Broadcast television content storage is undergoing a period of dramatic change, as TV stations move to file-based workflows and network play-out centers move to HD and 3D services.
U.S. TV broadcasters are set to launch local mobile DTV services, and all content needs to be re-purposed for new devices like iPads, tablets, and smartphones.
These evolutionary applications will help push the market for U.S. broadcast storage and news production systems to an annual value of $368 million during 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
"The nature of professionally produced television is undergoing fundamental changes. Multi-screen content delivery networks and services will eventually push a great deal of professional content into the cloud," says Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst at In-Stat.
Even for local TV stations that produce their own talk shows, news, sports, advertising, and specialty programming, the changes in consumer behavior require that content at least have hooks and triggers up in the cloud.
These enhancements permit the maximum value of professional content to be realized -- as it flows through an ever-widening pool of delivery services.
In-Stat's latest market study findings include the following:
- Producing content for multiscreen requires multiple resolutions including 416x240, 832x480, 1920x1080p, 1920x1080i, 128-x720p, 1920x1080p, 1280x720p, and others.
- Multiple CODEC support including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4 SVC, Adobe FLASH, Adobe OpenScreen, Adobe Adaptive Streaming, Microsoft Silverlight with Smooth Streaming, DiVX, and Google VP8 - all creating an exponentially growing storage problem.
- Six traditional storage silos of the video workflow, which include content production, ingest for local use, management for active use, staging for immediate use, staging for distribution, and archiving for permanent storage, are being consolidated.
- News production equipment is showing gradual sustained growth.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
U.S. Industry-Specific Apps for Tablets and E-readers
The numbers and types of 3G and 4G devices -- other than mobile phone handsets -- such as tablets, notebooks, and e-readers that are used by U.S. business is becoming a larger portion of the overall business wireless spend.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, that spending on non-handset 3G and 4G mobile services will exceed $5 billion by 2014.
"As businesses become more mobile and as wireless connections become more ubiquitous, it is inevitable that new technology will be employed by business in an effort to raise productivity," says Greg Potter, Research Analyst at In-Stat.
It should be no surprise to see upside forecasts that indicate this category of spending will grow -- in fact, it will become an even larger portion of wireless spending moving forward.
Other findings from In-Stat's study include:
- Enterprise spending makes up over 62 percent of business spending on non-handset data services, spending over $1.9 billion in 2010.
- The administrative and support services, healthcare and social services, and professional services verticals will all grow over 70 percent from 2010 to 2014.
- The healthcare and social services vertical represents the largest share of spending, over $400 million in 2010.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, that spending on non-handset 3G and 4G mobile services will exceed $5 billion by 2014.
"As businesses become more mobile and as wireless connections become more ubiquitous, it is inevitable that new technology will be employed by business in an effort to raise productivity," says Greg Potter, Research Analyst at In-Stat.
It should be no surprise to see upside forecasts that indicate this category of spending will grow -- in fact, it will become an even larger portion of wireless spending moving forward.
Other findings from In-Stat's study include:
- Enterprise spending makes up over 62 percent of business spending on non-handset data services, spending over $1.9 billion in 2010.
- The administrative and support services, healthcare and social services, and professional services verticals will all grow over 70 percent from 2010 to 2014.
- The healthcare and social services vertical represents the largest share of spending, over $400 million in 2010.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Mobile Feature Phones Still Popular for Texting
While smartphone demand continues to grow, many mobile phone users are still purchasing the less-expensive feature phones. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, during 2010 feature phones comprised over 75 percent of the handset market.
Consumers purchase feature phones for a variety of reasons including the need for a device that is optimized for a specific application, such as text messaging.
"A messaging phone is a feature phone that has been enhanced for messaging services including SMS, MMS, mobile email, and mobile IM. These devices have a QWERTY keyboard and other capabilities at a price that is usually more affordable than a smartphone," says ABI Research senior analyst Victoria Fodale.
Mobile phones for messaging will encompass an increasing percentage of feature phone shipments -- growing to almost a third of the category by 2015.
Mobile phones optimized for messaging are targeted to specific markets including consumers in developing regions who need affordable solutions for messaging and mobile Internet services.
In the developing regions of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, access to mobile broadband often outstrips fixed-line broadband access. For many users in those regions, their only Internet experience may be via a mobile phone.
Extending the mobile Internet to feature phone users where connectivity is costly and slow is a growing trend. Recently Facebook launched a mobile app to extend its reach to feature phones.
The Facebook for Feature Phones app works on more than 2,500 mobile devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and other OEMs. The app was built in cooperation with Snaptu, a London-based company that provides a free mobile application platform.
Consumers purchase feature phones for a variety of reasons including the need for a device that is optimized for a specific application, such as text messaging.
"A messaging phone is a feature phone that has been enhanced for messaging services including SMS, MMS, mobile email, and mobile IM. These devices have a QWERTY keyboard and other capabilities at a price that is usually more affordable than a smartphone," says ABI Research senior analyst Victoria Fodale.
Mobile phones for messaging will encompass an increasing percentage of feature phone shipments -- growing to almost a third of the category by 2015.
Mobile phones optimized for messaging are targeted to specific markets including consumers in developing regions who need affordable solutions for messaging and mobile Internet services.
In the developing regions of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, access to mobile broadband often outstrips fixed-line broadband access. For many users in those regions, their only Internet experience may be via a mobile phone.
Extending the mobile Internet to feature phone users where connectivity is costly and slow is a growing trend. Recently Facebook launched a mobile app to extend its reach to feature phones.
The Facebook for Feature Phones app works on more than 2,500 mobile devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and other OEMs. The app was built in cooperation with Snaptu, a London-based company that provides a free mobile application platform.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Americans View 3.8 Billion Video Ads in February
comScore released data showing that 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in February for an average of 13.6 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.0 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in February with 141.1 million unique viewers. VEVO ranked second with 49.0 million viewers, followed by Microsoft Sites with 48.8 million, Yahoo! Sites with 46.7 million, and Facebook.com with nearly 46.7 million.
Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with 1.8 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 262 minutes, or 4.4 hours.
Americans viewed 3.8 billion video ads in February, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.1 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 548.3 million ad views, followed by ADAP.TV (396 million) and SpotXchange Video Ad Network (343 million).
Time spent watching videos ads totaled 1.7 billion minutes during the month, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 454 million minutes. Video ads reached 42 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 30 times during the month. Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 48 over the course of the month.
Other findings from February 2011 study include:
- The top video ad networks in terms of their potential reach of the total U.S. population were: Google Display Network at 46.7 percent, Tremor Media at 46.3 percent, BrightRoll Video Network at 37.3 percent and Break Media at 36.8 percent.
- 82.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- The duration of the average online content video was 5.1 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
- Video ads accounted for 12.4 percent of all videos viewed and 1.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in February with 141.1 million unique viewers. VEVO ranked second with 49.0 million viewers, followed by Microsoft Sites with 48.8 million, Yahoo! Sites with 46.7 million, and Facebook.com with nearly 46.7 million.
Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with 1.8 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 262 minutes, or 4.4 hours.
Americans viewed 3.8 billion video ads in February, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.1 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 548.3 million ad views, followed by ADAP.TV (396 million) and SpotXchange Video Ad Network (343 million).
Time spent watching videos ads totaled 1.7 billion minutes during the month, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 454 million minutes. Video ads reached 42 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 30 times during the month. Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 48 over the course of the month.
Other findings from February 2011 study include:
- The top video ad networks in terms of their potential reach of the total U.S. population were: Google Display Network at 46.7 percent, Tremor Media at 46.3 percent, BrightRoll Video Network at 37.3 percent and Break Media at 36.8 percent.
- 82.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- The duration of the average online content video was 5.1 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
- Video ads accounted for 12.4 percent of all videos viewed and 1.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Multimedia Content is Driving Media Tablet Usage
eMarketers reports that media tablets and ereaders have become the preferred platforms for consuming online digital media. Moreover, 2010 sales of both types of device were strong, according to the laterest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC).
Worldwide, 10.1 million tablets were shipped in the forth quarter of 2010, up from 4.5 million in Q3 2010. Ereader shipments rose from 3 million in 2009 to 12.8 million in 2010.
eMarketer estimates worldwide tablet sales will reach 24 million this year, about 80 percent of which will be Apple iPads.
Research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) confirms that tablet and ereader purchase intentions are high -- especially among those who are already familiar with the devices.
Half of internet users in the U.S. market who knew about tablets and ereaders planned to buy one in the next year, and 70 percent were considering a purchase in the next three years. Furthermore, the overall interest was nearly as high worldwide.
And, internet users also indicated they were, by and large, willing to pay for more multimedia content. An analysis of the optimal price most respondents were willing to pay found potential tablet users thought $5 to $10 was about right for digital books or monthly subscriptions to digital book or digital newspaper services.
However, the price point for for digital magazine subscriptions or single copies came in a bit lower.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Latin America Reaches a Mobile Service Milestone
Latin America will pass the milestone of 100 percent mobile phone penetration by the end of the first quarter 2011, according to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media.
However, despite this accomplishment, there are still 178 million people in the region without mobile communication services -- which represents 30 percent of its population.
Brazil, the largest and most important mobile market in South America, had already passed the milestones of 100 percent penetration and 200 million subscriptions by the end of 2010.
With 105 percent penetration at the end of December, Brazil is now the sixth-largest market globally with 206 million subscriptions and the seventh-largest by revenues.
