Posts Tagged ‘Report’
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
 Almost one-third of people in the U.S. over 13 play mobile games monthly, and the number of gamers in older demographics more than doubled since 2007, according to Parks Associates.
The international research firm’s new report Mobile/Portable Gaming: Market Updates finds the user base for gaming has expanded into nontraditional segments thanks to the popularity of mobile apps and titles such as Rovio’s Angry Birds.
These changes will also force creation of new business models to generate revenues, with in-app purchases currently the most successful. This model provides the game for free and creates revenue streams by selling expansions or enhancements, which helped Rovio reach over $70 million in revenues for Angry Birds.
“Traditional game companies have expressed concerns about mobile gaming devaluing the market, but in reality, mobile gaming has increased the overall user base and attracted new demographics,” said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “The broad appeal of mobile games such as Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Words with Friends and increasing ease with which people can download them have attracted less traditional gamers, including a growing number of older players and females.”
Penetration of smartphones and tablets, competition in app marketplaces, and better payment methods have also fueled growth. The challenge for next-generation portable consoles, the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita, is to appeal to this larger audience.
This whole trend is likely to continue. Testing a variety of smartphones, I found myself playing Angry Birds or other games to kill time waiting in line or in the car (parked) and at odd moments. Many of these games, Angry Birds and its offshoots in particular, are mildly addictive. I did notice that one younger user who has been playing electronic games practically from the time she could figure out which buttons to push, conquered many levels at a rapid rate. That reminds me that specific electronic games do tend to run their course.
Another thing I noticed, though, is how many games are available free or inexpensively. That makes it easy to try them out.
“Low-priced and free titles are incentivizing consumers to try out mobile games,” Macchiarella said. “If popular mobile titles are ported to gaming devices and enhanced, manufacturers such as Sony and Nintendo will be able move loyal mobile gamers to their new platforms.”
Tags: Angry Birds, games, low-priced mobile games, mobile games, Nintendo 3DS, older gamers, Parks Associates, Pietro Macchiarella, PlayStation Vita, Report
Posted in Angry Birds, games, Internet/New Media, Mobile, mobile games, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
The number of global smartphone shipments will reach one billion per annum in 2016, up from 302 million in 2010, according to a new report by analyst firm Juniper Research.
Smartphones — traditionally high-end handsets — will make-up the majority of shipments in five years’ time, as this type of device becomes available at lower price points. Competition amongst vendors offering premium smartphones is intense, and so Juniper believes the best opportunity for new players is through economy models (those with an unsubsidised retail value of $150 or less).
Report author Daniel Ashdown explains: “in developed markets, many consumers will want to upgrade from a feature phone to a smartphone, but still pay a feature phone price. In emerging markets though, lower average consumer spending power and lack of operator subsidies will make a low price point essential.” Juniper predicts that open-source operating systems — predominantly Android — combined with the falling cost of key components will make this possible.
However, the market for standard smartphones ($151-$399) and premium smartphones ($400 and above) will remain robust:
- New technologies are arriving on these devices — including NFC, 3D and Biometrics;
- Features of other devices continue to be integrated into smartphones, including gamepads; and,
- Smartphones are reaching the market which can morph into other devices — notably tablets and netbooks.
The report provides substantial primary research on smartphone hardware specifications and analysis of recent trends and developments. Other primary research examines smartphone plans and handset subsidies, and the impact on subscriber retention costs for operators.
A whitepaper The Smartphone Opportunity and further details of the study, ‘Smartphone Evolution Strategies: Premium, Standard and Economy Markets 2011-2016′ are available at www.juniperresearch.com
Tags: Hardware, Juniper Research, mobile, Report, smartphone shipments to hit $1B by 2016
Posted in smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
 Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are expected to drive consumer electronics sales to a record high of $190 billion in 2011, says a new report from the Consumer Electronics Association.
“One year ago, tablets were a new and unproven market, and now they, along with other mobile connected devices including smartphones and e-readers, are leading the entire industry to positive growth,” Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis, said.
Smartphone sales are predicted to increase 45 percent to $223 billion, with tablet sales hitting $14 billion. We get the smartphone revolution, but the success of tablets still surprises us.
“Innovation continues to drive the electronics industry to record levels, even in the face of declining economic growth overall,” said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro. “Newer, innovative product categories, like tablets, not only meet consumer demand but also help bolster our industry and strengthen the overall American economy.”
CEA expects consumer electronics growth to continue thorugh 21012, reaching a $197 billion high in shipment revenue.
