Digital Lifescapes

Business marketers cling to legacy marketing tactics that they admit fail to work as well as they would like, according to a Forrester Research assessment. By moving their marketing online, B2B marketers will evolve from tactical demand generation to strategic ownership of the customer relationship. To catch up with buyers who now flock to digital channels, marketers must abandon the time-worn broadcast media mindset from a bygone era and adopt online community-focused marketing. From January 2007 to the end of July 2008, Forrester fielded a steady stream of B2B marketing inquiries -- 282 in total -- to help marketers tackle a range of tactical to strategic issues. Which key issues rose to the top? Balancing the marketing mix: there's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to best practices, and marketers still struggle to find the answers to the following two questions: Which tactics work the best? How much emphasis should we place on digital channels over traditional? Bench...

Can the UK catch up to the Asia-Pacific leadership of the global mobile phone market? Adjustments to the UK regulatory policy framework are required -- given the rapid adoption of mobile broadband services, according to an Ofcom commissioned report from Analysys Mason. Their market study, which forms part of Ofcom's Mobile Sector Assessment consultation, considers the recent dramatic increases in data service usage, which could accelerate over the next five years, and this ubiquitous mobile broadband access may change the nature of the mobile proposition. Widespread access to real Internet-based services from laptops and mobile handsets, as well as the development of new applications based around mobile IP connectivity, would offer considerable additional value to UK consumers and businesses. "The current UK regulatory framework governing the delivery of mobile services was established to promote competition in infrastructure-based services that were delivered solely through m...

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the second calendar quarter of 2008 (2Q08) reached record levels again, according to the latest market data from IDC. The continued shift in demand raises questions about the long-term implications on the tech sector. Despite the fact that the second quarter is typically the slowest quarter of the calendar year for processor demand, and concerns about the economic woes in the U.S., worldwide processor unit shipments grew 3.1 percent quarter over quarter and 16.1 percent year over year. Strong vendor price competition in the middle and low-end of the desktop PC processor and mobile PC processor market segments caused overall market revenue to decline 4.5 percent quarter over quarter to $7.7 billion. "While sequential market growth is unusual in the second quarter of the calendar year, it's clear that in 2Q08 Intel's processor shipments drove the growth," said Shane Rau, director at IDC. "Intel's processor shipments alon...

Wireline phone service subscriptions continue to decline, but there's one exception to the downward spiral. Cable telephony subscriber growth continues to be strong, with almost 8 million new subscribers added around the world over the past 12 months, according to a market study by In-Stat. Growth in North America has been particularly strong, as cable operators near the end of their transition to voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) enabled network architectures, the high-tech market research firm says. "Current priorities for cable telephony service providers are expanding the availability of their service and attracting business end-users, especially small and medium-sized businesses," says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. Their research covers the worldwide market for cable telephony. It discusses the business case for cable telephony services, the availability of the service, and examines specific network architectures. In addition, it updates leading cable TV operator t...

India remains the biggest single hope for revenue and global influence for WiMAX, according to the latest market study by Infonetics Research. Their assessment focuses on targeted regions and countries around the world that have strong potential for fixed and mobile WiMAX markets, either because they have huge populations, or the broadband demands of the population are not being met by existing technologies. After India, Infonetics expects Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Brazil to lead in WiMAX uptake, with the number of WiMAX subscribers in each of these developing regions roughly doubling to tripling each year through at least 2011. Sales of fixed and mobile WiMAX network equipment, such as ASN gateways, base stations, CPE, and NICs are likewise forecast to skyrocket in these regions. WiMAX has gained such momentum across so many regions that it is no longer sensible to suggest that WiMAX growth will be flattened by the emergence of LTE in the next few yea...

The high definition (HD) video disc markets in both the U.S. and Europe continue to perform in line with expectations, following a more bullish outlook once the world shifted to one format at the beginning of this year. All eyes are on Q4 with many wondering just how big it will get, with so many HD video title releases planned to reach the shelves with the DVD release. The consensus seems to be that consumers will buy close to 45 million Blu-ray HD discs in the U.S. this year -- more than 400 percent up on last year. On big titles, the share of total sales being taken by HD has already hit 5-6 percent and by Q4 it is possible well see a 10 or even 12 percent share for some of the really big hitters. In Europe, awareness and uptake are still lower overall, although in the key markets the retailers and the studios are reacting to an uplift in interest this year and are gearing up for a good end to 2008. "We expect 2 percent of unit sales in the lead markets of the UK and France to ...

With growing broadband subscribers, a rise in residential gateway use, and increases in the Asia-Pacific market, the worldwide installed base of home networks is expected to break the 200 million mark by the end of 2008. Compared to previous years, the growth of the total market for broadband and network customer premises equipment (CPE) is slowing, but is expected to remain positive through at least 2012 as technological upgrades will spur replacements, according to an In-Stat market study. The total CPE market now includes broadband modems, routers, and residential gateway equipment for DSL, cable, Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB), and Fixed Satellite Broadband (FSB), the high-tech market research firm says. "With worldwide broadband subscribers predicted to exceed 500 million in 2010, there will be a very significant installed base of equipment that presents opportunities for replacements and upgrades," says Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst. "Gi...