"Passing 100 percent penetration is a huge milestone for the mobile industry, but it's important to note that it does not mean that everyone in Latin America has a mobile phone," says Daniele Tricarico, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Informa's research finds mobile penetration rates of 120 percent and higher in some urban areas where users have multiple subscriptions, but in rural areas mobile penetration rates can fall to 60 percent or lower -- partly due to a lack of network coverage.
Across Latin America, about 27 percent of the total 568 million mobile subscriptions, including mobile broadband connections, are classified as multiple subscriptions -- where customers have more than one SIM card, or have a portable device subscription as well as a mobile phone plan.
This figure also includes double counting of subscriptions, which occur when customers change service provider. This contrasts with North America, where, although year-end penetration stood at a lower 93 percent, multiple SIM and portable devices of some kind and double counting only account for 14 percent of the overall subscription base.
"If we were to look only at unique subscribers when comparing Latin America and North America then the picture would be rather different," says Tricarico. "With lower average disposable income, a high proportion of prepaid customers, who represent over 80 percent of the overall Latin American customer base, tend to switch SIM card to take advantage of the best prices depending on the operator and the time of the day."
At the same time, an increasing number of high-value customers are adding mobile broadband to their existing voice services, sometimes to complement their existing fixed broadband, but more and more often as their primary broadband service. As a result, more people tend to have multiple subscriptions, which is pushing up the overall national penetration figures.
The rapid growth of the Brazilian mobile market, which alone accounts for 36 percent of all Latin American subscriptions, is boosting overall regional penetration. However, even in Brazil there were about 56 million people without a mobile subscription of some kind at the end of 2010.
However, despite this accomplishment, there are still 178 million people in the region without mobile communication services -- which represents 30 percent of its population.
Brazil, the largest and most important mobile market in South America, had already passed the milestones of 100 percent penetration and 200 million subscriptions by the end of 2010.
With 105 percent penetration at the end of December, Brazil is now the sixth-largest market globally with 206 million subscriptions and the seventh-largest by revenues.
"Passing 100 percent penetration is a huge milestone for the mobile industry, but it's important to note that it does not mean that everyone in Latin America has a mobile phone," says Daniele Tricarico, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Informa's research finds mobile penetration rates of 120 percent and higher in some urban areas where users have multiple subscriptions, but in rural areas mobile penetration rates can fall to 60 percent or lower -- partly due to a lack of network coverage.
Across Latin America, about 27 percent of the total 568 million mobile subscriptions, including mobile broadband connections, are classified as multiple subscriptions -- where customers have more than one SIM card, or have a portable device subscription as well as a mobile phone plan.
This figure also includes double counting of subscriptions, which occur when customers change service provider. This contrasts with North America, where, although year-end penetration stood at a lower 93 percent, multiple SIM and portable devices of some kind and double counting only account for 14 percent of the overall subscription base.
"If we were to look only at unique subscribers when comparing Latin America and North America then the picture would be rather different," says Tricarico. "With lower average disposable income, a high proportion of prepaid customers, who represent over 80 percent of the overall Latin American customer base, tend to switch SIM card to take advantage of the best prices depending on the operator and the time of the day."
At the same time, an increasing number of high-value customers are adding mobile broadband to their existing voice services, sometimes to complement their existing fixed broadband, but more and more often as their primary broadband service. As a result, more people tend to have multiple subscriptions, which is pushing up the overall national penetration figures.
The rapid growth of the Brazilian mobile market, which alone accounts for 36 percent of all Latin American subscriptions, is boosting overall regional penetration. However, even in Brazil there were about 56 million people without a mobile subscription of some kind at the end of 2010.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
3D Television Upside Expectations Recalibrated
The early expectations of 3D TV were clearly exaggerated, while current press coverage laments the fact that 3D television has not lived up to its promise. The reality is somewhere between the two extremes.
3D channels have been launched in North America, Europe, and Asia in 2010. More will come in 2011. In addition to linear TV channels, 3D content is being made widely available on pay-TV providers VOD systems. Those who are experimenting with 3D VOD now are expected to make linear 3D channels available as well.
The result is an anticipated increase in the number of 3D TV channels to over 100 by 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
"Pay-TV providers around the globe who have HD systems in place have jumped on the 3D content being made available to them at a faster rate than many had expected," says Michelle Abraham, Principal Analyst at In-Stat.
Many took advantage of the World Cup 3D coverage to test transmission of 3D over their networks, and some of them have now launched transmission of regular 3D TV channels.
The competitive nature of pay-TV ensures that once one pay-TV distributor in a country is offering 3D, the others need to be fast followers unless they want to lose their top-tier customers.
In-Stat's market study revealed the following:
- 3D live event coverage will grow in 2011 but challenges remain.
- Sports, movie, documentary, and music channels are most likely to move to 3D first.
- The largest number of 3D channels are currently available in Europe, where the significant competition among pay-TV providers play a role.
- As the costs to reproduce in 3D decline over time, the 3D content production will grow more quickly.
3D channels have been launched in North America, Europe, and Asia in 2010. More will come in 2011. In addition to linear TV channels, 3D content is being made widely available on pay-TV providers VOD systems. Those who are experimenting with 3D VOD now are expected to make linear 3D channels available as well.
The result is an anticipated increase in the number of 3D TV channels to over 100 by 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
"Pay-TV providers around the globe who have HD systems in place have jumped on the 3D content being made available to them at a faster rate than many had expected," says Michelle Abraham, Principal Analyst at In-Stat.
Many took advantage of the World Cup 3D coverage to test transmission of 3D over their networks, and some of them have now launched transmission of regular 3D TV channels.
The competitive nature of pay-TV ensures that once one pay-TV distributor in a country is offering 3D, the others need to be fast followers unless they want to lose their top-tier customers.
In-Stat's market study revealed the following:
- 3D live event coverage will grow in 2011 but challenges remain.
- Sports, movie, documentary, and music channels are most likely to move to 3D first.
- The largest number of 3D channels are currently available in Europe, where the significant competition among pay-TV providers play a role.
- As the costs to reproduce in 3D decline over time, the 3D content production will grow more quickly.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Mobile Broadband Growing in LatAm and Caribbean
The 3GPP family of technologies, which includes LTE, continue to lead the mobile broadband wireless industry in the Americas -- adding 50 million new subscriptions in 2010 and reaching a total of over 116 million UMTS-HSPA connections at the end of the year.
According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, with the addition of more than 80 million new connections in 2010, GSM-HSPA has widened its leadership margin in market share securing its position as the umber one technology in the Americas region.
The market share for GSM-HSPA mobile connections in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 94 percent, adding 66 million new connections in 2010. Of those new connections in the region, 22 million or one-third of all new connections were UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband.
"The availability of wireless services in Latin America and the Caribbean has already reached 96 percent penetration and data has grown 14 times faster than basic voice services during 2010, supported by the 64 HSPA commercial networks in 27 countries of the region,” said Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 4G Americas.
América Móvil has experienced a consolidated 40 percent wireless data revenue growth and in countries such as Mexico a 28 percent data contribution to service revenues. For Telefónica, Latin America accounted for 43 percent of their revenues in 2010 and data represented 23 percent of mobile service revenues.
The challenge facing the operators in the region, to satisfy the exploding data demand triggered by new devices and applications, hinges on the quick response needed by regulators to release more harmonized spectrum.
At the end of 2010, the U.S and Canada had 77 million UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions and GSM-HSPA-LTE technology continued to add more subscriptions than any other wireless technology with 14 million new subscriptions added in 2010 and market share rising to 45 percent.
Customer migration to UMTS-HSPA continued to increase with 27 million new UMTS-HSPA subscriptions recorded in the year ending 2010.
"GSM-HSPA operators in the U.S. had a great year, adding more than 10.6 million subscriptions in 2010," said Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "Across North and Latin America, GSM to HSPA accounted for 76 percent of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2010, up from 73 percent at the end of 2009."
According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, with the addition of more than 80 million new connections in 2010, GSM-HSPA has widened its leadership margin in market share securing its position as the umber one technology in the Americas region.
The market share for GSM-HSPA mobile connections in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 94 percent, adding 66 million new connections in 2010. Of those new connections in the region, 22 million or one-third of all new connections were UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband.
"The availability of wireless services in Latin America and the Caribbean has already reached 96 percent penetration and data has grown 14 times faster than basic voice services during 2010, supported by the 64 HSPA commercial networks in 27 countries of the region,” said Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 4G Americas.
América Móvil has experienced a consolidated 40 percent wireless data revenue growth and in countries such as Mexico a 28 percent data contribution to service revenues. For Telefónica, Latin America accounted for 43 percent of their revenues in 2010 and data represented 23 percent of mobile service revenues.
The challenge facing the operators in the region, to satisfy the exploding data demand triggered by new devices and applications, hinges on the quick response needed by regulators to release more harmonized spectrum.
At the end of 2010, the U.S and Canada had 77 million UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions and GSM-HSPA-LTE technology continued to add more subscriptions than any other wireless technology with 14 million new subscriptions added in 2010 and market share rising to 45 percent.
Customer migration to UMTS-HSPA continued to increase with 27 million new UMTS-HSPA subscriptions recorded in the year ending 2010.
"GSM-HSPA operators in the U.S. had a great year, adding more than 10.6 million subscriptions in 2010," said Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "Across North and Latin America, GSM to HSPA accounted for 76 percent of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2010, up from 73 percent at the end of 2009."
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Multi-Platform Wireless Solutions on the Horizon
LTE will still become the mainstay 4G mobile network technology, although its universal use is still in the future. According to the latest market assessment by ABI Research, some service providers will benefit from a dual-platform or multi-platform strategy that's initially based on both LTE and WiMAX.