Tags: CEA, Consumer Electronics Association, mobile devices driving consumer electronics sales, Report, smartphones, tablet computers
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, July 15th, 2011
 There has been little good news about the economy lately, particularly on the jobs front. New In-Stat research, however, shows that Enterprise business spending on IT and telecom services, which include cloud computing, wireless, wireline voice, wireline data, and business IP/VoIP, will move in a positive direction in 2011, increasing a healthy 6 percent over 2010.
“There will be positive growth across all 20 verticals with education and healthcare and social services leading the surge with growth of 10 percent and 9 percent respectively,” says Greg Potter, Analyst. “These increases in spending are across all product groups except wireline voice which will decline by about half a percent.”
Additional data includes:
- Enterprise spending on public cloud computing services is set to expand 139% from 2010 to 2011.
- Enterprise spending on wireless data is set to approach $17 billion in 2015.
- Enterprise spending in the healthcare sector on wireline data will approach 2 billion in 2014.
- Enterprise spending on wireline voice will remain flat, with traditional TDM services continuing their decline, only reaching $3.4 billion in 2011.
The In-Stat research, Enterprise Markets for Telecom Services: Wireline Voice, Wireline Data, Wireless, Cloud Computing, and VoIP in 20 Verticals provides forecasts of US business telecom spending for the 2010-2015 period with detailed segmentation by product category, size of business, corporate liable spending, individual liable spending, and vertical market.
Tags: cloud computing, In-Stat, IT spending 2011, Report, telecom, VoIP, wireless, wireline data
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, July 8th, 2011
 “There’s a great deal of hype in this early stage of Social Commerce, as brands experiment with ways to mesh the social graph with shopping,” says Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. “What’s clear is that there’s tremendous potential here for brands to create more personal, accessible experiences and to amplify word of mouth, especially when it comes to targeting Millennials.”
JWT, a marketing communications firm, has just released a report looking at how retailers and other brands are using Social Commerce to engage consumers both on- and offline.
The report examines three key trends—the rise of Facebook commerce (retailers selling directly on the social network), overlaying the social graph on e-commerce sites and introducing that social graph to the brick-and-mortar world—looking at what innovative retailers and others are doing in these areas, as well as what’s driving each trend and the significance and potential for marketers. It also spotlights things to watch in this space, from apps that enable sharing while shopping to Facebook Credits.
JWT’s trend reports are the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year. Specifically for this report, JWTIntelligence interviewed experts and influencers in research, technology and business, and conducted a quantitative study in the U.S. and the U.K. The survey used SONAR, JWT’s proprietary online research tool, to poll 971 adults aged 20-plus from May 20–June 1, 2011.
Findings from the survey include:
- The Millennial Generation is most interested in F-Commerce: More than four in 10 Millennials (aged 20-33) in the U.S. and the U.K. said they wish there were more opportunities to shop within Facebook, versus 26% of Gen Xers (aged 34-46) and 16% of Boomers (47-66). Nearly half agreed that they spend so much time on Facebook already, they might as well shop there too, compared to a quarter of Gen Xers and 14% of Boomers. Similarly, 48% said they wish the places where they shop had a page where customers could buy products/services directly on Facebook (27% of Gen Xers and 19% of Boomers said the same).
- Privacy concerns are a big hurdle for F-Commerce: Nearly eight in 10 of American and British adults said they worry about the privacy implications of shopping directly on Facebook. Three-quarters said they “don’t think Facebook is secure enough to make purchases on,” and nearly that many said they “wouldn’t use a shopping application on Facebook because of concerns that it could compromise my privacy—e.g., shared with third parties.” Interestingly, while the Millennials have an appetite for F-commerce, they’re the ones most concerned about privacy.
- Overlaying the social graph helps people make decisions more quickly: When asked about websites that offer personalized recommendations based on one’s Facebook profile, 46% of American and British adults felt that “there is too much information out there, so I think this is helpful”; Millennials were most likely to say this (59%), followed by Gen Xers (49%) and Boomers (31%). More than one-third said personalization of this nature helps them make decisions more quickly; again, Millennials (51%) were more likely to say this than Gen Xers (36%) or Boomers (21%).
“Social Commerce” is available on JWTIntelligence.com. Additional knowledge and research on JWTIntelligence.com includes the recent trend reports “Transmedia Rising”, Rebooting Travel and “Fear Of Missing Out”, 10 Trends for 2011 and 100 Things to Watch in 2011.
Tags: 3 social commerce trends, boomers, Facebook Credits, Facebook marketing, GenX, JWT Intelligence, millennial generation, Report
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
 Smartphones and tablets, loaded with features and apps, are replacing other technology devices for many consumers, according to a recent mobile survey conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights among smartphone and tablet users on their devices.
