Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. heads-of-household have never used e-mail, according to National Technology Scan, a forthcoming market study from Parks Associates.
This annual phone survey of U.S. households found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18 percent of all U.S. households.
"Nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document," said John Barrett, director, research, Parks Associates. "These data underscore the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer."
Age and education are factors in this divide. One-half of those who have never used e-mail are over 65, and 56 percent had no schooling beyond high school.
National Technology Scan found just seven percent of the 20 million "disconnected" homes plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months. Still, the study reports a steady decline in the number of disconnected households when comparing findings with previous years.
National Technology Scan reported at year-end 2006 that 29 percent of all U.S. households (31 million homes) did not have Internet access, citing low perceived value of the Internet.
"Internet connections have slowly increased in U.S. households, but getting the disconnected minority online will continue to be difficult," Barrett said.
"Age and economics are important factors, but the heart of the challenge is deeper. Many people just don't see a reason to use computers and do not associate technology with the needs and demands of their daily lives."
Labels: broadband, ecommerce, government, pc, policy, segmentation
During the period 2007-2012, the worldwide mobile subscriber base is expected to increase by 1.8 billion, according to the latest market study by Portio Research.
Around 67 percent of these new subscribers -- a little above 1.2 billion subscribers -- are expected to come from just 10 fast-growing country markets worldwide. Of these top 10 growth markets, nine have been identified as high-volume, low-ARPU (Average-Revenue-Per-User) emerging mobile markets with significant potential in the next five years.
Portio's study identified only one truly wealthy nation among this top 10, the United States of America, home to one of the highest ARPU rates in the world, yet also the 4th biggest growth market of the 2007-2012 period.
The U.S. is expected to add more than 65 million mobile subscribers to the worldwide subscriber base in the period 2007-2012.
This might look relatively insignificant compared to the massive numbers expected to be added from high-growth markets such as China (542 million) and India (282 million), but what makes the U.S. mobile market an interesting market to study is the observation that a new mobile subscriber in the U.S. is expected to generate between three and 13 times as much revenue expected from a new mobile subscriber in China, India and the other emerging markets in the top 10 in 2012.
Translation: by comparison, Americans continue to overpay for their mobile phone service. Meaning, compared to other leading global markets, price competition still remains elusive in the U.S. mobile market -- likewise in the consumer broadband services market at home.
Compounding this aggressive growth is the high ARPU network operators in the U.S. achieve from their subscribers. Unlike many other mature mobile markets, where ARPU is in slow decline, in the U.S. ARPU is forecast to remain high, even increasing slightly from 2007 levels as we move forward over the next 4 or 5 years.
While the U.S. will contribute only around 5.5 percent to the total number of new subscribers that are expected from the top 10 markets in the period 2007-2012, in terms of revenue, the country will account for around 25.2 percent of the total mobile service revenues generated by these 10 markets in 2012.
Labels: broadband, competition, fcc, mobile, policy, wireless
As personal computer (PC) manufacturers adjust to the macro-economic effects of tightened credit, 2008 looks to be a year where Ultra Mobile Devices (UMD) continue to grow their ecosystems, and notebooks and emerging markets assert themselves on the PC side, according to In-Stat.
Sales growth for UMDs is expected to be 72.6 percent in 2008, the high-tech market research firm says. UMDs are ultra mobile PCs, mobile Internet devices, a percentage of high-end smartphones, and a percentage of high-end personal media players.
"For UMDs, concerns remain in the areas of infrastructure and the availability of connectivity beyond Wi-Fi" says Ian Lao, In-Stat analyst.
Also of concern are:
1. The development of sustainable business models -- whereby all levels of the ecosystem may make money without crushing the consumer with high prices.
2. Form factors that are conducive to, and align tightly with, specific usages.
3. Interfaces that are intuitive and provide pleasant, repeatable user experiences.
The research covers the worldwide market for Ultra Mobile Devices and PCs. It provides global unit sales forecasts for UMDs, mobile PCs, desktop PCs, mobile phone handsets, and PMPs through 2012. Analysis of market drivers and barriers, including the current U.S. economic downturn, is included.
In-Stat's market study also found the following:
- Mobile PC growth is forecast to be 15.4 percent in 2008.
- Desktop PC growth is forecast to flatten in 2008, and recover nicely in 2010.
- Non-computer makers are making plays by entering the mobile Internet space and are even labeling their products UMDs.
