Blog articles from 07/2014

Over 45% of U.S. pay-TV subscribers find cloud DVR technology very appealing, according to new research from Parks Associates . The report, Cloud DVR: The New Face of Television , reveals that consumers show particular interest in unlimited storage space and two-week catch-up services for video. Other key highlights from the report include: More than 40% of broadband households in the United States and United Kingdom and over 30% of broadband households in Belgium...

According to new research Parks Associates  announced today , 78% o f connected car owners said they will demand connected features in their next vehicle, and the most desired connected car feature is the ability to view maps or receive directions . Connected Cars: Revenue Opportunities also shows: 37% of current vehicle owners in U.S. broadband households are very interested in the ability to view maps or receive directions. 48% of smartphone owners...

In its earnings call last week, Starbucks announced it now counts more than 12 million monthly active users of its My Starbucks Rewards app - a solid 20% growth in active users from 10 million just over a year ago (April 2013). The My Starbucks Rewards app is both a loyalty program and a digital wallet that allows users to store value in the app and pay at check-out by displaying a barcode on the smartphone screen. Transactions made via the mobile wallet now account for 15% of all...

This week, I had the opportunity to attend mHealth + Telehealth World Congress in Boston. The three-day conference focuses on health system and health payer strategies for incorporating mobile and telemedicine technologies to improve care outcomes and drive operational efficiencies.   As my third consecutive year attending this event, the conference served as a nice benchmark for progress in the digital health initiatives among conference attendees, which are overwhelmingly care...

Children and Mobile Internet Access To date, my blogs on parental controls and monitoring solutions have been focused mainly on software that assists parents in managing and controlling the kind of web access their children can have. As mentioned previously , although there is a sizeable total addressable market for solutions that manage kid's access to the Internet ( uKnowKids , for example, estimates that there are 91 million teens and tweens worldwide with the means to access...

The Hazards of the Internet to Youth In January, I wrote about emerging trends in protecting the online safety of children. In Parents, Kids, and the Internet: The Evolution of Online Protection Tools ,   I introduced several solutions in a category of products that I term “social networking and communications intelligence tools.” Instead of just filtering and blocking kids’ access to objectionable or dangerous websites (or overwhelming parents with mountains of data...

Parks Associates : Could you tell me about the changing role and revenue potential of connected CE? Barbara Kraus : Connected CE, until a few years ago, simply meant a hardware device that could connect to the Internet, and manufacturers made their money from unit sales. Now, with connections and the ability to stream video and music to your TV, manufacturers have several opportunities for new revenue streams, such as advertising, content promotion, content placement, and even...

In the past week, Google and Apple have both extended their efforts to penetrate yet another connected consumer platform – vehicles. Apple announced nine new auto manufacturers that have committed to integrating Apple’s CarPlay product into at least some forthcoming vehicle models, and Google unveiled its competing Android Auto product at the Google I/O conference. Both CarPlay and Android Auto allow drivers to access and control select smartphone apps and services through the...