A majority of smartphone/tablet users say their mobile device has replaced a traditional alarm clock (61.1%) and a GPS device (52.3%). 4 in 10 smartphone/tablet users say their mobile device has replaced a digital camera (44.3%), a personal planner (41.6%) and a landline phone (40.3%). More than a third no longer need a separate MP3 player (37.6%) or a video camera (34.2%).
It is no surprise that smartphones and tablets can easily take the place of other devices or media outlets, but can they replace a wallet? 57.7% of smartphone and tablet owners say they would be somewhat or very comfortable using their device to make a purchase in a store. 22.8% are unsure while 19.5% would be not at all or not very comfortable using this new “swipe technology.”
Replaced by Smartphone or Tablet
Alarm Clock: 61.1%
GPS: 52.3%
Digital camera: 44.3%
Personal planner: 41.6%
Landline phone: 40.3%
MP3 Player: 37.6%
Video Camera: 34.2%
Newspaper: 28.2%
Radio: 27.5%
Desktop/Laptop Computer: 24.2%
Gaming device: 20.8%
Books: 20.1%
Internet service at home: 19.5%
DVD Player: 14.1%
Despite innovative new gadgets, thousands of apps and a growing number of uses for new mobile devices, consumers still say reliable service is key. A vast majority (77.9%) of smartphone/tablet users say the best service is more important than the newest technology (22.1%).
The full report (requires filling out a form)
Tags: alarm clocks, books, digital cameras, DVD player, gaming, landline phones, mp3 players, Prosper Moble Insights, radio, Report, smartphones and tablets replacing older devices
Posted in Internet/New Media, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, July 1st, 2011
 By 2015, nomadic (fixed locations outside the home, such as coffee shops) broadband video users will reach 154 million nearing in-home users according to a new report, Broadband Video: On Demand, On the Go, and On the Rise.
The report is the first Inflection Report from Connected Intelligence, a new service from leading market research company The NPD Group, which analyzes the confluence of connected devices, access, and content. By the end of 2015, the number of in-home users is expected to reach 175 million.
Mobile (on-the-go) broadband video users are also expected to grow though not as quickly as nomadic users. There were approximately 6 million mobile broadband video users at the end of 2010, a number that is expected to grow to 77 million by the end of 2015.
“Over the next few years, broadband video usage will predominantly be driven in the home by Blu-ray players and connected televisions,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD, and co-author of the report. “Handset manufacturers, though, have opportunities to tailor devices and software to the increasing prevalence of video.”
Pay TV will be impacted by the growth of broadband video, but broadband video isn’t likely to cause consumers to completely end their pay TV subscriptions. Only 4 percent of consumers surveyed say they have completely given up pay TV service. There are more consumers, however, who are cutting back. Nine percent of consumers surveyed said they have reduced the amount they spent on pay TV in the past year, and an additional 11 percent said they are likely to reduce their pay TV in the next year.
“The reduction in pay TV, or cord shaving, is really just a way for consumers to cut back on their monthly entertainment bills, for now,” said Linda Barrabee, research director, Connected Intelligence at NPD and co-author of the report.
“It actually sets the stage later on for broadband video usage to grow as consumers get back into the premium content market but look for less expensive alternatives.”C
Methodology
Connected Intelligence uses a top-down, bottom-up approach to forecasting broadband video users. The forecast methodology for broadband video users is based on the addressable market (installed base) of available devices for in-home and out-of-home and video users across available installed base of devices in-home and out-of home
Tags: Blue-ray players, Connected Intelligence, connected TV, handset manufacturers, mobile broadband video use, out of home broadband video use, Pay TV, Report, The NPD Group
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, June 27th, 2011
 Many IT leaders are attempting to manage “big data” challenges by focusing on the high volumes of information to the exclusion of the many other dimensions of information management, leaving massive challenges to be addressed later, according to Gartner, Inc.
Big data is a popular term used to acknowledge the exponential growth, availability and use of information in the data-rich landscape of tomorrow. The term “big data” puts an inordinate focus on the issue of information volume (in every aspect from storage through transform/transport to analysis).
Big data is also heavily weighted toward current issues and can lead to short-sighted decisions that will hamper the enterprise’s information architecture as IT leaders try to expand and change it to meet changing business needs.
Information managers may be tempted to focus on volume alone when they are losing control of the access and qualification aspects of data at the same time. Gartner analysts warn that too narrow a focus will force massive reinvestment in two to three years to address the other dimensions of big data.
“Today’s information management disciplines and technologies are simply not up to the task of handling all these dynamics. Information managers must fundamentally rethink their approach to data by planning for all the dimensions of information management,” said Mark Beyer, research vice president at Gartner.
“The business’s demand for access to the vast resources of big data gives information managers an opportunity to alter the way the enterprise uses information. IT leaders must educate their business counterparts on the challenges while ensuring some degree of control and coordination so that the big-data opportunity doesn’t become big-data chaos, which may raise compliance risks, increase costs and create yet more silos.”