According to ABI research director Philip Solis, "Intel and others are pushing the idea of heterogeneous networks. This is not to deny LTE's long-term position as the leading 4G platform, but to recognize that a small part of the ecosystem will still be characterized by diversity for some time."
Who stands to benefit from that multi-platform scenario?
Some operators, such as Sprint and Clearwire, KDDI and UQ Communications, and KT, will use both technologies for some time.
When asked why network operators would prefer to support multiple technologies, Solis said, "By using both standards, they'll have access to more spectrum, which helps with capacity issues."
Multi-standard base stations now being deployed to support several generations of technologies as well as both 4G standards. Alvarion, Huawei, NEC, NSN, Samsung, and ZTE are some vendors supporting both technologies in the same flexible base station.
There will also be multi-mode 4G chipsets in handsets and other mobile devices.
Prior to its acquisition by Broadcom, Beceem was already planning such chipsets. Chipmaker Sequans recently announced a similar product initiative it calls 4Sight, with software allowing for hand-offs between multiple networks if carriers choose to implement it.
According to Solis, these solutions provide the wireless ecosystem with the design flexibility it needs.
Intel already has combination WiMAX and Wi-Fi chip-sets and in the near future it will focus designs on HSPA+ with LTE. Longer term, it will likely combine those into one solution along with short-range wireless technologies.
Multi-mode chip-sets also benefit mobile device manufacturers interested in reducing the number of their SKUs -- and by creating devices compatible with multiple networks, they ensure product longevity and allow mobile network operators to migrate without stranding their subscribers.
According to ABI research director Philip Solis, "Intel and others are pushing the idea of heterogeneous networks. This is not to deny LTE's long-term position as the leading 4G platform, but to recognize that a small part of the ecosystem will still be characterized by diversity for some time."
Who stands to benefit from that multi-platform scenario?
Some operators, such as Sprint and Clearwire, KDDI and UQ Communications, and KT, will use both technologies for some time.
When asked why network operators would prefer to support multiple technologies, Solis said, "By using both standards, they'll have access to more spectrum, which helps with capacity issues."
Multi-standard base stations now being deployed to support several generations of technologies as well as both 4G standards. Alvarion, Huawei, NEC, NSN, Samsung, and ZTE are some vendors supporting both technologies in the same flexible base station.
There will also be multi-mode 4G chipsets in handsets and other mobile devices.
Prior to its acquisition by Broadcom, Beceem was already planning such chipsets. Chipmaker Sequans recently announced a similar product initiative it calls 4Sight, with software allowing for hand-offs between multiple networks if carriers choose to implement it.
According to Solis, these solutions provide the wireless ecosystem with the design flexibility it needs.
Intel already has combination WiMAX and Wi-Fi chip-sets and in the near future it will focus designs on HSPA+ with LTE. Longer term, it will likely combine those into one solution along with short-range wireless technologies.
Multi-mode chip-sets also benefit mobile device manufacturers interested in reducing the number of their SKUs -- and by creating devices compatible with multiple networks, they ensure product longevity and allow mobile network operators to migrate without stranding their subscribers.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Mobile Payment Users will Reach 375M by 2015
Mobile payment transactions are an emerging opportunity to make purchases while using a mobile handset. While it's already a success in the leading countries and with advanced users, mobile payments have not yet achieved success on a global scale.
However, according to the latest market study by In-Stat, it is anticipated that this situation will begin to change in 2011 as the number of mobile payment users starts a significant upswing -- from 116 million this year to over 375 million in 2015.
"There appears to be consumer demand for mobile payments," says Amy Cravens, Market Analyst at In-Stat.
People surveyed already recognize the pain points with some current payment systems and indicate support for a cleaner, easier alternative. Moreover, mobile devices with built-in near field communications (NFC) capabilities will create the potential for new applications.
If mobile operators are able to push beyond the infrastructural challenges, and introduce these services to the mass market, then the transactional value of the mobile payments market is positioned to grow nearly tenfold over the next several years.
In-Stat's recent market study findings including:
- Significant smartphone penetration, globally.
- Consumer comfort level with purchasing goods via their phone through existing channels.
- A desire among mobile network operators to develop opportunities to generate revenue from mobile based commerce.
- Infrastructural developments are supporting contact-less payments, including NFC-enabled mobile phones and point of sale (POS) terminals.
However, according to the latest market study by In-Stat, it is anticipated that this situation will begin to change in 2011 as the number of mobile payment users starts a significant upswing -- from 116 million this year to over 375 million in 2015.
"There appears to be consumer demand for mobile payments," says Amy Cravens, Market Analyst at In-Stat.
People surveyed already recognize the pain points with some current payment systems and indicate support for a cleaner, easier alternative. Moreover, mobile devices with built-in near field communications (NFC) capabilities will create the potential for new applications.
If mobile operators are able to push beyond the infrastructural challenges, and introduce these services to the mass market, then the transactional value of the mobile payments market is positioned to grow nearly tenfold over the next several years.
In-Stat's recent market study findings including:
- Significant smartphone penetration, globally.
- Consumer comfort level with purchasing goods via their phone through existing channels.
- A desire among mobile network operators to develop opportunities to generate revenue from mobile based commerce.
- Infrastructural developments are supporting contact-less payments, including NFC-enabled mobile phones and point of sale (POS) terminals.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
SXSWi 2011: Noteworthy Exhibitor Profiles
The following is a list of exhibiting vendors or other companies that presented at panel sessions and captured my attention at the SXSW Interactive event -- earlier this week in Austin, Texas.
I encourage you to check out their Web sites to learn more.
LeNewz is based on data discovery technology that mines and analyzes news feeds to identify main topics and group them into a picture. The power of leNewz is twofold: it summarizes today's news on a single screen, and enables zooming in and out of news pages from multiple media sources.
Storify is a way to tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers.
Yapper allows anyone to simply build mobile applications without writing a single line of code. It goes beyond simple mobile apps to offer a mobile publishing platform for media organizations, publishers and brands to mobilize content, socialize and build community.
Udemy enable anyone to teach and learn online. In less than 5 minutes, you can create your own online course. You can upload presentations, videos, host live classroom sessions and write articles. It's fast, easy and free.
Next Big Sound provides a centralized place to monitor all the behavior and activity happening for music artists -- both online and off. Search and compare online music data for the hundreds of thousands of artists in their database in real-time.
Buzzdeck is a powerful analytics tool for music artists, managers and record labels. Find out exact correlation between sales, social network activity and online buzz. Gig events are automatically imported from Songkick, MySpace and last.fm
Get-ctrl works on the principle that the music artist's official website is the focus of all activity; as this is the only place online where everything is owned by the artist. No data is hidden, you control the way it looks -- and it's free.
Shuffler aggregates music from around the web by genre. Go to their home page and see a list of channels. They are like radio channels but divided by genre. When you click on a channel they send you to a blog post and start playing one of the songs mentioned on that post.
The UK Interactive Mission included several other interesting companies that were visiting the event this year. BritishMusic.biz is a portal representing the British Music trade partners, their website is dedicated to encouraging and promoting the export of British Music overseas.
I encourage you to check out their Web sites to learn more.
LeNewz is based on data discovery technology that mines and analyzes news feeds to identify main topics and group them into a picture. The power of leNewz is twofold: it summarizes today's news on a single screen, and enables zooming in and out of news pages from multiple media sources.
Storify is a way to tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers.
Yapper allows anyone to simply build mobile applications without writing a single line of code. It goes beyond simple mobile apps to offer a mobile publishing platform for media organizations, publishers and brands to mobilize content, socialize and build community.
Udemy enable anyone to teach and learn online. In less than 5 minutes, you can create your own online course. You can upload presentations, videos, host live classroom sessions and write articles. It's fast, easy and free.
Next Big Sound provides a centralized place to monitor all the behavior and activity happening for music artists -- both online and off. Search and compare online music data for the hundreds of thousands of artists in their database in real-time.
Buzzdeck is a powerful analytics tool for music artists, managers and record labels. Find out exact correlation between sales, social network activity and online buzz. Gig events are automatically imported from Songkick, MySpace and last.fm
Get-ctrl works on the principle that the music artist's official website is the focus of all activity; as this is the only place online where everything is owned by the artist. No data is hidden, you control the way it looks -- and it's free.
Shuffler aggregates music from around the web by genre. Go to their home page and see a list of channels. They are like radio channels but divided by genre. When you click on a channel they send you to a blog post and start playing one of the songs mentioned on that post.
The UK Interactive Mission included several other interesting companies that were visiting the event this year. BritishMusic.biz is a portal representing the British Music trade partners, their website is dedicated to encouraging and promoting the export of British Music overseas.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
How Independent Product Reviews Influence Buyers
According to a recent eMarketer report, a study of the typical online buying process has uncovered the journey for most people, and the growing number of resources that buyers rely on -- as they make their informed purchase decisions.
Research from GroupM Search and comScore highlights the increased use of another resource consumers are turning to in combination with their proven search engine usage -- that being, a variety social media content.
Skeptical marketers that question the influence of independent product reviews on purchasing habits now have reason to rethink that skepticism. eMarketer says that buyers who will purchase are almost as likely to use a combination of search and social resources (48 percent) as they are to just use search alone (51 percent).
Furthermore, when people were exposed to both brand-specific search results and social media, search click-through rates increased by 94 percent -- indicating how substantive product review content can help marketers to better influence their target consumers.
However, marketers wanting to capitalize on social media's role in vetting shortlists and identifying new brands must look beyond the standard social media channels -- such as Facebook and Twitter.
