on the Web, plus interactive features and viral videos all free and on-demand, In2TV will appeal to existing fans as well as introduce these shows to a whole new generation,� said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President, AOL Media Networks. �In2T...

Healthy growth in the online music market will continue for the rest of the decade, with worldwide sales growing from $1.5 million in 2005 to $10.7 million in 2010, reports In-Stat. Additionally, In-Stat expects that revenue from downloaded music will outpace revenue from physical media bought online by 2007. This is evidence that the Internet is now a key distribution channel for legitimate digital music sales; and the mobile phone is also evolving into an important channel for digital music. "Consumers are clearly opting for legal ways to purchase music, and more legitimate music sites are available," says Stephanie Guza, In-Stat analyst. "But vendors still face significant obstacles including Internet piracy, interoperability concerns, and the unlicensed use of digital streams." In-Stat's consumer survey found the following: - Nearly half of the survey respondents admitted to downloading music from the Internet; and 64 percent of these respondents have paid ...

According to a report by ABI Research, municipal Wi-Fi networks covered only about 1,500 square miles worldwide (3885 square kilometers) in 2005. Yet by 2010, that figure is expected to increase to 126,000 square miles (over 325,000 square km), an area slightly larger than Poland, or the US state of New Mexico. The bulk of these deployments will take place in North America and the Asia-Pacific region. To serve those networks, more than one million wireless mesh routers will be shipped in 2010. The manufacturing revenues from those shipments will exceed US$ 1.2 billion. According to the report, four significant trends are energizing this emerging market. Many local governments clearly wish to deploy municipal broadband networks, for public safety as well as increased government efficiency. Alternative ISPs see mesh networking as enabling their own broadband service facilities to compete with incumbent service providers. Wireless mesh networking technology is seen as an efficient and cos...

Latin America's turbulent economic conditions and underdeveloped media technology have largely kept the region behind the cutting edge of new media innovations. But with 21.1 million multichannel TV households spread across 19 key territories, its $6.1 billion subscription TV business is showing growth in some extended services and two-way upgrades. Kagan Research forecasts progress in upgrading to digital cable networks from analog and introduction of interactive TV platforms. ITV enables commerce, gambling, contests and other two-way services. Also, a merger of the region's two struggling DTH platforms should promote growth. Like most developing regions, Latin America is dominated by incumbent analog cable systems, with sluggish development of alternative platforms such as Internet protocol television (IPTV), projected for just a few territories such as Brazil and Argentina. The region's four leading multichannel territories are Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Mexico...

Forrester Research shares their perspective on the future of direct marketing. Hasn't number five already come to pass? Most traditional advertising agencies were slow to embrace using search engine text ads; many advised their customers that blogs were dangerous; some still believe that a "command and control" mindset is a viable way to deal with open consumer dialogue. Here are Forrester's five predictions: 1. Search marketing will become the killer app for acquisition marketing. 2. By 2010, 13 percent of all consumer retail and travel dollars will be spent online. 3. TV will decline rapidly in 2007; by 2015, most TV dollars will flow to new formats. 4. Direct mail will become a lower-volume, premium medium. 5. The dominance of traditional agencies will wane.

Nielsen//NetRatings announced that the number of active broadband users from home increased 28 percent year-over-year, from 74.3 million in February 2005 to 95.5 million in February 2006. Broadband composition among the U.S. active online population has seen vigorous growth during the past three years, increasing at least ten percentage points annually and hitting an all-time high of 68 percent for active Internet users in February 2006. With increased broadband penetration, a growing trend is accessing streaming media online at video sharing sites. MSN Video garnered 9.3 million unique visitors in February 2006, growing 44 percent over the previous year. YouTube and Google Video grew from relative obscurity in February 2005 to substantial players in February 2006, drawing 9.0 million and 6.2 million unique visitors, respectively. iFilm and Yahoo�s video search saw triple digit year-over-year growth in their visitation, drawing 4.3 million and 3.8 million unique visitors, respectively.

TelecomTV reports that UK-based telco and global IT services company BT has announced a partnership with Digital Cinema Network Service(DCNS) to launch a worldwide digital cinema solution designed to offer a complete menu of products, systems and services, including state-of-the-art theater equipment, installation and comprehensive technical support. DCNS has appointed BT as its global system integrator to develop, install and operate its digital cinema solution, which, it says, promises to revolutionise the movie industry. "We are thrilled that BT, one of the world's leading networked IT service providers, will be working with us to deliver this exciting new technology and comprehensive business solution to the global entertainment industry," said Malcolm Ferris, President and CEO, DCNS. "Besides providing audiences with better viewing experiences and options, the enabling technologies delivered by DCNS will also serve as catalysts to help filmmakers and production ...