Worldwide information volume is growing annually at a minimum rate of 59 percent annually, and while volume is a significant challenge in managing big data, business and IT leaders must focus on information volume, variety and velocity.
Volume: The increase in data volumes within enterprise systems is caused by transaction volumes and other traditional data types, as well as by new types of data. Too much volume is a storage issue, but too much data is also a massive analysis issue.
Variety: IT leaders have always had an issue translating large volumes of transactional information into decisions — now there are more types of information to analyze — mainly coming from social media and mobile (context-aware). Variety includes tabular data (databases), hierarchical data, documents, e-mail, metering data, video, still images, audio, stock ticker data, financial transactions and more.
Velocity: This involves streams of data, structured record creation, and availability for access and delivery. Velocity means both how fast data is being produced and how fast the data must be processed to meet demand.
While big data is a significant issue, Gartner analysts said the real issue is making sense of big data and finding patterns in it that help organizations make better business decisions.
“The ability to manage extreme data will be a core competency of enterprises that are increasingly using new forms of information — such as text, social and context — to look for patterns that support business decisions in what we call Pattern-Based Strategy,” said Yvonne Genovese, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
“Pattern-Based Strategy, as an engine of change, utilizes all the dimensions in its pattern-seeking process. It then provides the basis of the modeling for new business solutions, which allows the business to adapt. The seek-model-and-adapt cycle can then be completed in various mediums, such as social computing analysis or context-aware computing engines.”
Additional analysis is available in the Gartner Special Report “Pattern-Based Strategy: Getting Value from Big Data”. The report provides links to numerous reports that examine key issues related to managing big data. The Special Report includes video commentary from Ms. Genovese, as well as a Talking Technology interview that reviews the term big data, and why IT leaders should act now. The Special Report is available at www.gartner.com/patternbasedstrategy.
Tags: big data challenge, Gartner, managing big data, pattern-based strategy, Report
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, June 20th, 2011
 Virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, essentially copies a desktop PC, including the operating system, all applications and everything on its hard drive, to central servers in an enterprise’s data center, which then can remotely “deliver” that computer virtually to an actual PC, a thin client, or even a smart handheld device.
Hosted virtual desktops generated by Norton Ghost, Citrix XenDesktop, VMware View, and similar solutions deal with two of the key challenges facing IT administrators today: providing data security and meeting the demands of the mobile workforce.
According to a new study from ABI Research, the worldwide market for such hosted virtual desktops is forecast to grow from about $500 million in 2009 to a cumulative total of nearly $5 billion in 2016. North America and Europe will comprise the majority of the market for virtual desktops throughout the forecast period.
Larry Fisher, director of the firm’s Automotive, Energy and Emerging Technologies practice, says, “The VDI market will exhibit impressive growth in the next five years; buyers will principally consist of large enterprises looking to reduce their desktop support and management costs, and companies and organizations that need to lock data in the data center, either for compliance or security reasons.”
Companies also will be attracted by the lower overall energy requirements of virtual desktops, as well as the enhanced business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities they provide. Fisher adds, “The process allows the IT department to integrate a wide range of devices into corporate networks with relative ease. For example, they can enable users to access their full corporate desktops through iPads, smartphones and other popular devices.”
Fisher concludes, “Among factors inhibiting even greater adoption of hosted virtual desktops are the cost and complexity of VDI deployments, other more mature and cheaper technologies that can provide the same functionality, and the inclination of IT decision makers to stick with what they know: traditional desktop PCs.”
A new study from ABI Research, “Desktop Virtualization: The Global Market for Virtualized Business Desktop PCs” examines the technologies behind Desktop Virtualization, as well as its ecosystem, key trends, drivers and challenges. It includes forecasts for shipments, ASPs and revenue.
Tags: ABI Research, Citrix XenDesktop, Desktop Virtualization market, Norton Ghost, Report, VMware View
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
 NEW YORK – For years, Internet marketers have had to deal with the fact that many people do not click on Internet ads, but that’s apparently not the case with mobile device users. More than 60 percent of users click on mobile ads at least one a week, according to a report by the Mojiva Mobile Audience Guide.
The report adds, however, that “When seeing an ad, half of users indicated that they would play a game, download an application, or visit a Web site after seeing an ad – but only 22 percent said they would make a purchase, and only 40 percent would download a coupon.”
“This month’s MAG confirms that mobile marketing performs well when it lines up the services and products that affect people on an everyday basis – what to buy, where to eat, how my team played last night. Mobile is no longer a work-in-progress and we have the insight that shows what is effective in today’s environment of on-the-go users,” said Tony Nethercutt, general manager of Mojiva.