The Value of Detailed Product Application Reviews
Buyers researching brands on their product shortlist depend largely on their peer's opinions -- 30 percent of people surveyed rely on knowledgeable user reviews to aid in their purchase decision -- whereas only 17 percent and 9 percent turn to Facebook or Twitter, respectively.
In the 90 days leading up to purchase, less than 1 percent of all online purchasers engaged with brand-controlled social media from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- or ads and paid media on other high-traffic social sites.
In contrast, 16 percent of consumers engaged with industry-specific blogs offering expert opinions and product or service reviews. eMarketer believes that reliance on review-focused content makes it difficult for marketers to control consumer exposure to unapproved brand messages and interactions as consumers vet each brand on their shortlist.
That said, I know how reviews from credible independent sources (reviews not published on the retailer or vendor website) influence my own buying behavior. In fact, that was the catalyst for creating the Reviews section on Digital Lifescapes. I wanted to describe my own application scenarios for products or services that I would gladly recommend -- based upon my own everyday usage experience.
Why More Market Studies and Analysis are Needed
Additional findings from a ForeSee Results market study further emphasize the role of product review websites as an important influence on buyers visiting retail websites.
Compared to other influences, independent product reviews were most likely to affect the likelihood of a purchase, sharing this distinction with another highly influential factor -- personal word-of-mouth recommendations from friends or family.
Somewhat contradictory to the GroupM and comScore findings is the reported level of consumer satisfaction of interaction with branded messages and advertising on social networks -- indicating an area ripe for further investigation to better understand the true influence of brand-created messaging on social networks.
The data further illustrates the complexity of the online path to purchase and further justifies the need for marketers to track their individual marketing programs.
Specifically, benchmarking their search marketing and social media efforts, to uncover the channels and resources that are proven to best optimize the customer buying experience -- regardless of the relative visitor traffic to those sites.
Friday, March 18, 2011
New Demand for Enterprise Wireless Access Points
As people increasingly demand more flexible workplace environments, enterprise IT departments are being pressured to incorporate Wi-Fi wireless access and functionality into their set of network features. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, this trend will lead to an increase in demand for wireless access points (WAPs).
"Out of this opportunity, comes stiff competition. Industry giants such as Cisco are facing increasing pressure from smaller companies that focus wholly on the WLAN," says Brad Shaffer, Research Analyst at In-Stat.
Companies like Meru Networks are already taking small bites out of the traditional industry leader portion of the pie. Meru has seen notable growth in WAP shipments and installed customer base. According to a recent press release, in the fourth quarter of 2010 Meru's installed base increased nearly 50 percent year-over-year.
In-Stat estimates Meru Networks experienced a 19 percent increase in their WAP market share in 2010. With strong appeal in the education and healthcare verticals, it looks likely that Meru will gain further momentum.
New innovations are changing the entire architecture of a WAP deployment. Companies like AeroHive and Meraki Networks are giving access points enhanced hardware features and also moving the controller to the cloud to make network management more seamless.
While it is unknown how network administrators will respond to this change, the management of security and feature updates by vendors clearly benefit. Pressured by competition and new entrants in the WAP marketplace, companies like Cisco are adding new features to their product lines.
Cisco recently released a security upgrade for their 802.11n WAP, addressing PCI 2.0 compliance and reporting needs for their current customers. While Cisco may have temporarily addressed the competition with this feature update, pressure from other vendors will grow to levels not seen before.
In-Stat estimates WAPs have outpaced the Wi-Fi networking equipment market as a whole. WAP revenue increased over 30 percent year-over-year, compared to 19 percent for the overall WLAN market.
While this is robust growth in comparison, it is still unclear whether or not the enterprise market will fully embrace WLAN.
"Out of this opportunity, comes stiff competition. Industry giants such as Cisco are facing increasing pressure from smaller companies that focus wholly on the WLAN," says Brad Shaffer, Research Analyst at In-Stat.
Companies like Meru Networks are already taking small bites out of the traditional industry leader portion of the pie. Meru has seen notable growth in WAP shipments and installed customer base. According to a recent press release, in the fourth quarter of 2010 Meru's installed base increased nearly 50 percent year-over-year.
In-Stat estimates Meru Networks experienced a 19 percent increase in their WAP market share in 2010. With strong appeal in the education and healthcare verticals, it looks likely that Meru will gain further momentum.
New innovations are changing the entire architecture of a WAP deployment. Companies like AeroHive and Meraki Networks are giving access points enhanced hardware features and also moving the controller to the cloud to make network management more seamless.
While it is unknown how network administrators will respond to this change, the management of security and feature updates by vendors clearly benefit. Pressured by competition and new entrants in the WAP marketplace, companies like Cisco are adding new features to their product lines.
Cisco recently released a security upgrade for their 802.11n WAP, addressing PCI 2.0 compliance and reporting needs for their current customers. While Cisco may have temporarily addressed the competition with this feature update, pressure from other vendors will grow to levels not seen before.
In-Stat estimates WAPs have outpaced the Wi-Fi networking equipment market as a whole. WAP revenue increased over 30 percent year-over-year, compared to 19 percent for the overall WLAN market.
While this is robust growth in comparison, it is still unclear whether or not the enterprise market will fully embrace WLAN.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Apple's Share of Media Tablets Declined in 4Q 2010
According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), 10.1 million media tablets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10) -- more than double the 4.5 million shipped in the third quarter.
However, Apple's share came down from 93 percent in 3Q10 to 73 percent in 4Q10. Samsung's Galaxy Tab was the primary competitor in the holiday season, beating other players to market and capturing more than 17 percent share, while a number of smaller regional players also participated.
IDC noted that the eReader market also picked up significantly in the fourth quarter. Strong sales of Amazon's Kindle
, which was refreshed in August and priced more aggressively, as well as significant gains from competitors such as Pandigital, Barnes & Noble, Hanvon, and Sony among others, contributed to market growth.
In 4Q10, the eReader market more than doubled volume from the previous quarter, with more than 6 million units shipped for the quarter, bringing the full-year total to 12.8 million units shipped. eReader shipments were also up more than 325 percent from 2009 when roughly 3 million units shipped.
The strong growth reflects a more competitive offering as well as widening interest in the category, including a boost from media tablet press and much lower pricing.
"Strong holiday sales of media tablets were in line with IDC projections and strong consumer interest in the category while device vendors scrambled to offer products competitive with Apple's iPad and now iPad 2," said Loren Loverde, vice president at IDC. "Media Tablets are on pace to reach shipments of roughly 50 million units in 2011."
According to the IDC assessment, media tablets are tablet form factor devices with color displays larger than 5 in. and smaller than 14 in. running lightweight operating systems (such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS) and can be based on either x86 or ARM processors. By contrast, tablet PCs run full PC operating systems and are based on x86 processors.
Media tablets support multiple connectivity technologies and a broad range of applications, which differentiates them from single purpose-focused devices such as eReaders. Media tablet market evolution will be driven not only by product introductions from PC, consumer electronics, and mobile phone vendors, but also by expanded distribution channels (with mobile operators playing a key role) and commercial adoption by businesses.
According to IDC, the United States, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) regions accounted for 89 percent of all media tablet shipments in 4Q10. Although the United States remained the largest country market, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) grew almost twice as fast from 3Q10 to 4Q10 and Western Europe saw a slightly larger jump in shipments in 4Q10.
In 4Q10, retailers were the channel with the highest share of shipments, followed by direct and telco sales. A new channel for media tablets, the telco operators, accounted for nearly 14 percent of all shipments of media tablets in 4Q10 following just over 1 percent share in the third quarter.
However, Apple's share came down from 93 percent in 3Q10 to 73 percent in 4Q10. Samsung's Galaxy Tab was the primary competitor in the holiday season, beating other players to market and capturing more than 17 percent share, while a number of smaller regional players also participated.
IDC noted that the eReader market also picked up significantly in the fourth quarter. Strong sales of Amazon's Kindle
, which was refreshed in August and priced more aggressively, as well as significant gains from competitors such as Pandigital, Barnes & Noble, Hanvon, and Sony among others, contributed to market growth.In 4Q10, the eReader market more than doubled volume from the previous quarter, with more than 6 million units shipped for the quarter, bringing the full-year total to 12.8 million units shipped. eReader shipments were also up more than 325 percent from 2009 when roughly 3 million units shipped.
The strong growth reflects a more competitive offering as well as widening interest in the category, including a boost from media tablet press and much lower pricing.
"Strong holiday sales of media tablets were in line with IDC projections and strong consumer interest in the category while device vendors scrambled to offer products competitive with Apple's iPad and now iPad 2," said Loren Loverde, vice president at IDC. "Media Tablets are on pace to reach shipments of roughly 50 million units in 2011."
According to the IDC assessment, media tablets are tablet form factor devices with color displays larger than 5 in. and smaller than 14 in. running lightweight operating systems (such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS) and can be based on either x86 or ARM processors. By contrast, tablet PCs run full PC operating systems and are based on x86 processors.
Media tablets support multiple connectivity technologies and a broad range of applications, which differentiates them from single purpose-focused devices such as eReaders. Media tablet market evolution will be driven not only by product introductions from PC, consumer electronics, and mobile phone vendors, but also by expanded distribution channels (with mobile operators playing a key role) and commercial adoption by businesses.
According to IDC, the United States, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) regions accounted for 89 percent of all media tablet shipments in 4Q10. Although the United States remained the largest country market, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) grew almost twice as fast from 3Q10 to 4Q10 and Western Europe saw a slightly larger jump in shipments in 4Q10.