Labels: design, device, mobile, pc, smartphone, usability
ComScore released March 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, indicating that U.S. Internet users viewed 11.5 billion online videos during the month, representing a 13 percent gain versus February and a 64 percent gain versus March 2007.
In March, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with more than 4.3 billion videos viewed (38 percent share of all videos), gaining 2.6 share points versus the previous month.
YouTube.com accounted for 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google Sites. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 477 million videos (4.2 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 328 million (2.9 percent) and Viacom Digital with 249 million (2.2 percent).
Nearly 139 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 83 videos per viewer in March. Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (85.7 million), where they watched an average of 51 videos per person.
Fox Interactive attracted the second most viewers (54.3 million), followed by Yahoo! Sites (37.5 million) and Viacom Digital (26.6 million).
Notable findings from the ComScore market study include:
- 73.7 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- 84.8 million viewers watched 4.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer).
- 47.7 million viewers watched 400 million videos on MySpace.com (8.4 videos per viewer).
- The average online video duration was 2.8 minutes, and the average online video viewer watched 235 minutes of video.
Labels: broadband, multimedia, segmentation, video, vod
Revenue for the online gaming market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly between 2008 and 2013, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
Key factors driving this growth include growing household Internet penetration, increased content development for online-specific games, and the unique experience that online gaming offers, the high-tech market research firm says.
"The online gaming market in Asia-Pacific is growing in tandem with the significant increase in consumer Internet use," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst.
"In addition, the number of market players is rapidly expanding -- therefore, improved content and a greater variety of games are keys to success in this market."
Their research covers the whole Asia-Pacific market for online gaming. It provides forecasts for online gaming revenue and subscriber growth through 2013, segmented by country. It also includes analysis of market drivers and challenges, as well as profiles of popular game developers and operators in the region.
In-Stat's market study found the following:
- Total revenue for the Asia-Pacific online gaming market is expected to reach $21.1 billion in 2013.
- MMORPGs remain the mainstream of Asia's online gaming market.
- China is the fastest-growing market for online gaming and is expected to become the largest market in Asia in 2009.
Labels: asia-pacific, broadband, china, gaming, marketing, media
Mobile operators in mature markets will need to adopt radical new business models over the next five years if they are to protect their profit margins, according to a market study by Informa Telecoms & Media.
Emerging market mobile operators will continue to enjoy strong revenue growth in the short to medium term as they fulfill strong pent-up demand for basic connectivity. But even they will have to embrace new ways of running their businesses when growth inevitably slows.
"For the last ten years mobile operators have been building strategies, platforms and services for the delivery of new non-voice services which, they hope will compensate for the inevitable decline in voice revenues" says Mark Newman, Informa Telecoms & Media Chief Research Officer. "But it's been tough going and non-SMS data revenues have been disappointing."
The situation has improved over the last year or two with many operators reporting year-on-year revenue growth of 30-40 percent or more in non-SMS data services. But the nature of the non-voice mobile is on the cusp of radical change.
The focus is moving away from a limited number of services provided by the operator to Internet access. Operators' non-SMS data revenue base is in the process of shifting from services to basic access/connectivity. The services they are beginning to use on their mobiles are provided by Internet players rather than mobile operators.
As such, mobile operators can look forward to a period of growth in mobile broadband connectivity. But to capitalize on this opportunity, operators need to invest heavily in new high-capacity networks.
It will see them effectively transition to becoming Internet Service Providers (ISPs). To avoid the fate of fixed-network ISPs, mobile operators will either need to partner with Internet firms and share revenues and/or develop a smart-pipe strategy. This involves exposing different parts of their networks to third party service providers and monetizing access to them.
Advertising is touted as a lucrative new revenue stream which would complement an Internet access strategy but Informa Telecoms & Media does not believe that it will translate into a significant operator revenue stream within the next five years.
At the same time as they pursue this strategy mobile operators will need to continue to seek ways to reduce Opex levels. Lower handset subsidies, outsourcing and network sharing, all offer huge scope for lowering Opex levels, as does the migration to all-IP infrastructures.
Labels: advertising, broadband, marketing, mobile, vas, wireless
Enterprise social networking grew much faster than expected, as leading adopters started to reveal their early successes and a number of robust solutions emerged, according to a new IDC market study.
While the market is still serviced by a wide variety of small players there was significant consolidation through mergers, acquisitions, and new products from existing players.