Mojiva is a mobile ad network which reaches more than 100 million users in the US and represents 3,000 mobile publishers and apps.
“In the upfront season, we’re seeing that mobile advertising is part of the conversation for major national brand advertising. Marketers need to keep in mind the customization of messages on mobile devices to better match what people want in their everyday lives.”
Additional findings from Mojiva and InsightExpress in the Mojiva MAG:
- Graphic ads were sufficient in capturing attention. Over 84% of users deemed ‘normal banner ads,’ ‘video ads,’ ‘ads that let me interact with them,’ or ‘animated banner ads’ as the forms of marketing they would likely pay attention to
- Text ads still perform modestly with 13% of users most likely to pay attention; however, only 2% pay attention to expanding screen takeover ads
- Marketing offers related to magazines, social/dating, airlines, traffic and banking had the least effective performance.
Tags: graphic ads most effective for mobile, mobile devices users click on ads, Mojiva, Report
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
MIAMI, FL – Retailers believe demand forecasting capabilities to be critical to their operations but struggle to incorporate demand forecasting insights deeper into their businesses, acccording to RSR Research’s latest report, “Crystal Ball 2.0: The State of Retail Demand Forecasting, Benchmark 2011,” RSR’s first annual benchmark on the topic.
 These findings are based on a survey of 83 retailers between January-April 2011.
“Retailers have made significant investments in optimization technologies, particularly around price and labor, and demand forecasts come hand-in-hand with those capabilities,” said Brian Kilcourse, Managing Partner at RSR and a co-author of the report. “But the forecasting engines that create those inputs into optimization tools can often be completely different in terms of assumptions, time horizons, models. It adds sophistication to retailers’ capabilities, but also creates some challenging complications – building up internal siloes instead of knocking them down.”
“With more channels to manage and more leading indicators to demand, such as social media and consumer intent, retailers need all the help they can get in forecasting and managing demand,” adds Nikki Baird, the report’s co-author. “The challenge isn’t that the crystal ball is cloudy but retailers just have too many forecast engines, each with a slightly different prediction than the next. Companies have yet to figure out how to reconcile them all.”
“Crystal Ball 2.0: The State of Retail Demand Forecasting, Benchmark 2011″ contains analysis of the business drivers, opportunities, and organizational constraints surrounding demand forecasts, as well as recommendations for creating successful demand forecasting capabilities. The report is part of RSR Research’s ongoing efforts to provide market intelligence on retail technology trends, and can be downloaded here: www.retailsystemsresearch.com/_document/summary/1280
Tags: on demand forecasts, Report, retail, RSR Research
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
 MENLO PARK, CA – While tech companies continue investing heavily in social media, they are still searching for the best mix of services and frequency for their public relations tactics, according to the 2011 Q1 Hype Report from Tool Guy PR (TGPR.)
According to the report, Twitter use was up 30 percent from Q4 2010 to Q1 2011. Meanwhile, the number of corporate blog posts doubled quarter over quarter, following a steep decline in the number of blogs from Q3 to Q4.
The first quarter was the second consecutive quarter in which Twitter use increased dramatically. However, for the first time since TGPR began monitoring social media use, Facebook use declined, as vendors published 25 percent fewer posts in Q1 as they did in Q4.
Reasons for the sharp swings
“There are many reasons for the sharp swings, but the biggest has to do with confusion as to which mediums to use and how often to use them,” said Kevin Wolf, president of TGPR.
“Most vendors believe social media is displacing traditional media, so many rush to implement a strategy. In the process, little thought is given to which services are best, and what is the right mix. The result is chaos, and dramatic swings from one vehicle to another.”
The Hype Report also tracks the use of traditional PR tactics, such as the quantity of press releases issued by early stage technology vendors. The total number of releases increased in Q1, and the number of releases about customers and partners was up nearly 20 percent from Q4. Meanwhile, the number of releases about products dropped 10 percent, and the total number of articles generated by vendors jumped 25 percent from Q4.
Social media best as complement to traditional media
“Our belief is that social media is best used as a tool to complement rather than replace traditional PR,” said Wolf, who has been advising tech companies for 16 years. “When social media is emphasized without regard to which services provide the greatest value, the result is dramatic usage swings, and poor use of limited PR resources.”
We talk to many digital marketing pros and this report tends to validate what we hear from them. Using the right social media for the right purpose will get users to the buy barn faster than haphazard campaigns shotgunned across all media.
We suspect the use of social media will increase in sophistication and effectiveness as better marketing tools evolve on the primary social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook).
We’re not surprised to see blogging a strong element of the marketing mix. It is a more mature technology with both free and commercial tools available and plenty of data on how various blogging tactics perform.
