Digital Lifescapes

In today's consumer electronics products, hardware IC features play little role in protecting copyrighted content. Popular digital rights management schemes that depend on secure software implementations such as Windows DRM, Fairplay, and AACS are routinely targeted and hacked. However, processor companies are enhancing their architectures and embracing security features that will simplify secure software implementations and make it much more difficult to copy and share protected content. By 2013, more than 60 million CE devices are expected to ship with hardware security. That is one of the key conclusions of a new study and market assessment from ABI Research entitled "Hardware Security in the Consumer Electronics Market." "There are basically no secure processors in consumer electronics right now. They will start showing up in commercially available devices in the next couple of years, and will take hold rapidly starting in 2009," says principal analyst Steve...

Service provider revenue from mobile video services jumped 317 percent to almost $200 million worldwide from 2005 to 2006, and is expected to triple in 2007, says market research firm Infonetics Research in its latest report. Similarly, the number of worldwide mobile video subscribers increased more than 300 percent between 2005 and 2006, and is set to soar to over 46 million by 2010, the report shows. Drivers for this strong growth include increasingly powerful and efficient handsets and the expected analog broadcast signal switchoffs. "We will continue to see healthy growth in the mobile video services market as mobile operators expand the bandwidth of their existing 3G networks through HSDPA and MBMS, roll out dedicated broadcast networks, and deploy new mobile video service delivery platforms (SDPs). Competition among service providers will keep subscription prices lower in the long term, but that revenue will be supplemented by incremental service revenue from on-demand viewi...

Since the end of 2006, several wireless modem vendors have launched, or announced development of, USB cellular modems. A study from ABI Research reveals a growing and increasingly competitive market and forecasts shipments of these modems in excess of 22 million by 2012. According to principal analyst Dan Shey, "Proliferation of 3G networks is the primary driver of growth of cellular modems regardless of form factor. However, new companies are jumping into the USB modem market because the installed base of devices for USB modems includes not only laptops but also desktops. Desktop PCs are ubiquitous around the world and will continue shipping in large volumes, exceeding 140 million units per year through 2011." In a market characterized by increasing competition, cellular modem shipments, including PC Cards and ExpressCards, USB modems, internal modems and 3G or Wi-Fi routers, will grow to over 68 million units by 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 53 percent...

TelecomWeb reports that South Korea has assumed the lead in international standardization of IPTV technology, fielding a team of more than 30 experts from Korea Telecom (KT) and LG Electronics at the meeting of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Focus Group on IPTV (IPTV FG) in Bled, Slovenia. The ITU IPTV FG was created just last year to give global standards a boost and to help address the market need for accelerated IPTV deployment. The group held its first meeting in July 2006. The IPTV FG's mission is to define IPTV, to review existing standards and ongoing work, to coordinate existing standardization activities, to harmonize the development of new standards and to encourage interoperability with existing systems where possible. Its scope will include architecture, requirements, QoS, security, network control, end systems, interoperability, middleware and application platforms. The IPTV FG is expected to send standards recommendations to the full ITU organization....

CNN recently featured an Associated Press story entitled "where have all the viewers gone?" -- to highlight the latest assessment of the U.S. consumer growing disinterest in network television. This isn't a new story, of course, but the media sector's reluctant acknowledgment of the trend is what's really newsworthy. In American TV's worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show. Everyone has a theory to explain the plummeting ratings: early Daylight Savings Time, more reruns, bad shows (most likely, IMHO), more shows being recorded or downloaded or streamed. Perhaps the trend could become the basis for a new "reality show" about troubled network TV executives competing for survival. Scariest of all for the networks, however, is the idea that many people are now mak...

The pay-TV service provider demand for set top boxes (STB) continues to rise, with more than 65 million cable, satellite and IPTV digital STBs shipped globally last year. And, the global market is on track to grow at 13 percent CAAGR to 120 million annual shipments by 2011 -- as the television world moves towards the all-digital age, according to a new study by Understanding & Solutions. These figures exclude Digital Terrestrial Adapters and Free-To-Air (FTA) Satellite receivers, which together helped drive the total worldwide STB market to 115 million units in 2006 and will fuel further growth as over-the-air broadcast markets move towards Analogue Switch Off (ASO) at the end of this decade. STB demand is being fuelled by the continuing global rollout of digital multi-channel TV services. The STB gives pay-TV service providers a secure platform enabling them to push added value services like High Definition (HD), PVR (Personal Video Recorder), Video on Demand (VoD) and Multi-Room....

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) saw continued success in 2006, but 2007 is going to be a milestone as wireless USB (WUSB) products are expected to hit the market around mid-year, reports In-Stat. The initial WUSB products will be dongle and hub solutions that will allow PCs to wirelessly connect to PC peripherals and CE devices, the high-tech market research firm says. Integrated solutions with Certified WUSB capability inside the box will come in a few devices before the end of 2007, including PCs, printers, multi-function peripherals (MFPs) and digital still cameras. "Certified WUSB is designed to replace USB cables on the PC desktop, as well as to facilitate temporary connections between mobile and fixed devices, such as portable digital audio players and PCs, or digital still cameras and printers," says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. I believe that some consumers will likely be puzzled by other solutions like broadband over powerline, in comparison to WUSB, and will ...