"Enterprise social networking applications established a strong foothold in 2007, emerging as a more comprehensive solution than single utility applications like blogs and Wikis," stated Rachel Happe, research manager, Digital Business Economy.
"A number of important societal, digital marketplace-specific, and enterprise trends are driving aggressive growth in this market. They include social filtering of content, media channel fragmentation, adoption of consumer social networking services, and the perception in mature markets like enterprise software that communities are a way to increase differentiation and retain customers."
Additional observations of the social networking applications market include:
- The surfacing of new competitors in the form of established information access and content management vendors that build social features into their solutions.
- As an emergent market, the growth rate is high and spread unevenly between a variety of small vendors and a few larger vendors who represent a relatively large percentage of the market today. While 2007 saw some consolidation, IDC expects that 2008 will see even more.
- There is considerable functional adoption as companies deployed social networking solutions to address a wide variety of specific business challenges spanning HR, marketing/sales, engineering, channel management, and customer service functions.
- The emergence of social intelligence solutions that combine elements of web analytics, brand monitoring, and information access in order to provide management dashboards of social networks both internal and external to corporate firewalls.
- Social networking market growth will be moderated by cultural and resource limitations. Many companies will deploy social networking applications and see few benefits because of the lack of understanding or comfort with the open-culture required for social networking to be successful.
The higher than expected market adoption in 2007 has pushed long-term projections higher as well. While this forecast projects both slow and aggressive growth scenarios, the projected size of the market in 2012 is expected to be $1.3 billion.
Labels: managed services, saas, social networking, software
Growing deployments of one of the least glamorous consumer electronics devices, the cable TV set top box, continues to surprise the consumer electronics industry.
For the second consecutive year, demand for digital cable TV set top boxes reached new heights, as both unit shipments and product revenues set new records.
Last year, worldwide digital cable TV set top box unit shipments spiked dramatically to over 41 million units, up from 29 million units in 2006, according to the latest market study from In-Stat.
Worldwide cable TV set top box revenues passed the $6 billion mark in 2007, up from $4.8 billion in 2006.
In-Stat expect that 2008 will be another good year for cable TV set top box manufacturers and component suppliers. However, total worldwide unit shipments and revenues are projected to decline slightly this year, as cable operators shift some capital expenditures to other network components.
In-Stat's market study includes the following insights:
- The continuing shift from analog cable TV to digital cable TV services in China, the largest cable TV market in the world. Over 14 million digital cable set top box units were shipped in China last year, an increase of 48 percent over 2006.
- Continued strong demand for high-end cable set top boxes in North America. These boxes, which support high-definition HDTV services or offer personal video recording (PVR) capabilities, are now being viewed as a necessity for subscriber retention, especially in light of the increasing competitiveness of the North American pay-TV market.
- A strong push during the first half of 2007 by U.S. cable operators to purchase and deploy digital cable set top boxes with integrated security. The ban on integrated security, which went into effect in July 2007, now requires virtually all new cable set top boxes to come with a removable CableCard.
Labels: cable, hdtv, security, stb, systems, telco, tv, video
Personal IP communications is the future of real-time communications for the individual user. This market segment is categorized into three areas including Web-based services, portals, and mobile thin-clients.
Together, IDC forecasts these categories will represent more than $5 billion in annual spending in 2012.
At the forefront of the evolution of "voice as an application" are new Web services platforms from vendors like REBTEL or iotum. Voice is becoming embedded in sites, applications, and other services, sometimes by third party developers but also by the original provider.
Web-based personal IP communication comes in many shapes and sizes, ranging from widgets and applications for social networking sites, to Web sites that initiate the bridging of calls.
IP communication clients for devices, like Truphone and TalkPlus, are integral to the growth of personal IP communication services. While some Web-based services offer a mobile solution via bridging capabilities over the cellular network, many thin client services look to provide an end-to-end VoIP experience via the data network. The proliferation of a new category of devices known as MIDs will be dependent on these IP communications clients' voice communications.
Standalone IP communication portals, like Skype and SightSpeed, have become a viable business. Calls between users on a platform are usually free no matter what the revenue structure. Some portals price calls on a per minute basis depending on where the call terminates while others offer a monthly subscription for unlimited minutes.
Similarly, there are portals that rely 100 percent on user-generated revenue and others that rely on a mix of ad-generated revenue and user-generated revenue.