Another report issued by Forrester Research (Social Networks fail to deliver online sales) shows that social media accounted for only about 2 percent of holiday online sales in 2010, while more tradtional marketing, including search and email campaigns, delivered substantial results. — Allan Maurer
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Facebook tanks, Report, tech PR tactics, TGPR, Tool Guy PR, Twitter thrives
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | Comments Off
Monday, March 21st, 2011
 ORLANDO, FL – With most of us connected anywhere, a consumer revolution is underway that will supass that of the PC, the Internet and mobile. So says research firm, The Yankee Group.
Yankee Group predicts the growing deployment of wireless and wired connectivity globally is fueling a consumer revolution that will drive $2 trillion in technology spending by 2014.
Ubiquitous connectivity, truly mobile devices, content in the cloud and a plethora of apps are enabling consumers to live, work and play on the go. In this new environment, consumers are the new power brokers: They decide which technologies and experiences succeed—and which ones don’t.
Yankee Group calls this the era of the connected user, and its new report “The Next Tipping Point: The Connected Experience,” defines how the connected user experience is driving not only technology spending, but also technology innovation.
“Gone are the days when IT departments were the sole drivers of demand for new technology. Today, consumers and workers are driving demand and pushing technology into enterprises—shifting trillions of dollars in business with them in the process,” said Gigi Wang, chief research officer at Yankee Group.
Anywhere Connectivity Fuels Even Larger Revolution
For the last several years, Yankee Group has been tracking the tipping point of ubiquitous connectivity—what it calls “Anywhere”—when a region’s number of broadband lines exceeds its population. Today nine countries have passed that tipping point, and by 2014, 30 countries around the globe will be Anywhere.
“We believe connectivity has become fundamental—like electricity—and as a result, it is creating an even more powerful revolution,” said Carl Howe, director at Yankee Group and author of the report.
“At Yankee Group, we believe the revenue impact of Connected Experience will be bigger than the PC, bigger than the Internet and even bigger than Anywhere. Its effects will be felt by families, societies and governments across the globe.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: conectivity, Report, Yankee Group
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, March 18th, 2011
 ATLANTA – New consumer research shows that electric utility customers will monitor their energy usage more frequently in the coming smart grid era, industry research firm Chartwell Inc. reports.
A recently completed survey of more than 1,500 energy customers found that a clear majority – over 70% — monitor their energy usage on a monthly basis.
Smart grids and other tools that will allows for even closer monitoring of energy use are either already in place or rapidly coming down the pike.
When asked how they would like to monitor their energy usage in the future, far fewer answered monthly, while the number of consumers who would like to see weekly or daily energy usage jumped significantly from those who reported they currently view their energy data in those intervals.
“It’s clear through our research that electric utility customers in the U.S. and Canada will definitely look to monitor their energy usage more frequently when the technology is available, but they don’t see the need to view it in 15-minute or hourly increments,” says Scott Johnson, Sr. Research Analyst with Chartwell.
“We have found that utilities will have to do a lot in the way of educating consumers on the value of this data as well as put other incentives on the table, most notably money.”
Chartwell has conducted 3,000-plus consumer surveys and several focus groups since last year for its Smart Grid Customer Engagement Council, a utility-only group facilitated by Chartwell that looks at customer engagement issues and directs Chartwell researchers.
The Council is examining how customers prefer to monitor energy usage and the channels in which they would rather get that information, from paper statements to in-home displays to smart phones and apps.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Atlanta, Chartwell, energy monitoring, Report, smart grid
Posted in Energy, Georgia | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Despite constituting less than six percent of worldwide installations in 2010, the United States is well positioned to become the focus of the global photovoltaic (PV) industry in the coming year, according to a whitepaper released today by international solar power developer Enfinity.
Titled “The U.S. PV Market in 2011“, the report, produced in partnership with GTM Research, analyzes the key market drivers in the U.S. solar PV industry and predicts that 2011 will be a vital growth year for the country’s solar market.
“All eyes are on the U.S. PV market in 2011,” said Rafael Dobrzynski, Enfinity’s CEO in the Americas. “Being active in Europe as well as the Americas, we continually get questions—from both sides—about the U.S. market’s potential, demand ramp-up, and the reality of a national Feed-in-Tariff. Our white paper addresses these key issues as we delve into all these areas and provide valuable insights with hard numbers attached.”
Enfinity’s white paper identifies three factors that provide the United States with enormous, long-term potential for sustainable PV market growth:
- The United States is home to an excellent photovoltaic resource. While the Southwest provides the highest insolation, or exposure to the sun’s rays, even northeastern states offer insolation that is, at a minimum, equal to or greater than the resources of Germany.
