Digital Lifescapes

According to the Harvard Business Review, Best Buy is using clustering to move away from a standardized big-box strategy. It has revamped close to 300 of its 700 U.S. stores, introducing "customer-centric" formats to appeal to local shoppers. The company identified five representative types (consumer persona) of customers. First, there's "Jill," a busy mother who is the chief buyer for her household and wants quick, personalized help navigating the world of technology. In Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the company designed a store that caters to the needs of this suburban moms segment. The company found that this group of previously untapped consumers offered the best opportunity for expansion in the region. To attract this group, the store has an uncluttered layout with wider aisles and warmer lighting, and technology-related toys for children. Personal shopping assistants educate technology neophytes about products, and there's more floor space allocated to hous...

AdAge reports that Jeff Newelt is into MySpace. Within the social network, he's known as "JahFurry," has 1,817 friends and is a typical MySpace user. In real life, the 34-year-old New Yorker is a public-relations specialist with clients including Samsung Electronics. While many think of MySpace simply as an online teen-socializing site, grown-ups are using the social-networking behemoth in ever-increasing numbers for networking, marketing and trend-watching. Today more than 22 million adults aged 35 and older use MySpace, and more than 60 percent of unique visitors are older than 25, according to comScore Networks. But they're not just there for recipe swapping and travel tips. Like Mr. Newelt, they're also doing business. While traditional corporate fare is out, as MySpace has rules against commercial ventures, there is plenty of room for nontraditional marketing and creative business strategy. As an example, I personally maintain a MySpace Profile page that I h...

USA Today reports that digital media has turned Madison Avenue on its head in the past year, and ad agencies are racing to remake themselves to respond. As new media challenge traditional media's dominance with marketers trying to hawk products, agencies are scrambling to reorganize to be able to create advertising for the growing range of platforms, to develop tools to measure effectiveness of alternative ad forms and to devise models for getting paid for the new types of work. The pace of change will be the hot topic this week for the ad industry's leadership at the 53rd International Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, opening today in France. There is no consensus on how to measure the effectiveness of new ad forms vs. old, nor on how to meet some marketers' demands to base agency compensation on performance measures. Not everyone in the industry is on board with the notion of upending the decades-old pay model under which an agency collects 15 percent of what the advert...

The future of TV will be a key theme at this year�s Communicasia 2006 show in Singapore, with both mobile TV and Video, and IPTV set to top the agenda according to Mark Newman, Chief Research Officer at Informa Telecoms & Media. �As voice revenues continue to decline and eventually become a commodity, both fixed and mobile operators are looking to differentiate their services from those of their competitors and to avoid scenarios where price is the only differentiator,� comments Newman. �There are proven business models and seemingly insatiable demand for television services so it is extremely tempting for telcos to try and get into this sector,� he continues. Informa predicts that there will be 120 million mobile TV users by 2010. Adoption rates will vary from region to region as the infrastructure is deployed and handsets begin to proliferate. Asia Pacific will lead the way with 2.4 million anticipated users by the end of this year, growing to 59.4 million users by 2010 or near...

Heavy Reading has released its first-ever worldwide forecast covering fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology and network deployments as part of a new report on the FTTH sector. "The transition from copper to fiber access networks is now well underway and will result in the replacement of most copper networks over the next two decades," notes Graham Finnie, Senior Analyst with Heavy Reading and author of the report. "Although DSL offers a temporary fix to the ever-growing consumer demand for bandwidth, it will run out of options in the next three to five years, meaning that telcos must begin the transition to fiber soon." Key findings of FTTH Worldwide Market and Technology Forecast, 2006-2011 include the following: Total number of homes connected to fiber will grow from about 11 million at the end of 2006 to about 86 million at the end of 2011, representing about 5 percent of all households worldwide. This growth will be dominated by Asia, where the number of connected...

According to Forrester Research, French consumers are very interested in broadband triple play � and they enjoy the most advanced and competitive xDSL-based triple-play market in Western Europe. But that doesn't mean that incumbent telco France Telecom will make money on its triple-play offering. Forrester's new, detailed, bottom-up P&L model looks at the profit potential from 15 main revenue categories across 17 countries and concludes that the vendor-recommended solution would be financial suicide for FT. Forrester predicts a cumulative per-subscriber loss of �4,311 in year 10, thanks to low revenue growth and massive backhaul costs. The key problem is that French consumers want triple play � but they don't want to pay a lot for TV services, thereby limiting revenue growth. What can FT expect if it continues down this path? High investment costs and lots of price and content competition for TV subscribers. There are significant lessons to be learned by observing the a...

NYTimes reports about design innovations that actively include the consumer within the product or service creation process. It's been done already in other industries, and I believe that it's time to utilize this approach to re-imagine the television consumer experience. Here's a quote from the column that made me think, "why not view IPTV trials through this lens?" Telcos need meaningful points of differention, other than a lower price, and there's no time like the present to engage your trial thought-leader customers. The NYTimes column is entitled "To Charge Up Customers, Put Customers in Charge." Eric von Hippel, head of the innovation and entrepreneurship group at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calls this bottom-up phenomenon "lead-user innovation," and has studied its effects in industries from extreme-sports gear to medical equipment. In a time of ever more talented technology enthusiasts...