"Funding models to support personal IP communications still remain in flux. Some services are already being offered for free, looking towards advertising to generate revenue. Other players are offering a free basic service and the option of a premium service for a monthly fee," said Rebecca Swensen, research analyst for VoIP Services at IDC.
"Still, it is questionable whether either of these revenue models will be profitable. Will one model become the de facto standard in the next few years or will there continue to be varying revenue models?"
Labels: broadband, mobile, p2p, pc, vas, voip, voip cpe
The growth of data application traffic carried by wireless networks will likely force mobile service providers to accelerate their efforts to upgrade their infrastructure to a flat all-IP architecture, according to the latest market study from Heavy Reading.
"The steep rise in data traffic volumes being carried by wireless networks is unmistakable," says Gabriel Brown, Senior Analyst with Heavy Reading and author of their report.
"In 2007, some large operators in Europe were carrying 2,000GB of data traffic per day -- an eightfold increase over traffic volumes compared with 2006. Mobile operators have to manage rapid traffic growth across a network infrastructure that simultaneously provides lower cost-per-bit and greater flexibility in the pricing structures of end-user services."
A major key to achieving that goal is to adopt flat, all-IP network architectures to replace the hierarchical architectures that characterize legacy wireless networks, Brown says.
"IP affects all segments of the mobile network architecture, including the radio access network, voice core, packet core, integration of non-3GPP/3GPP2 access, and the transmission network," he adds.
Other key findings of the Heavy Reading market study include the following.
Lower prices and higher data rates are the main reasons for the huge recent growth in mobile data traffic. Usage is dominated by laptop modems, while small-screen services on handhelds is not yet generating significant traffic volume.
Mobile data revenues grew more than 40 percent in 2007 and revenue growth could be higher this year, as more users take advantage of less expensive services. There now appears to be evidence of positive elasticity of for mobile data, but growth in the market to date is very much driven by the early-adopter community.
A 3G network capacity crunch isn't likely before the end of 2009, which means operators still have time to hone their transition strategies -- but the clock is ticking.
Operators will use a mixture of software upgrades and deployment of additional carriers to enhance 3G cell site capacity for the time being. But within two years, operators of 3G networks will have to begin to migrate to Evolved HSPA, offering peak data rates of 28 Mbit/s, and then 42 Mbit/s.
Labels: handheld, mobile, pc, segmentation, smartphone, wireless
Austin, Texas, is the most Digital Savvy city, according to a new market analysis from consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research.
Twelve percent of Austin adults are Digital Savvy, and they are almost twice as likely as the national average to be in this leading-edge consumer segment. Las Vegas, NV, Sacramento and San Diego are also leading Digital Savvy cities, with 10 percent of their residents having this higher level of technological orientation and adoption.
Nationally, six percent of all consumers are classified as Digital Savvy. The ranking of Digital Savvy cities is part of a just-released Scarborough market study report.
In terms of purchasing patterns, Digitally Savvy consumers are a luxury-oriented group. They are 56 percent more likely than the average consumer to own or lease a luxury vehicle; 175 percent more likely to have spent $500 or more on men's or women's business clothing during the past year and 49 percent more likely to own a second home.
Online, this consumer group is equally high-end in its shopping behavior. More than half (54 percent) of the Digital Savvy spent more than $500 online during the past year, and 35 percent spent upwards of $1,000 during that time-frame. They are far more likely to spend online in high-end purchasing categories, such as automotive and travel, as well as every day items, such as books and clothing.
"The most Digitally Savvy markets are known for leading the nation in a variety of hi-tech behaviors. They also typically have the presence of major universities and represent established tech corridors in the U.S.," said Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and digital media services, Scarborough Research.
"The Digital Savvy is a consumer segment which is important to monitor -- both locally and nationally. They are early adopters when it comes to fully integrating new technologies into their lives, and their shopping patterns, demographics and lifestyles could presage behaviors of consumers across the country."
Politically, Digital Savvy consumers are 25 percent more likely to be Independent voters. In terms of other major political parties, they are on par with the national average with being Democrat or Republican.
Active lifestyles and on-the-go living are the hallmarks of the Digital Savvy. They are far more likely to enjoy athletic leisure activities including basketball, yoga, free weights training and jogging. The Digital Savvy are 18 percent more likely to have longer commutes -- one hour or more to work each way.
Given this active lifestyle, they rely on cell phones for communication and information. More than half (59 percent) of the Digital Savvy use their cell phones for email. They are, on many levels, an active and on-the-go group and their digital savvy is a natural compliment to that lifestyle.
