Blog articles from 04/2015

For consumers around the world, the Internet of Things (IoT) opens the door to a new and convenient connected lifestyle. IoT encompasses a broad range of home-based devices and services, including smart home devices and services, connected entertainment devices, entertainment services, connected health and fitness devices, mobile devices, and connected cars. Parks Associates research shows: China is the largest broadband market in the world. In North America,...

In a recent article for the New York Times , Steve Lohr writes that consumers purchase smart home products for a number of reasons, including environmental worries, financial savings, and the physical appeal of smart home merchandise. Lohr included Parks Associates research to show the increase in sales of energy-related smart home products. Valued at $850 million, Parks Associates research shows consumers purchased 10 million smart thermostats, plugs, power strips, and lights...

Last week, Google finally pulled the curtain off its much anticipated MVNO wireless service.  Google calls it Project Fi.   One of the much talked about feature of the service is Google’s pricing model.  Google will only charge users for the amount of data they use instead of the tiered data pricing of the other wireless carriers.  In our opinion, Project Fi will not have a drastic effect on the wireless industry pricing. Project Fi pricing is more or less in...

Just last week, Comcast announced that they will triple the number of  “ Social Care Specialists” available to support their customers. Social care specialists handle customer support requests via social media channels. Comcast plans to add 40 social care specialists to its current pool of twenty specialists to cover 22 million subscribers. For Comcast, expanding services through social media is one attempt to amend the brand’s poor reputation as it relates to customer...