In 4Q10, retailers were the channel with the highest share of shipments, followed by direct and telco sales. A new channel for media tablets, the telco operators, accounted for nearly 14 percent of all shipments of media tablets in 4Q10 following just over 1 percent share in the third quarter.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
SXSW 2011: Transmedia Content Marketing
Brand marketers in a variety of different industries are beginning to accelerate their multimedia production and distribution efforts. They're acting more like non-fiction storytellers and commercial publishers, as they create new forms of digital content.
This established trend was one of the significant themes at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) 2011. In addition, the early-adoption of Transmedia Storytelling techniques -- by a relative few forward-looking organizations -- was the noteworthy emerging theme.
I attended several conference sessions on these topics. Here's my summary of the commentary shared at the event and the apparent implications to savvy marketers.
Don't You Dare Call Them Journalists
"Brave New World: Debating Brands' Role as Publishers" produced a lively discourse among panelists who believe that purchasing ad space in a trade publication is obsolete. Instead, now marketers just create their own site on the topic. However, one panelist said repeatedly -- "this is not journalism." It's unclear what it is; perhaps commercial storytelling is a good descriptor.
The objective, however, is very clear -- tell compelling stories and create content that your customers would find useful or insightful. That means much of the current product-centered content that companies produce doesn't qualify.
There are other significant challenges. The real thought-leaders are finding it very hard to produce enough meaningful content on a regular basis.
A Quest for Humans Who Tell True Stories
"Brand Journalism: The Rise of Non-Fiction Advertising" panelists said the first progressive step is to teach agencies and clients to think like publishers, instead of marketers. Long after the Cluetrain Manifesto surfaced, corporate types are still having great difficulty finding their own human voice. Sadly, their advertising or PR agency of record are equally challenged.
Key takeaway: the talent puddle phenomenon is still a major gating factor for those who struggle to evolve their practices.
The quest for qualified professional multimedia producers, designers and writers is much harder for companies where science or technology is a key ingredient of the storylines. Unlike their consumer product counterparts, companies with inherent complexity in their products and services can't expect much from those who lack domain experience.
Also, in non-fiction scenarios the ability to fabricate mythical story worlds typically isn't an asset -- so entertainment industry creatives need access to subject matter experts who can lead and guide the narrative.
There's No Substitute for Authentic Storytellers
"One Story, Many Angles: The Multi-Platform Pitch" panelists explained why content creators must be ready to transform their work across multiple mediums. Your storyline hook needs to be refined for the Web, mobile and a variety of new multimedia capable devices. Transmedia or cross-media storytelling is where nascent digital media creativity is being applied to engage and involve influencers and other important stakeholders.
"Influencer Throwdown: Proving Influence Once and For All" panelists debated a controversial topic head-on. Meaningful success can't be effectively measured by how many people you can get to follow or vote for you. Instead of counting the people who reach you -- focus on reaching the people who count; those who share your passion (for whatever topic is your main focal point).
Hiring external social media influencers is misguided -- because most lack domain expertise and therefore have little credibility on your topic (unless it's social media). People question the motives of paid experts -- regardless of their supposed popularity or celebrity status. One panelist said these shallow endorsements can be harmful.
An Introduction to All Things Transmedia
"Transmedia Artists Guild: New Media Needs New Advocacy" panelists greeted attendees to an open discussion about how transmedia is truly a craft. Besides, companies don't make transmedia -- people do.
Many are independent practitioners who are isolated from their globally dispersed peer-group. All artists are welcome to participate in the early formation of this new advocacy organization. TAG seeks to fulfill needs that are currently being overlooked by other established organizations.
"Transmedia: What's the Magical Formula for Successful Design?" included a solo presentation by Anthea Foyer from The Labs, a creative and strategic consultancy. She provided a very insightful overview of the ingredients of successful transmedia projects.
Anthea gave examples of transmedia storytelling in action. Her enthusiasm for cross-media development -- combined with deep knowledge of the topic -- was like a beginner's guide to the how-to aspects of these new techniques.
Next Steps: Self-Study Learning Materials
Prior to attending SXSW, I started to gather e-books and tutorials about digital storytelling, transmedia storytelling and cross-media communications. I'm committed to my ongoing education. I tend to agree with Mark Twain's approach to skills development, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Growing Competition for Mobile Smartphone Apps
There was considerable growth in the mobile applications market in 2010 -- and more competition is expected in 2011, according to the latest market study by ABI Research.
Despite more proactive involvement in app store development from other platform providers, Apple iTunes is still the market leader after having such a successful head start.
ABI estimates that the Apple iPhone interface had accumulated more than 5.6 billion downloads by the end of 2010 -- compared to nearly 7.9 billion total downloads from all stores during that year.
However, Apple is set to face more intensive competition in 2011.
"The iTunes App Store only targets iOS users; that leaves more room for other platform application stores to step up and focus on non-Apple clientele," said Fei Feng Seet, research associate at ABI.
Google Android-based smartphone quarterly shipments now exceed Apple phones. There is still a long way to go, but accumulated downloads from both Google Android Market and third-party platforms surpassed 1.9 billion by the end of 2010.
Android Market currently features more than 130,000 apps in 48 countries -- nearly half of iTunes App Store's current catalog.
"RIM has also been making a conscious effort to increase BlackBerry's footprint in the mobile apps market, as seen in its recent aggressive expansion to over 100 markets, and developer conferences it has held in United States and Indonesia," adds Seet.
ABI Research estimates that accumulated BlackBerry app downloads totaled more than 1 billion as of December 2010.
More mobile network operators are also considering entry into the mobile application market -- India's Idea Cellular, for example, just launched its Online Application Store shortly in advance of its 3G network launch.
Multi-platform app store GetJar has just raised $25 million for futher expansion in a recent announcement, and plans to secure its position as the premier open-source app store.
Despite more proactive involvement in app store development from other platform providers, Apple iTunes is still the market leader after having such a successful head start.
ABI estimates that the Apple iPhone interface had accumulated more than 5.6 billion downloads by the end of 2010 -- compared to nearly 7.9 billion total downloads from all stores during that year.
However, Apple is set to face more intensive competition in 2011.
"The iTunes App Store only targets iOS users; that leaves more room for other platform application stores to step up and focus on non-Apple clientele," said Fei Feng Seet, research associate at ABI.
Google Android-based smartphone quarterly shipments now exceed Apple phones. There is still a long way to go, but accumulated downloads from both Google Android Market and third-party platforms surpassed 1.9 billion by the end of 2010.
Android Market currently features more than 130,000 apps in 48 countries -- nearly half of iTunes App Store's current catalog.
"RIM has also been making a conscious effort to increase BlackBerry's footprint in the mobile apps market, as seen in its recent aggressive expansion to over 100 markets, and developer conferences it has held in United States and Indonesia," adds Seet.
ABI Research estimates that accumulated BlackBerry app downloads totaled more than 1 billion as of December 2010.
More mobile network operators are also considering entry into the mobile application market -- India's Idea Cellular, for example, just launched its Online Application Store shortly in advance of its 3G network launch.
Multi-platform app store GetJar has just raised $25 million for futher expansion in a recent announcement, and plans to secure its position as the premier open-source app store.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Very Limited Supply of Consumer 3DTV Content
3D television continues to gain traction in key markets, with nearly 15 million U.S. homes forecast to own a 3DTV set by the end of next year, according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting.
3DTV emerged early in 2010 with manufacturers quickly engaging in a battle for market supremacy. The price premium for the 3D feature has already reduced quite sharply and the well known-brands are now incorporating 3D in more and more of their TV and BD model ranges.
The year finished on a positive note for manufacturers, with strong sales during the final quarter. However, 3D content was unable to keep pace with consumer expectations, creating a lack of packaged 3D content at retail.
"Limited retail content availability has placed greater importance on the role of the broadcast segment as a key 3D content source," says Fiona Hoy, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting.
Although early broadcast services struggled to provide the breadth and quality of viewing material that this nascent technology requires, many CE manufacturers have now formed partnerships with pay-TV operators to help co-fund and produce original 3D content.
Many of these partnerships will last up to three years, by which time the market will have become more established.
Looking ahead, broadcast TV will continue to play an important role, not only in providing 3D content directly into the home, but also in educating the consumer and driving awareness.
The Sky 3D launch in the UK market made a significant impact on consumer awareness and helped drive adoption -- with 3DTV sales picking up noticeably following the launch of the channel.
In addition, 3D disc title sales are expected to see a significant boost this year, with a strong release slate which includes key franchises Harry Potter and Transformers. Although 3D represented less than 1 percent of total U.S. Blu-ray retail sales during 2010, this is expected to reach nearly 25 percent by 2015.
The need for 3D glasses continues to be a key talking point within the industry, with the high cost and weight of glasses and the premature hype around glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) 3DTV said to be potential obstacles to market development.
"Futuresource research continues to indicate that auto-stereoscopic technology is still many years away from offering the quality and large screen viewing experience demanded by the consumer and at an affordable price point," says Jim Bottoms, Director and Co-founder at Futuresource Consulting.
3DTV emerged early in 2010 with manufacturers quickly engaging in a battle for market supremacy. The price premium for the 3D feature has already reduced quite sharply and the well known-brands are now incorporating 3D in more and more of their TV and BD model ranges.
The year finished on a positive note for manufacturers, with strong sales during the final quarter. However, 3D content was unable to keep pace with consumer expectations, creating a lack of packaged 3D content at retail.
"Limited retail content availability has placed greater importance on the role of the broadcast segment as a key 3D content source," says Fiona Hoy, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting.