Although the overall dynamics of CDMA markets are overshadowed by progress around UMTS/HSPA and the migration to LTE, CDMA operators continue to upgrade their networks to provide capacity for higher numbers of bandwidth-intensive data services. "Worldwide EVDO Rev A subscriber numbers ramped up more than eightfold between Q2 2007 and Q2 2008," says ABI Research analyst Khor Hwai Lin. "The U.S. and South Korean markets shows the highest growth rate for EVDO Rev A. The increased support for LTE from incumbent CDMA operators does not imply the imminent death of EVDO Rev A and B, because LTE is addressing different market needs compared to 3G." EVDO Rev A subscribers are forecast to exceed 54 million by 2013 while Rev B subscribers will also increase, to 25 million. More than 31 million subscribers worldwide are already using HSDPA while 3.2 million subscribers were on HSUPA networks by Q2 2008. Upgrades to HSUPA continue to take place aggressively around Western Europe...

According to IDC, there's more concern about the economy among SMBs worldwide than interest in the most innovative technology. Current economic growth and business conditions are by far the greatest concern for SMBs, particularly in North America, Latin America, and Western Europe. "While the growth of SMB investment in technology will continue to outpace spending growth in larger firms, economic and business conditions are on everyone's mind," said John Roberts, research manager for Global SMB Research at IDC. "Despite the global slowdown, SMBs across all regions need to look ahead to when the global economy rebounds. Most still have a near term focus, with only modest interest in technology areas that have been getting a lot of attention elsewhere." IDC's regional SMB analysts assessed the current level of interest in five areas -- (1) future economic growth and business conditions, (2) green technology, (3) software-as-a-service (SaaS), (4) virtualiza...

Infonetics Research reports that worldwide revenue from hosted VoIP and managed IP PBX services jumped 52 percent to $24 billion in 2007 after surging 66 percent in 2006, and is expected to grow in the strong double-digits through at least 2011. The Infonetics market study uncovered that hosted VoIP services continue to outpace managed IP PBX services by far, with residential services fueling market growth. While VoIP services are being embraced by consumers worldwide, businesses have been comparatively slower in their adoption due to various roadblocks. This is about to change, as technical issues are resolved. For example, many PBX manufacturers have already added SIP trunking interfaces to their equipment, and more recently, they've greatly expanded the list of certified service providers, and that's going to fuel the growth in SIP trunking services. These kinds of developments will boost the overall VoIP business services segment for years to come. Highlights of the Infonet...

"Text me" has become a part of the everyday vernacular. In fact, total spending on mobile messaging services will rise 15 percent from $65 billion in 2007 to over $88 billion by 2012, according to a consumer market study by Strategy Analytics. Although SMS will continue to contribute to the vast share of mobile phone messaging spend, the availability of low-cost flat-rate data plans will enable rapid growth in usage of traditional PC based messaging services, such as email and instant messaging via mobile. By 2012 mobile email will account for 20 percent of total end user mobile messaging spending. Senior Analyst Nitesh Patel noted, "Mobile messaging, which includes SMS, MMS, mobile email and instant messaging, will account for over 40 percent of the total consumer spend on mobile media and messaging services in 2012. We anticipate growing adoption of consumer email access via mobile, as flat-rate pricing, combined with improving email provisioning and device user experi...

Advertisers in the U.S. will spend $24.9 billion online this year, according to the latest report from eMarketer. That estimate is slightly lower than they released in March 2008 -- which predicted that U.S. online advertising spending would reach $25.9 billion in 2008. Regardless of the economic problems in the market, to be clear, the lowered estimate still represents an increase of 17.4 percent over 2007. "Even as the potent mix of a misfiring economy and consumer's changing media habits shave advertising dollars from traditional venues, such as newspapers and television, Internet ad spending will continue to grow rapidly," said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer. Once again, as previously reported, increased digital marketing spending is coming directly out of traditional media budgets. The growing evidence is undisputed. Although TV ad spending is set to increase by 7.1 percent in 2008 to $72.6 billion, eMarketer predicts such spending will actually shrink...

Gaming on a mobile phone is rapidly becoming a very hot commodity within the mobile data arena, in many cases surpassing mobile music and mobile video revenues for the cell phone operators. According to In-Stat's latest market Study, there are meaningful differences between survey respondents who play games on their mobile phones, and those who don't. Of the respondents who are mobile gamers, most are under 35 and tend to spend more money on their handsets than non-gamers. But wait, there's more to this evolving market segment than just the gaming revenue. These mobile subscribers also choose to upgrade their handsets more often, purchase more premium entertainment services (in addition to games), and have higher overall monthly mobile phone service spending than non-gaming consumers. That said, despite the interest in mobile games and mobile data applications, three-fourths of survey respondents said they do not play games on their handsets. As mobile voice revenues declin...

