Digital Lifescapes

Known worldwide as the hometown to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Mormon religion, Salt Lake City now apparently has another reason for global notoriety. Scarborough Research, a leading consumer research firm measuring the lifestyle and shopping patterns, media behaviors and demographics of American consumers, released an analysis which finds that Salt Lake City, UT, is the number one local U.S. market for households that own a video game system. Thirty-two percent of households in Salt Lake City, UT, own a video game system. Lexington, KY, Flint, MI, and Toledo, OH, follow close behind Salt Lake City with 30 percent of households in these cities owning a video game system. Nationally, 24 percent of households own a video game system. Nationally, the number one audio/video store for Video Gaming Households is Wal-Mart. Thirty-three percent of all households nationally that own a video game system have made a purchase there in the past year. Best Buy (30 percen...

Informitv reports that Babelgum is a new contender for the global broadband video market. Just like the Joost project from the creators of the Skype internet telephone service, it is based on a secure peer-to-peer (P2P) video network. Babelgum claims they have a vast range of content -- including documentary, shorts, animation, comedy, news, sport, music, lifestyle and much more. They believe that among the hundreds of millions of broadband users worldwide there will be an audience for pretty much any type of content on any subject. It is backed by Silvio Scaglia, who made a personal fortune from Fastweb, the Italian broadband video, voice and data service provider. Babelgum is surprisingly similar to Joost. Both projects are currently being beta tested by Informitv. They both provide full-screen video, using MPEG-4 H.264 AVC compression, streamed over a secure peer-to-peer network. There are also evident similarities in the on-screen user interface. The Babelgum project was conceiv...

I previously reported on a comScore Networks market study that found consumers rated most user-generated advertising during the Super Bowl as more engaging, when compared to the professionally produced adverts. Now another independent study has insights on the same topic, only from a slightly different perspective. Making consumer-generated content part of the advertising mix is one way a company can boost its customer loyalty, according to a study conducted by the American Marketing Association and Opinion Research Corporation. The study found that most adults (consumers aged 25 to 64) prefer companies that market via consumer-generated media to those that market via professional advertising -- those surveyed indicate that a company using customer-created ads is more customer-friendly (68 percent), creative (56 percent), and innovative (55 percent). Relatively few adults feel a company that uses consumer-created ads is less trustworthy (10 percent), less socially responsible (10 perce...

Nielsen//NetRatings announced that more than one third of U.S. adults online, 36.5 percent, own a game console, and 15.9 percent own a portable game console, according to @Plan's Spring 2007 Release. Not just for kids anymore, game consoles are becoming an integral part of America's home entertainment systems. The majority of console owners, 71 percent, are married, and 66 percent have at least one child in the household. With the advent of video game ratings determined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), home video games can now cater to the entire family. "As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralized home media centers, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player, and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Video game technology will only benefit other media, since what makes a video game fun and e...

Worldwide revenue for wireless LAN equipment dipped 5 percent in 4Q06 to $740.6 million, but topped $2.8 billion in 2006, an 18 percent increase over 2005, according to Infonetics Research. The wireless LAN switch segment is especially strong, posting 27 percent revenue growth in 2006, despite a down fourth quarter. "2006 was another strong year for wireless LAN equipment, posting double-digit annual growth for the third consecutive year," said Richard Webb, analyst at Infonetics Research. "Organizations are learning to leverage high speed connectivity with mobility in the workplace, meaning wireless LANs continue to penetrate all sectors. Additionally, 802.11 solidified its position as the leading home networking technology with sales of consumer products boosted by the launch of pre-802.11n draft products in 2006." Market Highlights: - Worldwide WLAN equipment revenue is forecast to grow 51 percent to $4.3 billion between 2006 and 2010. - Enterprise WLAN eq...

Digital content providers and distributors will do battle for consumer mind-share in 2007, according to the latest research from the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "Digital Media Strategies: Hypercompetition and the Battle for Survival" notes that as barriers to entry melt away, and revenue opportunities become ever more fleeting, increased channel friction and a highly competitive environment in the media and entertainment market is likely to follow. "An increasing number of content providers are experimenting with direct-to-consumer distribution via the Internet," comments Martin Olausson, Director of Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies (DMS) service. "At the same time, scores of major telecom operators and competitive broadband service providers are launching wide-scale distribution of Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) and on-demand content services; and they are rapidly establishing themselves as important content distribution partne...

A succession of attractive new products, along with falling prices and increased capabilities, has helped make the consumer electronics (CE) market seemingly impervious to economic ups and downs around the world, reports In-Stat. Strong CE sales are expected to continue for several years, with total shipments increasing from 2.1 billion units in 2006 to 3 billion units in 2010, the high-tech market research firm says. "The combination of new, popular devices and consistently lower prices leads to increased consumer purchases," says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "Currently driving the market are devices such as digital televisions, DVD recorders, cellular phones and portable digital audio players (MP3)." In-Stat's research found the following: - In the next few years, blue laser players and recorders are expected to have a significant impact on the market. - Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World regions will lead in annual growth rates through 2010. - The...