Demographically, the Digital Savvy are male, young and wealthy. Fifty-six percent of them are male and 77 percent of this consumer group is below the age of 44. They are 132 percent more likely than the average consumer to have an annual household income of $150,000 or more. In fact, more than half (57 percent) of this consumer group has an annual household income of $75,000 or greater.
Labels: austin, indie, multimedia, segmentation, targeting, texas
With significant growth in the Chinese market, the forecasts for User-Generated Video (UGV) use and revenue have shifted upward since last year, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
And with expectations of higher quality content -- like HD video -- and increasing file size maximums, the demands on bandwidth will likely continue to grow at a faster rate than the number of videos served, the high-tech market research firm says.
"User-generated video (UGV) and the video sharing sites that exemplify this form of content have spread across the globe," says Michael Inouye, In-Stat analyst.
"China is a prime example of UGV's global reach and appeal, capturing a significant portion of the world market, making it second only to the U.S. In general, viewing of online video has increased in the U.S. in the past year, although participation is still stratified by age."
I believe that the growing use of handheld high-quality video camcorders, easy-to-use video editing software and free online storage and distribution services, will continue to drive the shift of video advertising online -- as consumers spend less time watching traditional TV.
The implications will dramatically disrupt the current status quo for legacy TV broadcasters, and in particular the legacy global advertising industry that has demonstrated resistance to adapt.
In-Stat's market study found the following:
- Total worldwide UGV revenue is expected to eclipse $1.19 billion by 2012.
- 160 billion UGV served videos are forecasted for 2012.
- Individuals who use mobile phones to participate in online video sites are most likely to contribute to the market (both financially and in terms of content).
Labels: advertising, broadband, camcorder, china, hdtv, pc, video
Ultra low-cost notebook PCs have received considerable attention as a potential solution to the digital divide in developing countries. However, IDC believes these devices will primarily find success as mobile, secondary computing devices in established regions and in education PC markets.
"Consumers have embraced the idea of the PC, particularly the portable PC, as a personal device rather than a shared household device," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays at IDC.
"This has led to the introduction of notebooks in an increasingly wide range of sizes and shapes, as well as more specialized PCs. Very low-cost, compact notebooks than can be carried around and provide quick and easy access to the Internet via Wi-Fi hot spots fills an important spot in this burgeoning market -- the first disposable notebooks."
IDC's definition of an ultra low-cost notebook PC is a sub-$500 clamshell form factor mobile PC with a screen measuring from 7-10 inches diagonally, running a full operating system capable of supporting third party applications, and possessing a keyboard and wireless broadband connectivity. Examples include the Asus eeePC and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO.
The small size and focus on mobility fundamentally redefines the usage model for these devices. IDC believes ultra low-cost notebooks make the most sense as secondary computing devices, used primarily for online activities and carried around more often than regular notebook PCs.
While the devices offer most of the functionality that many typical users want, a true Web browsing experience is one of the primary features distinguishing ultra low-cost notebooks from smartphones and other smart handheld devices. The one opportunity where IDC expects that these devices could function as primary computers is for school-age (K-8) children.
"Despite its potential, the ultra low-cost notebook will not receive a universal embrace from consumers," added O'Donnell.
"The price gap with fully featured notebooks will be small and many consumers will opt to pay just a little more for a fully featured, full size notebook PC. And PC vendors, wary of the very small margins on these very small devices, will promote ultra low-cost notebooks as additive products, not replacement products, and will still face challenges in making them a profitable business."
IDC forecasts worldwide shipments of the ultra low cost notebook PC will grow from less than 500,000 units in 2007 to more than 9 million in 2012. But with low average selling prices (ASPs), worldwide revenues will be less than $3 billion in 2012.
As a percentage of the total consumer PC market, these devices will remain under 5 percent throughout the forecast period. However, ultra low-cost notebooks could eventually capture more than one third of the education market by 2012.
Labels: design, device, innovation, marketing, mobile, pc
In the past five years, IPTV has grown from a handful of deployments by a few pioneering telcos and ISPs to an established part of the pay-TV landscape with services spanning the globe from Australia to the Ukraine.
But now, according to ABI Research, this adolescent industry must find ways to create a distinct identity so it can continue to grow and prosper, with IPTV operators creating unique service offerings that are differentiated from the traditional video services of their key competitors.