Informa Telecoms & Media expects the number of femtocells deployed by the end of 2013 to exceed the 40 million mark, with 22 million net additions in 2013 alone. This installed base could help mobile operators to offload up to 8 percent of total mobile traffic to fixed networks via the customer's wireline connection. This could enable service providers to attain significant savings by reducing the need to create additional macro-cell capacity to cope with this traffic. However, whether these savings materialize depends on a number of factors -- the nature of the operator, the mobile access technology involved, the value proposition to the end-user, the region targeted, and the level of investments the operator has already made in upgrading its mobile network. According to Informa, to handle the same amount of traffic carried by the 22 million femtocell deployments in 2013 would in theory require a $13.8 billion investment in macrocell capacity. This is the potential sum if one ...

ComScore released a study of worldwide usage of social networking sites, indicating that while the growth in new users in North America is beginning to level off, it is burgeoning in other regions around the world. During the past year, the total North American audience of social networkers has grown 9 percent compared to a much larger 25 percent growth for the world at large. The Middle East-Africa region (up 66 percent), Europe (up 35 percent), and Latin America (up 33 percent) have each grown at well-above average rates. During the past year, many of the top social networking sites have demonstrated rapid growth in their global user bases. Facebook.com, which took over the global lead among social networking sites in April 2008, has made a concerted effort to become more culturally relevant in markets outside the U.S. Its introduction of natural language interfaces in several markets has helped propel the site to 153 percent growth during the past year. Meanwhile, the emphasis Hi5.c...

Demand for high-quality, high-performance network connectivity will drive U.S. SMBs to spend heavily on IP VPN managed services over the next five years. Related annual revenues will rise from less than $2 billion last year to more than $6.5 billion in 2012, according to the latest study by Light Reading. "The SMB market is the next great networking frontier," says Charles Carr, research analyst for Light Reading. Presently, the total U.S. managed IP services market is split between two networking solution types. "Within the IP VPN market, the SMB sector is clearly a sweet spot for service providers and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 28 percent, versus only 12 percent in the large-enterprise space through 2012." SMBs that have relied on legacy Frame Relay services need more robust and flexible connections to remain competitive, Carr notes. SMBs need the flexibility and scaleability of a more robust networking solution, such as the MPLS/IP virtual...

According to ABI Research, the broadcast, cable, and telco TV segments of worldwide video server markets are all growing at a healthy pace, and total revenues are expected to reach $1.5 billion in 2013. Of the three, the telco TV market is showing the strongest investment growth, with a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent over 2007-2013. Cable will experience a CAGR of about 13.5 percent, while broadcast markets show the slowest growth at 8 percent. "Cable, broadcast and telco TV are all highly competitive markets for video servers," says ABI Research industry analyst Zippy Aima. "Cable and broadcast are the more traditional modes of entertainment for consumers, but cable providers and telcos have been quicker to adapt to market trends and to offer innovative consumer services. But to remain competitive, even the broadcast segment has tried its hand at hybrid deployments and similar initiatives." After a slow start in North America, telco TV is now growing qui...

The number of Wi-Fi hotspots providing public wireless LAN access continues to grow globally and more people are using them, according to the latest market study by In-Stat. But access revenues for service providers do not appear to be keeping up with the growth in use, the high-tech market research firm says. "Because of this trend, hotspot operators are turning to other methods to generate revenues," says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. "Operators have started bundling hotspot access with other services, such as fixed and mobile broadband. This way, consumers can access hotspots without paying a separate fee, and operators can generate some access revenue by bundling the cost of the service into a bigger service package that consumers are willing to purchase." The research covers the worldwide market for wireless hotspots. It provides end-user data on how and where the service is used and consumer willingness to pay for hotspot services. Supply-side analysis on h...

Rapid growth in home networking -- approaching 168 million households worldwide in 2008 -- is laying the foundation for expansion of multimedia services internationally and especially in the European markets, according to the latest Parks Associates study. The market research firm will host their CONNECTIONS Europe Summit to discuss the implications of this market growth and share the latest findings of its Global Digital Living (GDL) project. Parks Associates launched GDL in 2005 to track and analyze international adoption and consumer attitudes toward advanced digital technologies and services. The most recent survey studies the growth of entertainment services in the top European markets. The project includes country profiles and consumer surveys and examines adoption and valuation of DVDs, online video and video-on-demand, DVRs, and high-definition TV services, among other topics. "Broadband growth pushed Europe ahead of North America in terms of home network adoption," s...

Infonetics Research reports there were three times more mobile subscribers than access line subscribers worldwide in 2007 -- approximately 3.3 billion vs. 1.1 billion -- and expects continued strong growth in mobile subscribers, mainly driven by basic voice service needs in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). The Infonetics report shows that the number of mobile subscribers jumped 31 percent in 2007 over 2006, while access line subscribers declined 5 percent. "Subscribers in Brazil, Russia, and later this year China, are migrating to 3G, which in turn will lead to a 2G and 2.5G to 3G subscriber migration process in 2008. However, current GSM deployment patterns remain unabated, with double-digit GSM subscriber growth rates being common in BRIC countries," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst at Infonetics Research. Highlights from the Infonetics report include: - The number of worldwide mobile subscribers will reach 5.2 billion by 2011. - Cellular mobile broa...