Although early broadcast services struggled to provide the breadth and quality of viewing material that this nascent technology requires, many CE manufacturers have now formed partnerships with pay-TV operators to help co-fund and produce original 3D content.
Many of these partnerships will last up to three years, by which time the market will have become more established.
Looking ahead, broadcast TV will continue to play an important role, not only in providing 3D content directly into the home, but also in educating the consumer and driving awareness.
The Sky 3D launch in the UK market made a significant impact on consumer awareness and helped drive adoption -- with 3DTV sales picking up noticeably following the launch of the channel.
In addition, 3D disc title sales are expected to see a significant boost this year, with a strong release slate which includes key franchises Harry Potter and Transformers. Although 3D represented less than 1 percent of total U.S. Blu-ray retail sales during 2010, this is expected to reach nearly 25 percent by 2015.
The need for 3D glasses continues to be a key talking point within the industry, with the high cost and weight of glasses and the premature hype around glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) 3DTV said to be potential obstacles to market development.
"Futuresource research continues to indicate that auto-stereoscopic technology is still many years away from offering the quality and large screen viewing experience demanded by the consumer and at an affordable price point," says Jim Bottoms, Director and Co-founder at Futuresource Consulting.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Digital Marketing Tactics are Not Adopted Equally
eMarketer reports that the vast majority of marketers are shifting more spending to digital marketing, and a combination of proven tactics with newer online options will benefit from increasing budgets.
That said, apparently there's a significant disconnect between advertisers and their agencies, when it comes to the details of many of those changes.
According to a report on 2011 marketing budgets from Econsultancy and SAS, agencies worldwide are more eager than their clients to increase spending on newer digital marketing tactics, while advertisers show a greater interest in upping budgets for the more common methods.
For example, agencies were 13 percentage points more likely than advertisers to say their clients would be increasing mobile marketing spending. Advertisers were out in front of their agencies with reports of spending increases for email marketing, corporate websites, paid search and display advertising.
US-based research from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found similar patterns. Marketers were more likely than agencies to say they always or often used online tactics like emails, paid search, SEO and display.
Agencies placed a significantly greater emphasis on mobile -- they were 7 percentage points more likely than marketers to be familiar with it, and more than twice as likely to use it frequently.
The Econsultancy study also found agencies and their clients disagreed about their ability to measure the return on investment from many digital channels.
Advertisers were more optimistic than agencies about how well they could assess the success of their efforts with paid search, email, corporate websites, display and mobile.
Whether advertisers are overconfident or agencies are too critical of their client's capabilities, the perceptual gap could be significant in determining which channels benefit from increased marketing budget allocation.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Digital Pay-TV Market Opportunities Evolve in Australia
Television services are evolving in Australia, according to the latest market study by BuddeComm. Under the name Freeview, the free-to-air television operators have delivered new digital channels in 2010/11 in both SD and HD formats.
Viewer numbers are increasing and will continue to increase as the analogue transmission is switched off across Australia. Digital transmission first commenced back in 2001 and in 2011 celebrates ten years of operations with more Australians now enjoying the extra features and channels that are available.
Their success is putting pressure on the traditional pay-TV industry.
The analogue switch-off that commenced in 2010 is progressing throughout Australia with the final signals to be turned off by end-2013. The formation of Freeview along with the expansion of the network's online and cross platform offerings are providing enriched viewing experience.
By early 2011 total digital TV penetration had reached 75 percent across Australia and the remainder will have to switch over by 2013. A number of regions have now switched from analogue to digital broadcast TV, and of these regions most reach 100 percent household penetration leading up to the changeover.
Meanwhile the pay-TV service providers are making a concerted effort to maintain and grow subscribers, revenues and profits. The average revenue per user of both Austar and Foxtel has increased as they are driven by higher tier package adoption.
Pay-TV ARPU has continued to increase over the last couple of years. Even further growth may be experienced in 2011 as Optus is set to resell the Foxtel HD services to its own customers and may even get more customers buying the pay-TV services through its satellite services.
There are more than 100 English-language television services or channels currently available to subscribers from the three major local subscription television operators.
The operators also provide a selection of time-shifting, HD and digital channels. By 2011 the local Australian pay-TV providers -- Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar -- have between them more than 2 million household subscribers.
By early 2011, Australian pay-TV market penetration had reached about 32-34 percent across the nation. This is still well below penetration rates for similar services in other parts of the world.
IPTV services may take off when the National Broadband Network (NBN) rolls out fiber across the continent. Other offerings launched in 2010 include Telstra with its T-Box and FetchTV offering IPTV through ISPs including Adam Internet, iiNet and internode.
While the future of IPTV looks bright, in particular over high-speed broadband networks such as the NBN, the current IPTV offerings are severely hampered by the incompatible standards of the set-top boxes used by the above mentioned operators.
Viewer numbers are increasing and will continue to increase as the analogue transmission is switched off across Australia. Digital transmission first commenced back in 2001 and in 2011 celebrates ten years of operations with more Australians now enjoying the extra features and channels that are available.
Their success is putting pressure on the traditional pay-TV industry.
The analogue switch-off that commenced in 2010 is progressing throughout Australia with the final signals to be turned off by end-2013. The formation of Freeview along with the expansion of the network's online and cross platform offerings are providing enriched viewing experience.
By early 2011 total digital TV penetration had reached 75 percent across Australia and the remainder will have to switch over by 2013. A number of regions have now switched from analogue to digital broadcast TV, and of these regions most reach 100 percent household penetration leading up to the changeover.
Meanwhile the pay-TV service providers are making a concerted effort to maintain and grow subscribers, revenues and profits. The average revenue per user of both Austar and Foxtel has increased as they are driven by higher tier package adoption.
Pay-TV ARPU has continued to increase over the last couple of years. Even further growth may be experienced in 2011 as Optus is set to resell the Foxtel HD services to its own customers and may even get more customers buying the pay-TV services through its satellite services.
There are more than 100 English-language television services or channels currently available to subscribers from the three major local subscription television operators.
The operators also provide a selection of time-shifting, HD and digital channels. By 2011 the local Australian pay-TV providers -- Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar -- have between them more than 2 million household subscribers.
By early 2011, Australian pay-TV market penetration had reached about 32-34 percent across the nation. This is still well below penetration rates for similar services in other parts of the world.
IPTV services may take off when the National Broadband Network (NBN) rolls out fiber across the continent. Other offerings launched in 2010 include Telstra with its T-Box and FetchTV offering IPTV through ISPs including Adam Internet, iiNet and internode.
While the future of IPTV looks bright, in particular over high-speed broadband networks such as the NBN, the current IPTV offerings are severely hampered by the incompatible standards of the set-top boxes used by the above mentioned operators.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
68.1 Percent of U.S. Mobile Subs Use Text Messaging
comScore reported key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending January 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers.
234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers -- up 0.7 percentage points from the three month period ending in October.
LG ranked second with 20.8 percent share, followed by Motorola (16.5 percent), RIM (8.6 percent) and Apple (7.0 percent).
65.8 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in January 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android captured the #1 ranking among smartphone platforms for the first time in January with 31.2 percent market share.
RIM ranked second with 30.4 percent market share, followed by Apple with 24.7 percent. Microsoft (8.0 percent) and Palm (3.2 percent) rounded out the top five.
In January, 68.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, while browsers were used by 37.0 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points).
Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 35.3 percent of the mobile audience -- representing an increase of 1.6 percentage points.
Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.1 percentage points, representing 25.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 23.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 16.5 percent (up 1.1 percentage points).
234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers -- up 0.7 percentage points from the three month period ending in October.
LG ranked second with 20.8 percent share, followed by Motorola (16.5 percent), RIM (8.6 percent) and Apple (7.0 percent).
65.8 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in January 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android captured the #1 ranking among smartphone platforms for the first time in January with 31.2 percent market share.
RIM ranked second with 30.4 percent market share, followed by Apple with 24.7 percent. Microsoft (8.0 percent) and Palm (3.2 percent) rounded out the top five.
In January, 68.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, while browsers were used by 37.0 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points).
Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 35.3 percent of the mobile audience -- representing an increase of 1.6 percentage points.
Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.1 percentage points, representing 25.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 23.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 16.5 percent (up 1.1 percentage points).
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Segmentation of the Mobile Data Demand Drivers
Mobile network service provider data plan revenues will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9 percent and are expected to exceed $102 billion worldwide by 2016, according to the latest market study by ABI Research.
Regionally, data plan revenue share among different device classes can vary significantly.
As an example, currently in North America, data plans for smartphones deliver the majority of revenue. However in regions lacking fixed line access to the Internet, such as Eastern Europe and Latin America, connections to other computing devices constitute the majority share.
But according to ABI practice director Dan Shey, "By 2016, smartphones will become the largest portion of each region's mobile data plan revenues with over 50 percent share."
Increasing smartphone penetration rates among mobile enterprise customers are major drivers for data plan revenue growth. But connectivity for other devices such as tablets will become increasingly important and contribute significantly to overall connectivity revenues from the business sector.
Data plan growth enables other opportunities for the enterprise sector. More connections mean greater need for applications, and content, security, expense and other mobile device-related services.
Forward-looking mobile network service providers that are targeting the enterprise segment are looking holistically at the opportunities presented by increasing enterprise mobile device connections.
Regionally, data plan revenue share among different device classes can vary significantly.
As an example, currently in North America, data plans for smartphones deliver the majority of revenue. However in regions lacking fixed line access to the Internet, such as Eastern Europe and Latin America, connections to other computing devices constitute the majority share.