Alternative out-of-home media spending surged 27.0 percent to $1.69 billion in 2006 and is projected to grow at an accelerated 27.7 percent rate in 2007, as brand marketers seek more effective ways to engage mobile consumers during their daily routines. These are the findings of the first in-depth analysis of this burgeoning media segment, assessed by PQ Media. Alternative out-of-home advertising is one of the fastest-growing segments of the media industry, expanding at double-digit rates every year from 2001 to 2006 and posting compound annual growth of 22.6 percent, according to the recent PQ Media market study. Alternative out-of-home media are distinguished by the use of innovative technology and concepts, such as video advertising networks and digital billboards, to connect with more elusive consumers in captive environments, including retail, transit, cinema and office locations. Ironically, the trends of impeding traditional media consumer fragmentation and control, a...

Coupled with impressive growth in its broadband subscriber base, the Asia-Pacific region is standing at the forefront of the Fiber to the Home/Node/Business (FTTx) evolution, according to In-Stat . Carriers such as Korea Telecom and NTT have committed to investing heavily to change copper infrastructures to fiber by 2010. Asia-Pacific market leaders now have such a significant head start, when compared to other developed markets, that their strategic economic advantage is already daunting. "The next-generation broadband access services strategy, as proven in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, is to focus on market proliferation of value-added broadband services, driven by the launch of compelling broadband content (i.e. IPTV and VoIP) and innovative broadband pricing plans," says Bryan Wang, In-Stat analyst. I believe that it's important to remember that the Asia-Pacific leadership in broadband infrastructure investment is the result of proactive government e...

Scarborough Research, the firm known for identifying the shopping, media and lifestyle patterns of adults in the United States, released an analysis which finds that people who spend the most time on the road are more tech savvy than the average consumer. And, they buy more digital gadgets. The country's "Top Road Travelers" have a wide variety of personal and household technologies. Given the amount of time spent on the road, it is clear that this consumer group values digital device portability. While they are only 17 percent more likely than the average consumer to have a cell phone; they're 40 percent more likely to have a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in their household; and 21 percent more likely to have an MP3 player in their household. This consumer group also has a wide variety of home entertainment technologies. They are 23 percent more likely to have HDTV, 15 percent more likely to have a DVD player, and 20 percent more likely to have purchased 10 or mor...

Nielsen//NetRatings announced the availability of VideoCensus, which they claim to be the industry's most accurate online video measurement service. VideoCensus is the first-ever syndicated online video measurement service to combine panel and census research methodologies and provide an end-to-end accounting of audience size, demographic composition, engagement and competitive activity. "We are excited to bring the VideoCensus product to market and pleased with the enthusiastic client response," said Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of NetRatings. "By harnessing the unique strengths of both panel and Web analytics measurement tools, we have a best of breed service that can be used for planning and post analysis on the Internet -- something no other information set offers." The VideoCensus methodology employs two patented assets, NetRatings' desktop meter and SiteCensus content-tagging technology. To facilitate reporting, online video publishers, tech...

Several key factors, including initiatives by Microsoft, are stimulating the growth of PC-TV tuners, and will drive fast growth within this market, according to In-Stat. The introduction of Microsoft Vista is likely to give a boost to the PC-TV tuner market, the high-tech market research firm says. Microsoft has been encouraging PC-TV tuner vendors to centralize their software drivers through the Windows Update program. "The most common PC-TV tuner will enable digital terrestrial television reception and be integrated in with the PC as part of a Microsoft Vista bundle," says Chris Kissel, In-Stat analyst. "However, hybrid USB TV tuners, PC-TV tuners for free-to-air satellite TV services, and pay-TV capable tuners will have significant market shares." It makes me wonder -- will there be a time in the foreseeable future where turning on a notebook computer will result in not only being informed of the available Wi-Fi network connections in the local area, but also the...

Recently U.S. carrier AT&T announced that it's DSL-based U-verse IPTV service had hit the 18,000 subscriber mark, with a current run rate of about 2,000 new subscribers a week. According to Pyramid Research, the announcement gave way to the now inevitable comparisons against Verizon's fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments. Verizon will spend $18 billion between 2004 and 2010 to fully deploy its FiOS service. By contrast, AT&T plans to spend $5 billion on rolling out a lower investment architecture built around "fiber to the node" and ADSL. The notoriously short-sighted U.S. stock market investor has appeared to prefer AT&T's plan -- financially, it is more conservative than Verizon's push, and its payback period is much shorter. In contrast, according to Pyramid's assessment, in this high-stakes game Verizon's FiOS bet is the least risky of the two. However, I believe that Pyramid's comparison of the Western European market is without me...