Some services have recently crossed the symbolically important 1-million-subscriber threshold. But, says senior analyst Cesar Bachelet, "IPTV operators must now leverage the characteristics of the new platform to produce a differentiated offering, redefining the experience of television."
How are they to do this? Bachelet offers several suggestions.
Operators should focus on integration of Web content (text or video) with traditional broadcast content. New technologies offer the ability to pull real-time feeds from the Web and combine them with broadcast video content.
Offering subscribers the ability to access the EPG (electronic program guide) and DVR functionality through any Internet-connected device -- as an example, a PC, mobile handset, or portable device.
Targeted advertising is another opportunity. IPTV's interactivity and personalization should enable much more effective ad strategies than conventional broadcast.
"From a technology perspective," Bachelet concludes, "all the tools are there, enabling IPTV operators to move to the next level and bring greater choice, convenience, and control to consumers. However, operators must tread carefully in order not to overwhelm subscribers with too many new features at once, and business models still need to be defined for some of the new value-added services in order to monetize them without alienating subscribers."
That said, I believe that the window of opportunity is closing fast. While the telcos have been busy replicating a pay-TV experience from the bygone era of broadcast media, online digital media narrowcasters have fragmented the addressable marketplace.
I also believe that the online video entertainment business should be appoached with an open creative mind. Meaning, prior experience in the traditional broadcast television industry is likely more of a negative than a positive. Moreover, monetization concerns aside, there needs to be a focus on designing meaningful and innovative service offerings.
Labels: advertising, broadband, innovation, iptv, personalization
In the wake of personal navigation devices success, cellular carriers have started to offer on-board and off-board navigation solutions, as well as a range of Location Based Services (LBS) such as friend finder and local search on GPS handsets.
Community and social-networking-related functionality, such as the sharing of POIs (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, is also becoming popular and is expected to boost GPS-enabled handset uptake as carriers, handsets manufacturers, and service providers look to capitalize on the LBS trend.
While most CDMA handsets are already GPS-enabled and GPS is set to become a standard feature in GSM smartphones, GSM feature phones are next on the agenda to be equipped with GPS technology," says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. "GPS chipset vendors increasingly target handsets, looking for new markets and spurred on by the recent dramatic growth of personal navigation devices."
However, as GPS begins to penetrate lower-end phones, the cost, power consumption, and footprint of GPS chipsets will have to be further reduced. This will be made possible by single chipset technology and the emergence in 2009 of combination chips integrating GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi all on one die.
Major silicon vendors such as Broadcom, NXP, and Atheros are well positioned to develop such solutions following the acquisition of GPS chipset vendors Global Locate, GloNav, and u-Nav, respectively.
At the same time, the thorny issue of indoor GPS coverage has to be addressed, since handset-based LBS services are frequently used in challenging environments with reduced GPS signal strength.
Network-assisted A-GPS and high-sensitivity GPS-receivers are becoming key requirements to reduce the time necessary to acquire fixes and to improve location accuracy.
Labels: gps, handheld, mobile, semiconductor, wi-fi, wireless
Nielsen Online announced that four out of the five top referring Web sites to Wikipedia -- which has grown nearly 8,000 percent over the last five years -- are search engines, led by Google.
In April, 61 percent of visitors from home and 66 percent of visitors from work to en.wikipedia.org were referred from Google. Yahoo! Search was the second most common referring site to English-language Wikipedia, referring 19 percent and 16 percent of visitors from home and work, respectively.
Other search providers to make the top five referring destinations for Wikipedia were MSN/Windows Live Search and AOL Search.
"Search providers dominate Wikipedia's referring traffic because of its scope and value as an information resource," said Michael Pond, media analyst, Nielsen Online.
"The site's rapid ascent, with audience levels comparable to popular brands such as eBay and MySpace, demonstrates the success of its collaborative nature -- readers can edit entries and add information. This consumer involvement has led to an increase in blog mentions of Wikipedia, which builds the site's relevance and credibility."
In the past five years, Web traffic to Wikipedia has skyrocketed, increasing nearly 8,000 percent from April 2003 to April 2008. Year-over-year growth rates indicate surges where Wikipedia gained traction in the online marketplace.
"Wikipedia content is inherently conversational, driving buzz in the blogosphere," continued Pond. "Bloggers refer to and link to Wikipedia content, potentially driving additional traffic and interest in the site with their readers."
Labels: advertising, broadband, marketing, search
