TechWeb

"There's no precedent in my mind," Harry Wang, research analyst for Parks Associates said.

The closest comparison would be the TV industry, Harry Wang said. Manufacturers selling analog sets today are telling consumers that government coupons will be available in 2008 to help pay for converters that will make it possible for the TVs to receive digital signals. Starting Feb. 17, 2009, TV networks will be required to broadcast only digital programming.

"The PC purchase is mor ...read more

Fully, 55 percent of users of the Web hangouts watch streaming videos, and 21 percent download video, Parks Associates said. In addition, people who visit these sites at least once a week are six times more likely to download movies and TV shows, and 1.5 times more likely to watch streaming video than Web users who don't visit these sites.

As a result, the networks are growing in importance as a market for free video streaming backed by advertisements and the online sale of fi ...read more

Based on the survey findings, Parks Associates estimates that in the last 12 months, more than 41 million U.S. Web users had Internet security problems, more than 21 million had computer hardware and software issues, and nearly 11 million had problems with a home network.

"As the average household uses more digital services and products, there will be substantial risk to the bottom line for both service providers and manufacturers as their technical support costs escalate," sa ...read more

Adding services to "triple-play" bundles could boost monthly revenue per subscriber to $206 by 2010 from $148 today, Parks Associates said. Additional services could include TV-based caller ID and home monitoring, satellite radio, and online storage.

Almost a third of broadband consumers intend to add TV-related value-added services to their current product bundles, and 41 percent are interested in adding supplementary services to their Internet subscriptions, Parks Associates ...read more

In a separate study, researcher Park Associates found that U.S. consumers, particularly teenagers, preferred short, easily consumable content, such as music videos, TV sitcoms, and movie trailers, when it comes to portable streaming video and downloads.

Music videos were the most favored content, receiving strong interest from 15 percent of all U.S. households, and 38 percent of teenagers.

The findings validate Apple Computer Inc.'s release of a video iPod, and its addition ...read more

Market researcher Park Associates said Thursday that IPTV has a potentially lucrative early market among consumers interested in interactive services, such as voting on game shows, targeted advertising and gaming. That group represents 27 percent of all U.S. households, the firm said.

Telecom operators could boost revenues on quadruple-play packages by 33 percent by adding video-on-demand, as well as home monitoring, gaming and wireless broadband, the firm said.

"The market ...read more

More households now use Wi-Fi networking than Ethernet, a trend that will lead to an explosion of new applications, according to a survey released this week by Parks Associates.

"This is truly a watershed finding," John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. "Establishing a solid base of wireless home networks is crucial for the adoption of next-generation services. Many applications such as home control, home security, or even multimedia distr ...read more

The number of broadband users in China will grow to 13 million by the end of the year, a market research firm said Tuesday.

The growth rate for 2003 is expected to follow the same pattern as in 2002, when the number of users increased from 2 million to 6.6 million in the last six months, Parks Associates said.

"Important drivers of the market include the decreasing price of broadband equipment and services, the continuous growth of PCs and Internet users, more appealing Int ...read more