Blog articles from 03/2016

According to Parks Associates’ consumer data, about 9% of Apple smartphone users have used Apple Pay, 1  and only about 3% use it regularly. 2 2015 was “the year of Apple Pay” according to Tim Cook. Apple’s failing to gain adoption, right? 3 No. Apple is focused on gaining merchant adoption before gaining consumer adoption. Here’s evidence that Apple’s focus for Apple Pay is not on consumer uptake: Apple’s iPhone 6, the first Apple phone that allows consumers to...

According to Parks Associates research , 9% of U.S. broadband households switched broadband service providers in the last 12 months; almost 1/4 of these households did so in order to obtain faster service at a comparable price. This week, AT&T announced that it would be upgrading its U-verse home Internet plans with additional service options, including a plan with unlimited data. The upgrades will begin in May and all current U-verse home Internet customers will...

Consumer intention to purchase devices and integrate them into home systems continues to be a growing trend across Western Europe. Mass-market smart home products and services are now available through numerous channels, including security dealers, telecoms, and retail stores, and both mass-market and custom-installed systems are seeing substantial growth as the combined marketing efforts of all channels are improving awareness. According to research conducted by Parks Associates...

The emerging wearables market, especially with the entrance of Google and Apple, can have a huge impact on employer-offered corporate wellness programs. If wearable device makers can customize their solutions to meet employer’s needs and overcome challenges such as employee privacy and data security concerns, the corporate wellness programs can become a significant distribution channel for their products. Employers, which comprise the largest buyer group of health insurance on...

That sound you heard was Apple and (perhaps) Google watching as a major market opportunity passes them by. Capitalizing on what amounts to over-the-speed limit momentum, Amazon has brought two new Echos to the market. The Dot, while interesting, is a fun add-on to smart home geeks who want a smaller, sleeker Echo to put by their bedside (and replace the smartphone as an ad-hoc alarm clock) or in the living room alongside the curved-screen TV, wireless multi-speaker setup and...

According to Parks Associates research, 33% of U.K. broadband households subscribed to an OTT video service as of 3Q 2015. New OTT video market entrants, especially those with paid services, will have to provide unique value in order to make substantial gains. However, the demand for interesting content is strong enough that there are market opportunities for new OTT video players. Nearly 20% of U.K. broadband households have recently used a Netflix service, despite the free OTT catch-up...

I've been doing a lot of research into Wi-Fi based phone plans recently. They're a service that some 70% of broadband households are interested in - which is not a surprise, given that most consumers use less than half of their cellular data plan. These plans make use of a collection of private and public WiFi hotspots in order to provide voice, text and data services. Some plans supplement hotspot access by pay-as-you-go cellular data. Current plans are offered by service providers...

The connected car industry is experiencing a time of tremendous growth. Parks Associates research, cited in a recent TIME article , estimates that mobile networks such as Verizon and AT&T will make nearly $1 billion each year in connected-car revenue by 2018. The increase in revenue is due to huge advancements in the connected car space. A quarter of cars on U.S. roads last year had some connectivity ability, the simplest form being a way to leverage the driver’s smartphone...