NSR released its market research and forecast study entitled "IPTV via Satellite: 2nd Edition." The report provides a concise up-to-date analysis of the satellite IPTV market for both B2B and retail modes, describing the forces shaping the business and presenting forecasts on transponder demand (TPEs) in each region over the next 5 years. The report concludes that IPTV will produce a variety of satellite sector opportunities for C-band television distribution to telco headends and Ku-band distribution to consumers in some markets. C-band services are rapidly driving capacity in the United States via Intelsat IPTV and SES IP-Prime respective turnkey offerings targeted at U.S. telcos. Hybrid DTH/broadband services in Europe and retail satellite IPTV plans in Asia point to positive momentum for services delivered via Ku-band capacity as well. The mounting competitive pressure on telcos to diversify their business and increase ARPU through entertainment allows the satellite secto...

According to DIGDIA research, creating a Digital Home with a home theater, multi-room music, networking, and integrated lighting, heating, cooling, and security controls involves more than just knowledge of electronic systems. Consumer electronic product designers, architects, interior designers, and building contractors are important, too. These multi-disciplinary requirements were very obvious at CEDIA's (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) Electronic Lifestyles EXPO, a venue designed to promote cross-industry dialog. In a new custom home or major remodeling project the process used to be fairly straight forward. The architect, builder and interior designer worried very little about electronics. Now their decisions impact the Digital Home's performance, usefulness and cost in many ways. DIGDIA offers a few examples: - Because many flat panel electronics are integrated into walls, decisions made on the placement of load bearing studs and utilities can affect...

Manufacturers of the cellular modules at the heart of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are currently facing an extremely difficult market characterized by increasing commoditization and shrinking gross margins. A new study of this market from ABI Research reports that nearly 18 million cellular modules shipped into M2M applications in 2006, including telematics, telemetry, and Wireless Local Loop (WLL), and suggests that this number should grow to roughly 90 million in 2012. Telematics shipments are expected to increase at moderate double-digit growth rates, while both telemetry and WLL shipments should see strong growth in excess of 30 percent CAGR. According to principal analyst Sam Lucero, "Vendors face a variety of fixed and variable costs to operate, and even with unit growth at 30 percent, they can be squeezed if they can't derive sufficient revenue to cover these costs." Vendors are responding to these conditions with a variety of strategies designed to pres...

According to a new study from Strategy Analytics, the video and music industries are unlikely to follow the Apple and EMI recent decision to abandon Digital Rights Management (DRM). The report entitled "A Roadmap for DRM: Business Impact for Content Owners and Technology Vendors," draws on extensive interviews with senior executives in the media, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. It concludes that DRM will still play a critical role in the emergence of the digital marketplace. But to remain valid, according to Strategy Analytics, DRM will have to sink into the background of the value chain, enabling new choices for consumers, while also opening up new revenue streams for creators and content owners. "In the right form, DRM can help expand the size of the music and video markets," comments Martin Olausson, Director of the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "Ultimately, DRM is needed to harness the commercial value of the rip, m...

Strong customer relationships are critical to the success of most businesses. Also, companies rarely get a second chance to make a quality first impression. Because 77 percent of today's interactions are still being conducted by phone, it is still critically important that front-line customer service representatives can operate efficiently and effectively, according to the Yankee Group. Call centers engage in customer relationship management (CRM) projects to transform themselves into an intelligent contact center -- defined as a single point of contact to provide quality customer care, while also acting as an individualized marketing channel to push new products and services. A contact center must empower front-line customer service representatives (CSRs) and customers with actionable information through context-driven assisted and self-service applications. CSRs and customers now have the correct information in the right format for each interaction, increasing the efficiency and ...

Forrester Research introduced a framework for assessing lead management maturity and examined how business marketers today stack up against the model. In a recent study, they looked closer at the role that technology plays in supporting lead management success, and uncovered the following insights. B2B marketers try to leverage sales-centered systems to manage leads. Eighty-five percent of these B2B marketers use or plan to use sales force automation (SFA) systems to manage leads. Unfortunately, this approach rarely works. SFA applications are transactional systems that do little to help marketing slice and dice customer data, drive targeted messages, track responses, and qualify prospects. Clearly, the adoption of marketing-specific applications lags. To compensate for the challenges related to driving marketing programs from sales systems, half of B2B firms have now built marketing databases to help them better understand customer and prospect behavior. But, less than a one third u...

With continued declines in the global music industry that amount to a nearly 25 percent reduction since 2000, recent research from Ipsos now reveals that the proportion of Americans who have purchased CDs in the past six months has dropped approximately 15 percent since 2002. The Ipsos study also shows that while this decrease is largely attributable to shifting consumer behaviors toward digital music acquisition methods, a majority of Americans continue to purchase CDs by their favorite artists. However, they frequently rely on music downloading for sampling new and unfamiliar music. The most recent wave of the Ipsos quarterly digital music tracking program, "TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Digital Music Behavior," includes an in-depth examination of fee-based music consumption across physical, online, mobile and satellite channels. Key findings from this recent study include: - Half (51 percent) of U.S. consumers aged 12 and older purchased a physical CD in the past six months. T...