- There is ample availability of land for PV development. The western states, in particular, have large tracts of open land that could support large PV installations.
- Electricity demand in the United States is the highest in the world. Electricity consumption in the United States is roughly 7.2 times the total in Germany and nearly 15 times as much as Spain. In 2010, U.S. PV installations more than doubled to an estimated 820 MW, up from 435 MW in 2009. While other markets such as Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic have faced drastic shifts, the United States has seen steady, if incremental, year-over-year growth
Shayle Kann, managing director of solar at GTM Research, said, “It is difficult not to be bullish about the U.S. PV market. The economics have never made more sense. As PV system costs fall, electricity prices rise, and project finance returns to the table, the U.S. market is inching closer to reaching its potential as the center of global PV demand.”
Download: “The U.S. PV Market in 2011″ white paper.
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Tags: Atlanta, Enfinity, photovoltaic market, Report, solar power, U.S. PV market in 2011
Posted in Energy, Georgia, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
 SAN FRANCISCO – Companies can’t resist the lure of cloud services – but in their rush to save time and money, many are neglecting such bread-and-butter fundamentals as integration, security, connectivity, monitoring, continuity planning and long-term staffing. This shortsightedness makes them vulnerable to potential failure.
Those findings are part of InformationWeek Analytics latest research report: State of Cloud 2011: Time for Process Maturation.
Findings include:
- The number of companies using cloud services increased from 18% in February 2009 to 30% in October 2010, according to the 2011 InformationWeek Analytics State of Cloud Computing Survey; that’s a leap of 67%.
- Another 13% of respondents say they plan to use cloud services within 12 months.
- Only 29% of firms using or planning to use the cloud have evaluated its impact on their existing architectures.
- Just 20% of those polled say they monitor cloud applications and throughput.
- 40% say they don’t have any monitoring program in place for cloud services.
“The up-front cost savings and speed to market you get from the cloud make it extremely tempting,” says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Analytics. “And that’s great – you should take advantage of it. But first you have to put some processes in place so cloud services – and responsibility for those services – are integrated into your existing set-up. Cloud applications must be monitored and measured just like any other application,” she adds.
InformationWeek Analytics is a subscription-based service, offering peer-based technology research.
Tags: cloud computing, InformationWeek analytics, Report
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Friday, January 14th, 2011
 The Kenshoo 2010 Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report shows strong improvement in the U.S. economy and performance of retail search advertisers, although search advertising slowed dramatically after Christmas.
For example, search ad budgets increased 54 percent in 2010, driving a 69 percent lift in online sales revenue year-over-year.
We wonder if renewed consumer spending will continue throughout 2011. All the figures from the holiday shopping period point to the increasing role of online shopping in the economy, however, a trend that’s likely to increase further with the steadily rising number of people carrying smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
The Kenshoo report identifies seven key trends:
1. The online holiday shopping season is starting earlier and lasting longer than ever
2. Online shoppers are increasingly responsive to paid search advertising
3. Consumers buy more often than they used to, with smaller basket sizes
4. Paid search advertisers have increased effectiveness and budgets
5. Thanksgiving is now “Cyber Kickoff Day”
6. Retail search advertising competition peaks on Cyber Monday and the second shopping week in December
7. Search advertising activity slows dramatically after Christmas
The Kenshoo 2010 Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report provides data, charts, graphs and insights supporting these trends along with implications for advertisers and 2011 predictions for search and online marketing.
“When we released our first report after Cyber Monday, the state of the economy and search industry at large had already proven to be healthier in 2010 compared to 2009,” said Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenshoo.
“But the upward trending of budgets, sales and revenue increased further in the weeks before Christmas, helping the Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index earn an average of USD 10.60 for every dollar spent on search ads. We’re excited to share these findings and the corresponding implications with the industry and hope retailers are able to leverage the insights to improve search marketing programs in the coming year.”
Kenshoo plans to make this an annual report and, in future editions, include regions outside the United States as well as online advertising channels beyond paid search such as social media and display.
Full report & updates.www.Kenshoo.com/HolidayReport
Tags: Kenshoo, online search ads, Report, shopping surged in 2010
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
ARLINGTON, VA — A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Consumer Perceptions and Expectations of CE Accessories, shows more than half of consumers prefer to have important accessories bundled “in the box” with their CE devices, and 53 percent are willing to pay more for that convenience.
“Bundling accessories with CE devices provides consumers with not only convenience, but also peace of mind that the accessory will work without a hassle,” said Chris Ely, manager of industry relations at CEA.
Most consumers expect accessories related to power, connectivity, device control and protection to be “in the box,” and brand consistency is important for consumers when purchasing accessories, particularly for devices that lack interchangeability, such as cameras, cell phones and video game consoles.