I'm one of the many people now following Alan Weinkrantz's SAtechBlog with great interest while he documents his impressions as an open-minded AT&T U-verse IPTV trial participant in San Antonio, Texas. Today I posted the following comment on Alan's site. I remain upbeat about the raw potential for IPTV in the U.S. market, but the apparent lack of value-added service delivery imagination needs to be addressed. IMHO, this isn't a huge problem, yet -- instead, it's still a huge un-tapped opportunity. As you know, I�ve been researching the evolution of the digital home phenomenon, connected consumers and their associated digital lifestyle applications -- while consulting for my client, Motive, Inc., for the last year. In the process I�ve witnessed the recent developments coming from the many launch trials and commercial IPTV deployments worldwide, and they have been a truly interesting learning exercise. Likewise, your ongoing insights and commentary regarding your...

UK incumbent telco BT announced an agreement that will allow its Vision customers to access, on demand, hundreds of music videos from independent record labels across the UK. The deal with Video Performance Ltd (VPL), the music industry organisation licensing the broadcast and public performance of music videos, will allow BT Vision to show music videos from artists such as The White Stripes, as well as hundreds of harder-to-find or classic videos that rarely receive airplay on conventional television. BT is steadily building up a raft of services for Vision - its flagship operation in a converged future. Dan Marks, CEO BT Television Services, said: "This agreement with VPL means that BT Vision customers will see cutting edge music videos. There will be a fantastic choice from over 900 independent labels, such as Beggars Banquet, Sanctuary, XL recordings and Gut that will be offering BT Vision customers a diverse range of videos from the likes of The Raconteurs, Basement Jaxx and ...

Reuters reports that South Korea, home to the world's most sophisticated online video games, is preparing an assault on North America, Japan and Europe, setting the stage for an international scrum in an industry poised to nearly triple in value in the coming years. South Korea is one of the world's most Internet-connected nations with the highest true broadband market penetration globally, and only recently began allowing sales of video game consoles that are so popular in Japan and the West. As a result, all of the country's gaming efforts have gone into online games that offer open-ended stories set in virtual universes that can support tens of thousands of players. South Korean Internet cafes, known as PC baangs, are the launching pad for online gamers and such a vital part of the social fabric that it is not unusual for youngsters in the throes of puppy love to visit one while on a date. With domestic growth opportunities crimped by a relatively small and saturated mar...

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) has integrated the operations of the Internet Home Alliance (IHA). The Alliance is a cross-industry network of leading companies conducting collaborative research to advance the 'connected home' market (also know as the 'digital home'). Founded in 2000, the Alliance provides its members with the real-world testing opportunities required to bring their digital home technology products and services to market more quickly, successfully and cost-effectively. Under the new arrangement, IHA's collaborative research program will continue under the CABA umbrella. CABA will establish the Internet Home Alliance Research Council, consisting of IHA and CABA members, which will oversee a wide array of consumer research studies and real-world pilots. The collaborative research projects will enable participating companies to gain important insights into the connected home space and leverage those insights into viable new busi...

Worldwide PC shipments grew by a healthy 12.6 percent in the first quarter of 2006 � ahead of March projections of 11.8 percent growth. Although PC shipment growth slowed from 15.1 percent in 2004 and 16 percent in 2005, the market continues to exceed expectations and the outlook for 2006 has improved, according to IDC. As expected, first quarter growth in Western Europe slowed considerably, and growth in other major regions also subsided from last year. In addition, growth in the United States and Western Europe fell by roughly 1 percent more than projected. However, despite these inhibitors, growth in Japan, Asia/Pacific excluding Japan, and the Rest Of World regions all surpassed IDC's March projections by several points and boosted not only first quarter growth, but contributed to a modest improvement in the forecast. The outlook for shipment growth in 2006 increased to 10.8 percent from a March projection of 10.5 percent. The outlook for 2007 was boosted nearly 1 percent to 11...

Citing the need to encourage the digital television transition in smaller markets and rural areas, the American Cable Association (ACA) filed comments at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) supporting a waiver request by Comcast Corporation that would allow low-cost set-top boxes to be deployed without requiring the addition of CableCard security. ACA said that excluding low-cost set-top boxes, such as the DCT-700, Explorer-940, Pace Chicago, DCT-2000 and DCT-2500, from the FCC�s ban on integrated navigation devices �will allow the digital transition to continue in smaller markets.� ACA provided examples of five member companies that have deployed low-cost digital set-top boxes to transition to all-digital networks and to provide targeted digital programming to their subscribers. �The move toward all-digital networks in smaller markets has been made possible by the availability of low-cost, limited-capability set-top boxes,� ACA said in its comments. �Banning these LCSTBs (low...

