Blog articles from 07/2011

Parks Associates and LEVEL Studios will co-host a complimentary webcast Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 1 p.m. CT. This webcast is for CE device manufacturers and all brand marketers who want the latest information about the smart TV, smartphone and tablet markets. The webcast will look at ways in which device categories are converging and the impact that is having on product usage and consumer behaviors, go-to-market strategies for manufacturers and marketers looking to take advantage of...

Microsoft might expand the Avatar Kinect application beyond gaming. Microsoft isn't claiming to be game-centric, but instead it might use things like set-top boxes and business videoconferencing and add elements of Kinect within those. One possible use of the Avatar Kinect is within an entertainment experience, such as watching television. Microsoft has demonstrated Kinect with Sky in the UK and having the avatar represent the user within a chat room, where viewers can come...

Parks Associates and LEVEL Studios announced they will host a free webcast on July 28 focused on key drivers to create product differentiation for manufacturers, titled "Creating Product Differentiation for Connected Consumer Electronics. Manufacturers must carve out a new, unique position in this changing market. These devices open several intriguing opportunities to capture content revenue. For example, an Xbox 360 is no longer just a gaming device but seamlessly serves...

Google+ is Google's most aggressive effort yet to crack the evolution of the Web from a place that connects people to information to a place that connects them to one another. It has amassed 20 million users in three weeks, according to research firm ComScore Inc. The addition of social games could liven up Google+, which has far fewer users than Facebook's more than 750 million and fewer bells and whistles. Google+ still requires an invitation. The market for social games in the...

Broadband World Forum 2011 will be held Sept 27-29 in Paris, France and is the world’s largest Broadband event attracting 10,000+ decision-makers from across the globe. The 3 day comprehensive conference program brings together over 300 visionary speakers along with 150 service provider case studies to address the commercial and technical opportunities, developments and issues currently surrounding Broadband. Parks Associates is a media supporter of the event and will be participating...

Almost one-third of people in the U.S. over 13 play mobile games monthly, and the number of gamers in older demographics more than doubled since 2007, according to Parks Associates. The international research firm's new report Mobile/Portable Gaming: Market Updates finds the user base for gaming has expanded into nontraditional segments thanks to the popularity of mobile apps and titles such as Rovio’s Angry Birds. These changes will also force creation of new business models to...

Netflix had to have seen much of the anger and harsh words coming. After all, when you shift pricing significantly on a huge customer base, you are going to find a big percentage of consumers suddenly on the wrong side of the demand curve. Also, while many in the industry predicted that a Netflix price change was likely in the cards due to expiring content deals, many consumers may not have seen this one coming. Almost nothing makes the natives quite so restless as an...

Rejoice all of you news-following pay TV customers...well, some of you anyway. Time Warner announced that they would be making simulcasts of their CNN and HLN news channels available online to Comcast, DISH Network, and Verizon subscribers. The content is available via CNN's website as well as on portable Apple devices, complete with all of the ads that we enjoy on the TV-version. The channels will be available on other mobile devices later in the year according to Time...