The Wall Street Journal

Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Dallas-based Parks Associates, said, “A big reason is the massive difference in square mileage of the U.S. versus many other countries. South Korea is always brought up in comparison to the U.S., but their population density is so much greater than ours. You have many more people living in high-rise apartments, which can be wired more easily for high-speed access versus our single-family home tendency here in the U.S.”

F ...read more

Bill Ablondi, analyst with market research firm Parks Associates, said the market for professionally monitored security and home management services in the U.S. could grow from roughly $9.5 billion this year to more than $12 billion in 2015, and broadband providers that are poised to enter the business could grab about a fifth of the market by then.

Ablondi said the home security is a fragmented business with a wide variety of local players, and a large company like Comcast- ...read more

This holiday shopping season, the smartphone battle is going mainstream.

Given that smartphones are expected to be one of the hottest-selling items this holiday season, the next few weeks of sales could be key. In an August survey of 2,516 U.S. households, Parks Associates, a market research firm, found that 21% intended to buy a smartphone before the end of the year.

From the article, "Phone Makers Shift Focus" by Christopher Lawton

Even for a fervent media junkie, it's getting easier to drop cable television.

After seeing the trend percolate for several years, market-research firm Parks Associates last December estimated that half a million households had so far cut the cable cord in favor of online-only content.

From the article, "Cutting the Cable Cord Gets Easier" by Roger Cheng

Smart homes are an idea as old as the Jetsons. But some big companies are betting that the reality will soon catch up to the vision.

Other start-ups are also vying to supply software to monitor and manage such technology, which could be a $5 billion a year market by 2011, according to research firm Parks Associates.

Less than 15% of people in Internet-connected households in the U.S. are very interested in controlling their home's lights or thermostat over the Internet, acc ...read more

The cable-cutting trend isn't just being driven by pinched personal budgets. It also comes as younger consumers gravitate to popular and free online video sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube and Hulu.com, a joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal, which is owned by General Electric Co. and Vivendi. More content producers are also offering their TV shows and movies online through services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Netflix.

Some 900,000 U.S. homes didn't pay for ...read more

After more than a decade of disappointment, the goal of marrying television and the Internet seems finally to be picking up steam. A key factor in the push are new TV sets that have networking connections built directly into them, requiring no additional set-top boxes for getting online. Meanwhile, many consumers are finding more attractive entertainment and information choices on the Internet -- and have already set up data networks for their PCs and laptops that can also help m ...read more

Lesser-known brands are dropping their Blu-ray player prices even further. In early September, Best Buy Co. advertised its Insignia brand Blu-ray player for $229. It also offered to sell the player at just $149 with the purchase of a high-definition TV.

Overall, prices for Blu-ray players dropped 12% in the third quarter to $350, after adjusting for new-model introductions and old models pulled from the market, according to PriceScan, a price- and product-comparison service. E ...read more