Blog articles from 11/2014

In a recent article for Inc. , contributor Travis Wright revealed that, this year, women are in charge of the economy. Calling it the "sheconomy," he outlines the differences in purchasing habits between men and women, looking specifically at Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.  His claims comes from several research reports, including Parks Associates' holiday intentions Market Focus released this week. Key data points from Wright's article include:...

A couple of weeks ago, I was intrigued by an e-mail that I received from the National PTA. For every parent that subscribes to a smartphone monitoring app called TeenSafe , $10 will be raised for their local PTA. Parents can also receive a 33% lifetime discount on the app. What intrigued me about this promotion was not only finding another tool to research in my continued work on the parental controls marketplace, but also finding a solution that is endorsed by an organization as...

As the connected car space heats up, startups are joining major players from various industries in jumping into the market. Leading tech giants like Apple and Google, mobile carriers like AT&T and Telus, and major digital media companies like Pandora and ESPN are staking their claims to the dashboard. Last week, another new player jumped into the connected car market. Mojio , a start-up based in Canada, launched its connected car solution, which consists of a mobile app, a 3G...

As I stroll and speak around CCW-SATCON today, there is plenty of talk around how OTT rights and licensing are going to affect traditional video distribution methods. However, Google (being Google), decided to crash the party with their announcement of YouTube Music Key , an ad-free subscription service that will allow users to watch, download, and listen to music offline or with the screen locked. The new music service is interesting, and there are a few key takeaways from the...

Last week, Amazon revealed its addition to the growing streaming media market: the Fire TV Stick. The announcement represents the company's continuing efforts to compete against other giants like Google and Apple for dominance in the TV market.  However, in a recent article for CNBC , tech reporter Ari Levy pointed out that Roku, despite being more expensive than other streaming stick options, remains the king among consumers. He cited Parks Associates' July report that...

According to Parks Associates research , 50% of U.S broadband households will own at least one smart home device by 2020. Already, 13% of U.S. broadband homes own some type of smart home device. Smart home solutions continue to grow at a rapid pace, and industry leaders within the smart home market are reporting year-over-year growth at over 100%. Parks Associates and Greenwave Systems recently presented new smart home industry data during a complimentary webcast, " Key...