Blog articles from 05/2008

The results of Parks Associates National Technology Scan 2008 show that there are now 220m Internet users in the United States including ~30m that only access the Internet outside the home (at work, school, libraries, etc.). The 80m Americans that do not use the Internet are largely split between the very old and the very young. Nearly 20m of the non-users, for example, are children under the age of 9 that live in homes with Internet access. These individuals will presumably start using...

CBS announced this morning that it would acquire CNET for $1.8 billion. CNET.com is a technology news and information portal but the company also owns several other endemic websites. CBS’ acquisition appears to be synergistic, as CNET’s assets do not overlap substantially with CBS’ media properties. But CNET’s growth has been stagnant at best in recent years and its influence over “technophiles” is waning. So paying a 45% premium for CNET appears a bit “extravagant” for...

New Survey Finds Substantial Number of Households Not Crossed the Digital Divide Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. heads-of-household have never used e-mail, according to National Technology Scan , a forthcoming study by Parks Associates . This annual phone survey of U.S. households found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18% of all U.S. households. Age and education are factors in this divide. One-half of those who have never used e-mail are...

It was interesting that the same week that Parks Associates announced findings from a new report titled Enabling Solutions for a Rich Broadband Experience that we got an update from HP and learned about their Upline network-hosted storage announcement from April 7. Our analysts Michael Cai and James Kuai had written in their report that network-hosted storage solutions from broadband service providers - where consumers can upload content such as digital photos, music, video, and their...

Tax rebates will have an immediate impact on sales of high-definition TVs and personal computers this year, but economic concerns among consumers will limit the growth to more modest levels, according to Parks Associates’ Consumer Electronics Purchases: Quarterly Monitor. According to the new study, 40% of consumers in U.S. Internet households will use the tax rebate to purchase consumer electronics products – with high-definition televisions and personal computers topping the...

How can broadband service providers keep customers and make money? Online storage and back-up services! "Enabling Solutions for a Rich Broadband Experience" examines the global broadband market and analyzes the drivers, demand, deployments, and critical enabling technologies for broadband value-added services. According to the report, providers will see $188 million in subscription revenue by 2012 if they provide these value-added services. Online storage and backup...

Along with releasing results of a great first quarter for its gaming division ($32 million in revenue, up 33% YOY), Real Networks just announced its plans to spin off its expanding casual gaming business division. According to the announcement, the company "intends to separate its global casual games business into an independent company and distribute shares of the newly created games company to its shareholders. RealNetworks may precede the spin off with an initial public offering...

The rumors surrounding Clearwire and Sprint over the past several months have made Hollywood Paparazzis jealous. It finally happened. Mr. McCaw, the master of big deals strikes again. After many rounds of negotiation, Sprint, Clearwire, and their partners ironed out all the details in a highly complex deal. Clearwire will merge with Sprint's Xohm division to form a $14.5 billion WiMAX venture, which will blanket the country with high speed WiMAX networks. Investing partners include Intel,...