IDC research shows that new opportunities are taking shape in the mobile phone market and operators are increasingly looking at ways to develop their businesses and take advantage of the commercial possibilities that may exist. Mobile phone service providers will use mobile search as the basis of their strategy and user-generated content will drive traffic, creating possibilities, while advertising will become a new revenue source. According to this research, operators will look to mobile search to form a key basis of their off-portal strategy. Mobile search will open up new possibilities, based on user behavior, allowing further customization and personalization to take place. Search will form the basis of an array of information-based services and will not just be simple word searches. Communities and user-generated content are currently the key terms in the industry, and while managing these new and complex relationships may be challenging, operators should work with partners of e...

The mobile TV broadcast market is expanding as services were commercially launched in more countries in 2006. A few more launches are expected in 2007, but unavailability of spectrum is the largest barrier to more mobile TV services, particularly in Europe, according to In-Stat. Over the next few years, the situation will change. By 2011, In-Stat expects mobile TV broadcast services to have been launched in many European countries as spectrum will be available with the shutoff of analog broadcasting occurring around that time. The most recently launched mobile TV broadcast service is MediaFLO USA which began offering mobile TV in 19 US markets with Verizon Wireless. In-Stat estimates those 19 markets contain 13 percent of the US population. The service will be available nationwide once the MediaFLO spectrum is cleared -- probably not until after the shutoff of analog TV signals in February of 2009. The standards for mobile TV broadcasting continue to expand. There are commercial servic...

This year the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival, a conference targeting web technology innovators and digital creatives from across the globe, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its SXSW Web Awards, designed to honor web designers and developers who fuel the online world. Finalists in sixteen categories have been previously announced. Winners will be revealed at the upcoming SXSW Web Awards Ceremony presented by Adobe on Sunday, March 11 at 7:30 pm, during the SXSW Interactive Festival. This event will be hosted by web celebrity Ze Frank, best-known for his popular and comedic online videoblog, "The Show with Ze Frank." Over the past ten years, SXSW Web Awards entries have been a indicator of online trends and there's been a significant improvement in the overall caliber and complexity of entries with the evolution of dynamic content, web standards and coding technologies such as CSS. Current trends such as Web 2.0 and the growth of social networking si...

The number of broadband subscribers around the world continues to surge, fueling the broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) market, which grew 15 percent to $5.6 billion in 2006, according to Infonetics Research. The overall rise in broadband CPE manufacturer revenue was driven in large part by surging residential gateway sales, which jumped 39 percent between the first and fourth quarters of 2006. Mutliservice gateways are especially popular: ADSL IAD sales have nearly doubled or more every year since 2002, and EMTA sales quadrupled in 2005 and almost doubled in 2006. However, intense competition is expected to drive down the price per unit significantly for many broadband CPE categories, particularly ADSL IADs and broadband gateways, which will keep annual revenue growth in the overall market to the low single digits through 2010. Worldwide revenue for voice CPE, which includes DSL IADs, EMTAs, VTAs, digital home gateways, and broadband routers with integrated VTA capability, ju...

HD2 digital radio multicasting enables broadcasters to add new channels featuring programming not typically found on AM or FM radio stations. New HD2 channels are popping up with bluegrass, big band music, gospel and Spanish oldies formats rarely found on analog radio today, according to Kagan Research. Country music was dropped as a radio format in the greater New York City area in 2001, but last year made a comeback via separate HD2 audio channels from WKTU-FM and WALK-FM, two area Clear Channel stations in the market. "If we've seen anything over the past few years, it's that the consumer wants diverse content," says Robert Struble, president and CEO iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of HD Radio technology. "This gives radio an option to address the long tail in a way that makes economic sense." The long tail is a marketing concept referring to the ability to market special-interest product to niche consumer segmen...

According to the latest Strategy Analytics research study, "MySpace Mobile Gives Social Networking Addicts Their Fix," users of the website had positive impressions of MySpace Mobile usability and convenience, however, study participants showed concern for privacy protection and network performance inconsistencies. A group of "MySpace fanatics" were chosen to test MySpace mobile on both Cingular and Helio in a week-long study during which they recorded usage patterns, along with positive and negative experiences. According to Pamela De Luca, User Experience Research Analyst, "Although most participants thoroughly enjoyed accessing MySpace mobile while on the go or in the workplace, some were stunned to discover that Helio did not protect private profile accounts on the on the Helio MySpace mobile service." Kevin Nolan, Director of User Experience Research, added, "Aside from the privacy concerns, participants were pleased with the opportunity to log o...