But according to ABI practice director Dan Shey, "By 2016, smartphones will become the largest portion of each region's mobile data plan revenues with over 50 percent share."
Increasing smartphone penetration rates among mobile enterprise customers are major drivers for data plan revenue growth. But connectivity for other devices such as tablets will become increasingly important and contribute significantly to overall connectivity revenues from the business sector.
Data plan growth enables other opportunities for the enterprise sector. More connections mean greater need for applications, and content, security, expense and other mobile device-related services.
Forward-looking mobile network service providers that are targeting the enterprise segment are looking holistically at the opportunities presented by increasing enterprise mobile device connections.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Market Analysis of Competition for Tablet Buyers
Are we heading towards an all out vendor battle for prospective new tablet buyers? According to the latest market assessment by In-Stat, they believe the tablet market will eventually support many sub-segments -- based upon usage. Therefore, demand will be driven by innovation in the technology, the usage models and ultimately vendor business models.
"When you compare the iPad 2 to the most recent competitor, the Xoom from Motorola, you end up with two devices that are very similar all the way down to the basic specifications of the processors," says Jim McGregor, Chief Tehnology Strategist at In-Stat.
In-Stat expects future generations to begin to offer more differentiation in form factor, features, and applications. They also believe that we should not forget that there are still many factors that will determine the growth and adoption rates of tablets, including:
The carrier business models. A small percentage of the population is willing to pay for 3G/4G access when they need it, especially when the device is Wi-Fi-enabled. And, an even smaller number are willing to pay for a new contract for each new device. However, if the carriers finally offer a single plan for a single user that applies to all devices, this could fuel rapid growth and usage and an anywhere-anytime solution.
The usage models. Everyone is still trying to determine the usage models of tablets. Is it primarily a game console, an e-reader, a social networking device, or an IP video phone? The answer is all of the above, but it depends on the user and the environment. Some applications, like video telephony, have been around for decades but have failed to gain wide consumer adoption. Maybe the latest generation of smartphones and tablets will finally lead to the success of video telephony. The devices and the applications will eventually need to target these usage models, because there is seldom a one-size-fits-all solution in the consumer market.
The view of tablets by consumers. Is this a must have device or just a nice to have device. Although it can do many of the same things as a PC and smartphone, it doesn't execute voice calls or enable content creation particularly well. And are consumers willing to carry tablets all the time like a handset or with a handset? Once again, it depends on how consumers intend to use their tablet.
The prices. Although prices on some tablets, including the iPads, are competitive for the mainstream, it is still on the rather high side for CE devices. Will the increased competition bring these down into the $199 to $299 range, especially when consumers are looking for advanced features? Prices alone could help determine the overall size of the market and how rapidly it grows.
"When you compare the iPad 2 to the most recent competitor, the Xoom from Motorola, you end up with two devices that are very similar all the way down to the basic specifications of the processors," says Jim McGregor, Chief Tehnology Strategist at In-Stat.
In-Stat expects future generations to begin to offer more differentiation in form factor, features, and applications. They also believe that we should not forget that there are still many factors that will determine the growth and adoption rates of tablets, including:
The carrier business models. A small percentage of the population is willing to pay for 3G/4G access when they need it, especially when the device is Wi-Fi-enabled. And, an even smaller number are willing to pay for a new contract for each new device. However, if the carriers finally offer a single plan for a single user that applies to all devices, this could fuel rapid growth and usage and an anywhere-anytime solution.
The usage models. Everyone is still trying to determine the usage models of tablets. Is it primarily a game console, an e-reader, a social networking device, or an IP video phone? The answer is all of the above, but it depends on the user and the environment. Some applications, like video telephony, have been around for decades but have failed to gain wide consumer adoption. Maybe the latest generation of smartphones and tablets will finally lead to the success of video telephony. The devices and the applications will eventually need to target these usage models, because there is seldom a one-size-fits-all solution in the consumer market.
The view of tablets by consumers. Is this a must have device or just a nice to have device. Although it can do many of the same things as a PC and smartphone, it doesn't execute voice calls or enable content creation particularly well. And are consumers willing to carry tablets all the time like a handset or with a handset? Once again, it depends on how consumers intend to use their tablet.
The prices. Although prices on some tablets, including the iPads, are competitive for the mainstream, it is still on the rather high side for CE devices. Will the increased competition bring these down into the $199 to $299 range, especially when consumers are looking for advanced features? Prices alone could help determine the overall size of the market and how rapidly it grows.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Residential Broadband Gateways Enable Telco VAS
Driven primarily by the needs of broadband service providers who seek ways to differentiate their Internet access offerings, the residential gateway market continues to gain in importance within the home networking infrastructure market.
Telecom service providers have embraced the gateway concept, and gateway vendors have enjoyed success in shipping gateways. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, they forecast that residential gateway shipments will surpass 50 million units in 2011.
"Many more telco service providers are supplying residential gateways instead of DSL broadband modems, not only for those customers requesting gateways, but also, at times, to create opportunities for future service add-ons and to better manage their customer networks," says Vahid Dejwakh, Industry Analyst at In-Stat.
The residential gateway market continues its global dominance, due to telco provider's preference for multimedia gateways over basic modems -- because gateways fulfill consumer demand for value-added services (VAS) and promise greater long-term revenue possibilities.
In-Stat's latest market study findings include:
- Total broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments to Asia-Pacific are expected to increase from 31 percent in 2010 to 36 percent of all shipments in 2015.
- Residential gateway shipments will overtake broadband modem shipments in 2014 as more and more devices incorporate Wi-Fi and routing capabilities.
- The Rest of World (ROW) region, which includes Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, saw the highest growth rate of 10.4 percent for 2010.
- Tellabs, Motorola, and Alcatel-Lucent are leaders in fiber to the home (FTTH) CPE.
Telecom service providers have embraced the gateway concept, and gateway vendors have enjoyed success in shipping gateways. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, they forecast that residential gateway shipments will surpass 50 million units in 2011.
"Many more telco service providers are supplying residential gateways instead of DSL broadband modems, not only for those customers requesting gateways, but also, at times, to create opportunities for future service add-ons and to better manage their customer networks," says Vahid Dejwakh, Industry Analyst at In-Stat.
The residential gateway market continues its global dominance, due to telco provider's preference for multimedia gateways over basic modems -- because gateways fulfill consumer demand for value-added services (VAS) and promise greater long-term revenue possibilities.
In-Stat's latest market study findings include:
- Total broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments to Asia-Pacific are expected to increase from 31 percent in 2010 to 36 percent of all shipments in 2015.
- Residential gateway shipments will overtake broadband modem shipments in 2014 as more and more devices incorporate Wi-Fi and routing capabilities.
- The Rest of World (ROW) region, which includes Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, saw the highest growth rate of 10.4 percent for 2010.
- Tellabs, Motorola, and Alcatel-Lucent are leaders in fiber to the home (FTTH) CPE.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Exploring the Market Segmentation of Tablet Owners
Multimedia tablet launches have received significant attention, but the excitement may be justified, and a recent eMarketer report explores the current user segmentation and usage satisfaction with these new consumer electronics devices.
According to a December 2010 market study by The NPD Group, current tablet owners are highly satisfied with their devices. More than two-thirds expressed satisfaction with Internet browsing and email experiences on their tablet.
Moreover, 60 percent of respondents said the same of social networking. An interesting note about usage; about three in 10 were doing these activities less often on their PCs as a result.
These satisfaction levels were higher than those of smartphone owners conducting the same activities.
Media Tablet Owner Segmentation
According to a September 2010 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, tablet ownership was most common among Millennials and members of Generation X, 5 percent of whom had an Apple iPad or similar tablet device.
The overall rate of adoption was just 4 percent, a figure that's likely to rise -- based on the excitement of current owners and the expressed plans of many other consumers.
Vision Critical found in a November 2010 study that 11 percent of U.S. adults who did not already have an Apple iPad were interested in purchasing one in the next six months. That was up from 9 percent who said the same in March 2010.
Once again, younger respondents had the greatest levels of interest in purchasing a tablet, at more than one in five.
eMarketer estimated in December that 24 million tablets, including 19.4 million iPads, would be sold in the U.S. this year -- more than doubling last year's sales figures.
Worldwide, eMarketer forecasts 43.6 million tablet sales this year, up from 15.7 million in 2010. Also, more than three in four tablets sold around the world is forecast to be an Apple iPad.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Automakers Integrate In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems
Automakers are now starting to capitalize on demand for the same dynamic multimedia experience in the car that people are already accustomed to within their home.
Automakers have begun to integrate in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems into a wider range of automobiles in order to re-energize new vehicle sales. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, over 35 million in-vehicle infotainment systems are expected to ship in 2015.
"In order to compete, the automotive industry must now keep pace with the innovation and scalability found in the consumer electronics industry," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.
Along with a rich multimedia experience, today's car drivers and passengers are also starting to create demand for constant online connectivity.
The majority of automakers are embracing this demand for connectivity and forming strategic partnerships with technology and software companies to offer solutions that will enable consumers to access digital content in and out of the automobile via both wired and wireless options.
In-Stat's latest market research findings include:
- Due to the wide consumer acceptance of smartphone apps, the smartphone will be the preliminary source of in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity.
- The semiconductor TAM for IVI system suppliers will grow nearly 110 percent between 2010 through 2015, with the largest opportunity residing with those companies supplying applications processors, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM combo chips and SDRAM.
- The BOM of a typical IVI system will be $75.78 in 2015.
