Blog articles from 06/2012

Today, the early sponsors and preliminary agenda were announced for CONNECTIONS™ Europe: Monetizing the Digital Home, 13-14 November at the Crowne Plaza South in Amsterdam. The executive conference, explores new business opportunities in connected home and entertainment value-added services through high-level analysis, global and European consumer research, and information on emerging and converging technologies. CONNECTIONS™ Europe offers a unique experience, combining consumer...

When you think of consumer electronics devices for at-home health-care, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  Let me guess, “ I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! ”  Yes, LifeCall (the company behind the ad) forever carved a place in marketing history by turning life-saving technology into the butt of countless jokes.  In the process they not only undermined their own business success but also cast doubt on an entire industry.  (Shouldn’t there be some kind...

There was a good article in Telecompetitor about 4K television. We came up with some quick thoughts about how quickly (or not) this "UHDTV" will come to market: Much of the talk with 4K has been around sports and movies, and there will need to be some specific (and expensive) production equipment that has to be installed. Although several TV manufacturers are releasing 4K-capable TV sets, ESPN for example won’t be online with its facilities until 2014. Gaming...

Written by Brett L. Sappington, Director of Research I have great hopes for the personal cloud. The industry has discussed uber-connectivity for consumers for years. Now that we are inching closer to reality, companies are testing various products, services, and business models. During this week's CONNECTIONS 2012 conference, one of our panels examined this area and how companies could make money in "personal cloud" services. I led the discussion, with...

Concerned that the new, digital electrical meters are unhealthy, expose customer data to computer hackers and terrorists, or give the government a tool of control? There's hope, you might not have to get a smart meter after all. Key lawmakers have threatened to propose legislation requiring utilities to allow customers to decline a smart meter, unless the commission creates a way for people to opt out pronto. Some electricity customers worry the digital meters, which use wireless...

Consulting firm Waterstone Management Group is hosting an invite-only research and networking session at CONNECTIONS™ at TIA that features discussion and analysis on the emerging business models for SMB (small and medium business) cloud services. The event, June 6 at 6:30 p.m., includes cocktails and networking with analysts and industry executives. Research shows there are roughly six million businesses in the U.S. with 1-99 employees but currently only 21% use offsite data backup...

COMPLIMENTARY INDUSTRY WEBCAST:June 14, 8:30 a.m. CT, 13:30 GMT and 15:30 CET THE U.S. target market for residential energy management and home security technologies, deployed by utilities, service providers, or retailers, will exceed a combined 60% of all households by 2022. This webcast, presented by Parks Associates and Technicolor, includes a panel of NSP market professionals providing insight into the opportunities & challenges with OTT service integration. Presenters...