Whether mobile network operators (MNO) and record labels like it or not, the public perception of the cost for legal downloadable music has been very much defined by Apple's one-size-fits-all pricing of $0.99 per song, according to a Pyramid Research study. Apple has held steady on this price since iTunes launched in 2003, and despite pressure from the music industry to adopt tiered pricing for premium content and to increase retail pricing, Apple has held firm. The $0.99 price point was set at a time when the majority of digital music consumers had a very different expectation for the price of digital content -- free. The legal alternative to free music had to be at a price point that was not deemed to be excessively high in the public perception; a sub-dollar price tag was probably as high as Apple could have realistically charged. There may have been another important motive for such a decision -- $0.99 provides little scope for margins from selling tracks, but this is of little...

According to the Photo Marketing Association (PMA), the volume of prints (all sizes) made from digital-still camera images increased by 48 percent in 2006. Online ordering activity grew at the rate of 129 percent in 2006. Printing volumes on retail mini-labs and instant kiosks grew 51 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Growth in home printing remains healthy, but below the market average. In 2006, the volume of prints made at home grew by 25 percent. The retail channel accounted for a total of 46.4 percent of prints made in 2006. Specifically, 13.8 percent of the prints were made instantly by consumers on a kiosk; 23.7 percent were sent from a kiosk/ordering station to a mini-lab for printing or customers gave their memory card to a store associate. Households also ordered 8.8 percent of the total prints online and later picked them up at a retail location. In addition to these prints ordered online, 11.7 percent of the total prints were ordered online and then mailed back to custom...

Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region will increasingly opt for higher-end set-top boxes that support personal video recorder (PVR) and high-definition (HD) features, according to a new study from ABI Research. This trend will be driven to a large degree by China, which will see the region's largest increase in subscriber numbers. "The Asia-Pacific pay-TV industry still has considerable room for growth, especially in countries like China and India, where the base of potential customers is huge but there is still relatively low pay-TV and digital penetration," says broadband research analyst Serene Fong. "For instance, in the digital cable TV and telco TV arenas, we expect China to take the lead in terms of actual shipment counts, with approximately 75 million and 9 million box shipments, respectively, by 2012." China will also lead in subscriber growth rates, fueled by growing affluence and increased consumer spending on TV and video services. Chinese consumers w...

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the 3 percent Federal Excise Tax (FET) would no longer be applied to long-distance telephone calls, including wireless mobile phone services. This is a huge win for American consumers who will no longer be forced to pay this outdated tax. Additionally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be issuing refunds on long-distance services, including wireless, for the past three years. According to the Treasury Department's announcement, eligible taxpayers will be able to apply for this refund with the IRS during the 2006 federal tax form filing season. The official deadline for the tax season will fall on Monday, April 16, 2007. According to the IRS website: "The Telephone Excise Tax Refund (TETR) is a one-time payment available on your 2006 federal income tax return. It is designed to refund previously collected long distance telephone taxes. Individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organization...

The three main technologies capable of enabling wireless data communications at broadband speeds to consumer devices -- Wi-Fi, WiMAX and cellular 3G -- are battling to attain and keep market share worldwide. Each technology has its benefits and challenges, but ultimate adoption will vary greatly depending upon in which region of the world they are deployed, and the market development approach that's applied, according to the results of a new study by In-Stat. In developed regions of the world such as the U.S. and Europe, for example, Wi-Fi has been widely deployed as a low-cost hotspot and wide-area mesh solution by local governments, colleges, and others; while WiMAX is being launched to be both a mainstream fixed wireless and mobile access solution that will compete with the boutique cellular 3G deployments. "Each technology comes with its own strengths and weaknesses," says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. "In-Stat sees the technologies both co-existing and compet...

The global networked economy continues to expand, as the latest comScore World Metrix study reveals that 747 million people, age 15+, used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, a 10 percent increase versus January 2006. Among the top fifteen countries (ranked by penetration), Internet audiences in India, the Russian Federation and China increased the most in 2006, growing 33, 21 and 20 percent, respectively. China now represents the second-largest Internet population in the world, with 86.8 million users, after the U.S., which rose only 2 percent year-over-year to 153.4 million users age 15 or older in January 2007. Relatively speaking, user growth in the U.S. has stalled. "The importance of the worldwide Internet population continues to grow," said Bob Ivins, managing director, comScore Europe. "Internet users outside the U.S. now account for 80 percent of the world's online population, with rapidly developing countries experiencing double-digit growth rates year-...

It's called "function fatigue" -- and it's afflicting mobile phone users worldwide and tops several consumer issues negatively impacting the embrace of new wireless devices and services, reports the CMO Council's Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). The CMO Council's Global Mobile Mindset Audit, a milestone study of some 15,000 consumers in 37 countries, shows that "too many functions I did not use" is the number one device problem in all regions of the world. Compounding this complaint were disappointments in the early buying and ongoing ownership experience. Most notably, consumers gave low marks to retailers and carriers for lack of product demonstrations, sales associate knowledge, as well as slow service at the point-of-sale. The CMO Council research initiative is part of an extensive authority leadership program by FAME, a strategic interest group of top marketers, associations and experts drawn from all sectors of the wireless ecosys...