According to the study, CE device manufacturers should offer bundles for consumers that incorporate their most desired accessories. For TVs, computers and video game consoles, for example, consumers desire accessories that provide control or connectivity. For portable CE devices like cameras, phones and MP3 players, consumers value bundles that include devices to provide power or protection.
Most consumers (66 percent) purchase accessories at a physical retail store where retail staff can provide assistance. Once a consumer decides to purchase an accessory, retail sales staff have the biggest impact on the purchasing decision at a physical store. For online purchases, product reviews have the biggest impact on purchase decisions.
“Regardless of whether accessories are purchased at a physical retail store or online, consumers look for help in researching what accessories to buy,” said Ely. “Word of mouth, online search engines and online reviews are the most important sources of information.”
Consumer Perceptions and Expectations of CE Accessories was conducted by CEA to understand how the American consumer defines and uses CE accessories. The December 2010 study was administered via Internet web form to an online national sample of 967 U.S. adults from November 29-December 5, 2010. Designed and formulated by CEA Market Research, the most comprehensive source of sales data, forecasts, consumer research and historical trends for the consumer electronics industry, the complete study is available free to CEA member companies at members.CE.org. Non-members may purchase the study for $999 at myCEA.CE.org.
Tags: CEA, consumer electronics, consumers prefer accesssories bundled, Report
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
 NEW YORK – Friends and family focused emails significantly outperform other types of campaigns, according to a new report from Experian Marketing Services’ CheetahMail.
Today, most friends-and-family campaigns are not targeted, but instead distributed to entire customer files. Experian CheetahMail’s study indicates that despite this trend, the perception of friends-and-family offers being “special” continues. Specific findings in support of this observation include:
- Friends-and-family emails had 43 percent higher open rates and 29 percent higher click rates compared to bulk promotions
- Revenue per email and transaction rates for friends-and-family emails were 85 percent higher and 2.5 times higher, respectively, against bulk promotions
- Compared against non–friends-and-family promotions with the same offer values, friends-and-family emails generate higher revenue per email
- Links within friends-and-family emails had much higher referral rates than emails with no social network links
- For friends-and-family campaigns, 20 percent and 30 percent off are the most common offers during the holiday season
“The goal of this research is to provide our clients with actionable data they can use to optimize email campaigns this holiday season and beyond,” said Rachel Bergman, general manager and senior vice president, Experian CheetahMail.
“The best email marketers know that continuous program optimization is crucial to maximizing ROI. We consider it our responsibility to help clients get the most out of every interaction they have with their subscribers.”
To discover the aforementioned trends and pinpoint optimal strategies pertaining to friends-and-family email marketing, Experian CheetahMail’s Strategic Services team analyzed the performance of friends-and-family email programs compared to bulk promotional campaigns in two parts:
The first portion of the analysis evaluated the friends-and-family emails from 79 businesses to non-friends-and-family bulk campaigns from the same businesses from July 2009 to June 2010. The second portion focused on friends-and-family email performance during the holiday season, identifying businesses that sent friends-and-family mailings with the same offer value as non–friends-and-family mailings during the same time period.
Tags: CheetahMail, Experian, friends & family email out performs other campaigns, Report
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Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
 Spending on IT in the financial markets sector will experience positive growth in 2011 as companies look to improve performance and comply with new regulations, predicts Ovum.
According to forecasts by the London-based independent technology analyst, spending on IT vendors by the sector will grow by 4.5 per cent in 2011. This is significant when compared to 2010 when overall spending on IT by financial markets companies grew by just 0.3 per cent and 2009, when there was a 4.2 per cent decline.
Daniel Mayo, Ovum analyst and author of the new report*, said that the growth will be driven by businesses striving to improve their performance and agility and a need to invest significantly in compliance and reporting systems.
He said: “The financial markets sector as a whole will be volatile in 2011, but this will not be detrimental to IT spending and will provide significant opportunities for vendors. Businesses will be looking for IT systems that ensure their front offices are performing as well as they can, while they will want to make their back offices more automated.
“They will also be investing heavily in systems that help them comply with the barrage of new regulations brought in since the global financial crisis.”
While all this will drive strong growth opportunities for vendors, according to Mayo, procurement departments will still be looking to drive down prices and decision making will be volatile as institutions freeze or delay projects in response to market changes.
He added: “Vendors also need to be aware that the Asia region will continue to grow in importance for IT spending in 2011 and investment will increasingly be directed to hubs there by enterprises. London and New York will remain the key hubs but banks will shift some of their power to the Asia region, which will become more and more influential as senior executives relocate there. For this reason, a credible presence in Asia will be critical for vendors in 2011.”
Tags: IT spending in financial markets 2011, London, Ovum, Report
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
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