GigaOM

What happens when you offer the combination of a simple user experience, a growing choice in streaming apps and a low cost? You sell a lot of that product and people use it. That’s what happened in 2014 to the Chromecast according to Parks Associates, who say that Google‘s $35 streaming stick now trails only Roku players in the U.S. when it comes to streaming content.

From the article "Streaming on Chromecast passes Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV in US" by Kevin C. Tofel.

With Peq offering a monthly service plan that puts Best Buy’s offering in the same category of Lowe’s Iris, which also charges $9.99 per month for features that link multiple devices together and go beyond a certain number of alerts each month. Of course, the number of hubs on the market is proliferating daily, as are the number of ways one can purchase elements to build a smart home.

It’s something I’ve covered in depth, but on Thursday I saw research from Parks Associates ...read more

Roku and Chromecast were the two most successful streaming devices sold in the U.S. in 2013, according to new data from Parks Associates, which puts Apple TV on third place.

Google sold an estimated 3.8 million Chromecast streaming sticks after introducing the product in mid-2013, according to Parks, which also estimates that this about equals Roku’s sales throughout 2013. Apple is trailing, and sold just a bit more than two million devices in the U.S. last year, according t ...read more

Market research company Parks Associates made some headlines last month when it released the results of a study showing declining interest in Chromecast. According to that study, the percentage of Chromecast owners that use the device at least once a month to stream video declined from 78 percent to 73 percent from Q3 of 2013 to Q1 of 2014.

Google didn’t directly address those claims at its I/O developer conference, but a slide included in last week’s keynote address seemed ...read more

Parks Associates this week predicted that 43 percent of U.S. smartphone owners will be using a “proximity mobile wallet“ in one way or another by 2017, more than doubling the firm’s estimated usage in 2013. While NFC-based systems still struggle to get out of the gate, increasing usage of barcodes, the cloud, and Bluetooth will give mobile wallet apps a much-needed boost, according to Parks, helping developers and other players in the value chain figure out how to develop system ...read more

Satellite companies might not be in a mood to celebrate, but things are looking positively rosy for companies selling video streaming devices, who are benefitting from the general trend of what industry insiders call over-the-top content. And if the sheer excitement over cord-cutting and the Chromecast isn’t telling enough, then this morning’s report from American market research firm Parks Associates should be ample testimony that video streaming to our big screen televisions is ...read more

Boingo’s updated app keeps the original features from its 2011 debut, so you can use it to find Wi-Fi hotspots nearby. It also includes a free VPN function for secure Wi-Fi connections. I like the addition of the data usage tracking because it can provide a true picture of data usage on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. We know that Wi-Fi offload can help reduce cellular network demand, but according to research from Parks Associates, 50 percent of smartphone owners don’t know h ...read more

The freemium mobile app movement is now a full-fledged trend among consumers. For developers, it’s a lucrative one. As I wrote about recently, one-third of the top-grossing iPhone apps are freemium programs that cost nothing to play but make their money primarily through in-app purchases of additional content or functionality.

And Parks Associates last month reported that one in five gamers spends money on virtual items and microtransactions, which are expected to garner $6 ...read more