The interactive TV offering "Betty TV" is being launched just in time for the World Cup. The company behind the product is Betty TV (Schweiz) AG, founded by Swisscom Fixnet Ltd and headquartered in Zurich. Since spring of this year, Swisscom Fixnet has been testing use of the interactive remote control, Betty, with around 4,000 households on the TV channels SF 2, RTL, Sat.1, Pro7, Star TV and Tele Barn. The high level of acceptance by the customers involved prompted Swisscom Fixnet to step up its commitment in this area, resulting in the founding of Betty TV (Schweiz) AG and subsequent market launch in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The interactive remote control has its own display and features buttons for direct TV interaction. Betty replaces the conventional type of remote control and its additional offerings provide true added value for customers. The content for the so-called Betty-Events, which include competitions, quiz games, polls, surveys, information and...

According to DMEurope, 72.5 percent of UK television households (numbering 18.2 million) view digital television � up from 69.5 percent at the end of 2005, says a report prepared by Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. Digital satellite is the UK's most popular digital television platform viewed by 8.3 million, or 30 percent of homes. Of these digital satellite viewers nearly 7.7 million subscribe to BSkyB pay services and 645,000 receive free-to-view satellite services. Fewer than 1 million BSkyB households view pay television on more than one television set through BSkyB's Multiroom subscription service. Nearly 7.1 million households view Freeview, compared to around 6.4 million who do not yet have digital television. This marks the first time that Freeview has overtaken traditional analogue television on primary sets in the home. Freeview sales for January to March were up 40 percent on the same period in 2005 at ov...

AdAge reports that in the wake of criticism that it has moved too slowly on measuring how people use content in an emerging multimedia digital environment, Nielsen unveiled an ambitious plan in which it promised electronic measurement of all media platforms, including MP3 players, cellphones, online video and out-of-home TV viewing. Nielsen dubbed the initiative "Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement" -- or A2/M2 -- and plans to introduce portable electronic measurement tools and integrate its Nielsen/NetRatings software into its national TV sample homes. It will integrate its measurement system into its national and local people meter TV samples to create a single sample that measures TV and online video use so advertisers can understand how the two interact. The merging of on-air and online content has played a major role in this year's upfront discussions, and Nielsen purports that agencies will be able to use the data in their planning tools to "optimize combined TV...

Business Week reports that the analysts at market research firm DFC Intelligence have issued a new 750-page report that forecasts the worldwide online game market to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to more than $13 billion in 2011. While Asia has long been thought of as the leader in online gaming, DFC expects North America to challenge this lead during the period. The growth spurt over the next several years is expected to be driven by higher PC penetration, increased adoption of broadband Internet, and the increased usage of video game consoles online. DFC notes that the emergence of online gaming is also driving up the number of consumer subscription services, the use of the games delivery method of online digital distribution and has helped lead to an increasing acceptance of in-game advertising. Although sports, racing and action genres are starting to go online more frequently, most of their revenue is still derived from retail sales. The leading online game category that will dri...

Informa Telecoms & Media forecast that over $13 billion will be generated by all forms of mobile music by 2011 in its recent report. A large proportion of this revenue is still derived from ring-tones, with ring back tones starting to make significant contributions to this growth. The steady growth in full track downloads (FTD) and streaming audio services are also helping to raise the profile of the mobile phone as a credible 'mobile music player' device. The greatest proportion of these revenues will emanate from Asia-Pacific which accounts for 56 percent of the market total in 2006, with Japan making up 46 percent of this total in 2006. The report stresses that a new growth market in China starts to become evident by 2011, when the region contributes 25 percent to overall Asia-Pacific revenues and is the next mobile music hot spot. In conjunction with the mobile operators who have concentrated on rolling out advanced music services, the handset vendors have exerted equal...

Today's U.S. wireless entertainment industry is one of the most active areas in innovation, financial investment, and market experimentation. While wireless entertainment is big business, it's also largely comprised of small, relatively unknown companies. Despite their small size and low visibility, according to IDC, 10 of these wireless entertainment companies have the potential to make a significant impact on the marketplace in 2006 and 2007. In a recent study, IDC highlights Action Engine, Airplay, iLoop Mobile, LOC-AID, Neven Vision, Promptu, Roundbox, Surfkitchen, Third Screen Media, and Volantis as the 10 emerging wireless entertainment companies to watch in 2006. IDC says these companies are some of the most interesting and innovative companies in the mobile services sector, yet few in the broader wireless industry understand what they bring to the table in any sophisticated way. According to IDC research, the rapid evolution of the wireless entertainment ecosystem and m...

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) announced the results of a new research project, "A Day in the Life: An Ethnographic Study of Media Consumption." The observational media usage study is being discussed throughout the OPA's 2006 Eyes on the Internet Tour. The unprecedented observational research tracked the real-time media use of 350 people, recording their actual activities every 15 seconds. The results show that the Web is now clearly a mass media -- ranking right alongside other major media when it comes to reach and duration of use. And when it comes to at-work media use, the study found that the Web clearly dominates (with 54.6 percent reach, compared to television's 21.1 percent), and is the only medium that ranks among the top two at both work and home. OPA commissioned Ball State University's Center for Media Design to conduct the study, which is most detailed and in-depth analysis to date of the Middletown Media Studies data. "By observing peop...