Automakers have begun to integrate in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems into a wider range of automobiles in order to re-energize new vehicle sales. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, over 35 million in-vehicle infotainment systems are expected to ship in 2015.
"In order to compete, the automotive industry must now keep pace with the innovation and scalability found in the consumer electronics industry," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.
Along with a rich multimedia experience, today's car drivers and passengers are also starting to create demand for constant online connectivity.
The majority of automakers are embracing this demand for connectivity and forming strategic partnerships with technology and software companies to offer solutions that will enable consumers to access digital content in and out of the automobile via both wired and wireless options.
In-Stat's latest market research findings include:
- Due to the wide consumer acceptance of smartphone apps, the smartphone will be the preliminary source of in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity.
- The semiconductor TAM for IVI system suppliers will grow nearly 110 percent between 2010 through 2015, with the largest opportunity residing with those companies supplying applications processors, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM combo chips and SDRAM.
- The BOM of a typical IVI system will be $75.78 in 2015.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Tablet Shipments to Surpass 58 Million in 2014
The current market drivers for tablet shipments include a significant increase in the availability of new media, such as new magazines, newspapers and books.
As well, there's a number of tablet applications available for mobile computing, such as web browsing, email, social networks, and video playback.
Applications like complex games that are more immersive, compared to those designed for smartphones or other mobile devices, will be developed at a rapid pace this year.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, those developments are helping to drive content and therefore demand for tablets to where unit shipments will surpass 58 million in 2014.
"Although the consumer market is the primary target for tablets right now, the commercial market also represents a potential revenue opportunity for tablet OEMs," says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist at In-Stat.
Usage models and user requirements will differ in the commercial market, but as the overall tablet market becomes more defined over the next year, the opportunities for tablets within business markets will become more apparent.
In-Stat's recent market study findings include:
- 13.2 percent of In-Stat's Technology Adoption Panel survey respondents currently own a tablet.
- Email and web browsing were the top two tablet uses by current owners at 68 and 66 percent respectively.
- The strongest shipment growth begins in the latter portion of In-Stat's forecast period.
- Of the survey respondents who own a tablet, nearly 55 percent spend 9 hours or more each week using their tablet.
As well, there's a number of tablet applications available for mobile computing, such as web browsing, email, social networks, and video playback.
Applications like complex games that are more immersive, compared to those designed for smartphones or other mobile devices, will be developed at a rapid pace this year.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, those developments are helping to drive content and therefore demand for tablets to where unit shipments will surpass 58 million in 2014.
"Although the consumer market is the primary target for tablets right now, the commercial market also represents a potential revenue opportunity for tablet OEMs," says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist at In-Stat.
Usage models and user requirements will differ in the commercial market, but as the overall tablet market becomes more defined over the next year, the opportunities for tablets within business markets will become more apparent.
In-Stat's recent market study findings include:
- 13.2 percent of In-Stat's Technology Adoption Panel survey respondents currently own a tablet.
- Email and web browsing were the top two tablet uses by current owners at 68 and 66 percent respectively.
- The strongest shipment growth begins in the latter portion of In-Stat's forecast period.
- Of the survey respondents who own a tablet, nearly 55 percent spend 9 hours or more each week using their tablet.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Multi-Platform Video Content Protection Challenges
People want to access video content across the various video-capable devices they own, and service providers, content owners, online video distributors and device manufacturers are all keen to provide it on different platforms.
However, new technologies are needed to secure multi-platform video content against piracy and unauthorized access, according to the latest market study by Heavy Reading.
"Content owners will not allow their content to be distributed on a platform that is vulnerable to piracy," says Aditya Kishore, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "However, consumers want to be able to access copies of their purchased content across devices."
But content protection technology across different platforms is not always compatible, Kishore explains. Also, all content protection mechanisms may not support all usage rules, so users may not be able to access or transfer some content at some times.
The networks and devices themselves have differing capabilities, so they may not be able to support the same security mechanisms. Further, all these content protection solutions need to interoperate with a single, centralized subscriber account. All these challenges must be resolved to make multi-platform video a success.
Key findings of the market study include the following:
Multiplatform video is gaining momentum. In Heavy Reading's exclusive survey of service providers around the world, 76 percent of respondents agreed that multiplatform video would be an important requirement for their business within the next five years.
Of these, 38 percent strongly agreed. When asked what would make them prioritize multiplatform video more, 25 percent said it was already a top priority.
Content owners will not license their content for distribution to additional devices without adequate safeguards being built in. Content owners must be able to reasonably satisfy themselves that they will be able to control the distribution of their content.
This is also an essential requirement for service providers. Unlicensed access to TV content on other platforms will not just affect potential new revenue; it will cannibalize existing pay TV revenue, as well.
Emerging standards and cross-platform solutions look promising. Industry initiatives bringing together multiple industry stakeholders have made progress. Initiatives such as Marlin and the DECE's UltraViolet have the potential to drive a simpler approach to multiplatform video deployment.
However, both approaches are unproven and at a very early stage.
A viable multiplatform content protection system must be able to authenticate and authorize access to the video title regardless of the device. It must also support multiple delivery models, multiple pricing and packaging models, and allow for untethered access to content.
Obviously, it must also be highly secure and protect the content from any kind of attack. It should also be invisible to the legitimate consumer.
However, new technologies are needed to secure multi-platform video content against piracy and unauthorized access, according to the latest market study by Heavy Reading.
"Content owners will not allow their content to be distributed on a platform that is vulnerable to piracy," says Aditya Kishore, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "However, consumers want to be able to access copies of their purchased content across devices."
But content protection technology across different platforms is not always compatible, Kishore explains. Also, all content protection mechanisms may not support all usage rules, so users may not be able to access or transfer some content at some times.
The networks and devices themselves have differing capabilities, so they may not be able to support the same security mechanisms. Further, all these content protection solutions need to interoperate with a single, centralized subscriber account. All these challenges must be resolved to make multi-platform video a success.
Key findings of the market study include the following:
Multiplatform video is gaining momentum. In Heavy Reading's exclusive survey of service providers around the world, 76 percent of respondents agreed that multiplatform video would be an important requirement for their business within the next five years.
Of these, 38 percent strongly agreed. When asked what would make them prioritize multiplatform video more, 25 percent said it was already a top priority.
Content owners will not license their content for distribution to additional devices without adequate safeguards being built in. Content owners must be able to reasonably satisfy themselves that they will be able to control the distribution of their content.
This is also an essential requirement for service providers. Unlicensed access to TV content on other platforms will not just affect potential new revenue; it will cannibalize existing pay TV revenue, as well.
Emerging standards and cross-platform solutions look promising. Industry initiatives bringing together multiple industry stakeholders have made progress. Initiatives such as Marlin and the DECE's UltraViolet have the potential to drive a simpler approach to multiplatform video deployment.
However, both approaches are unproven and at a very early stage.
A viable multiplatform content protection system must be able to authenticate and authorize access to the video title regardless of the device. It must also support multiple delivery models, multiple pricing and packaging models, and allow for untethered access to content.
Obviously, it must also be highly secure and protect the content from any kind of attack. It should also be invisible to the legitimate consumer.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Upside for U.S. Consumer Digital Video Storage
While streaming video from the cloud is gaining momentum, when it comes to consumers managing and storing their own home video libraries, downloading and viewing digital video on their PC is still the preferred method.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, nearly 50 percent of U.S. broadband households report that they store their digital video home library on their desktop PC.
A full 30 percent use their notebook PCs. Smaller percentages store digital video on their gaming devices, portable media players, Flash devices, and mobile handsets.
"The digital entertainment industry is pushing U.S. consumers to shift to electronic sell-through (EST) and to build home video libraries." says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Sat.
However, digital video usage models are now a mix of physical discs, free content, video on demand, streaming and rental models, in addition to outright purchases.
Nevertheless, downloading and storing video is a growing and important element in the overall mix. By 2015, collectively, U.S. broadband households will be storing over 4.5 million GBs of professional video content. That's a significant upside market opportunity for PC storage vendors.
This translates to approximately 65GBs of digital video stored, per household.
In-Stat's latest market study findings also include:
- Only 38 percent of broadband households back-up their video libraries.
- Only 10 percent of U.S. broadband households currently view locally stored video on multiple devices.
- Multiple copies of the same content will be stored on separate devices.
- Only TV programs and movies that will be viewed multiple times will be purchased.
- 64 percent of U.S. broadband households acquire, store, and view video content on the same device.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, nearly 50 percent of U.S. broadband households report that they store their digital video home library on their desktop PC.
A full 30 percent use their notebook PCs. Smaller percentages store digital video on their gaming devices, portable media players, Flash devices, and mobile handsets.
"The digital entertainment industry is pushing U.S. consumers to shift to electronic sell-through (EST) and to build home video libraries." says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Sat.
However, digital video usage models are now a mix of physical discs, free content, video on demand, streaming and rental models, in addition to outright purchases.
Nevertheless, downloading and storing video is a growing and important element in the overall mix. By 2015, collectively, U.S. broadband households will be storing over 4.5 million GBs of professional video content. That's a significant upside market opportunity for PC storage vendors.
This translates to approximately 65GBs of digital video stored, per household.
In-Stat's latest market study findings also include:
- Only 38 percent of broadband households back-up their video libraries.
- Only 10 percent of U.S. broadband households currently view locally stored video on multiple devices.
- Multiple copies of the same content will be stored on separate devices.
- Only TV programs and movies that will be viewed multiple times will be purchased.
- 64 percent of U.S. broadband households acquire, store, and view video content on the same device.
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