David H Deans's Blog
Growing SMB Social Media Marketing Usage
eMarketer reports that U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs) are adopting social media marketing in greater numbers, according to a market study by Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland.
Social media usage increased to 24 percent, from 12 percent the year before.
It's interesting to note that the most common usage of social media among small business was a company page on a social networking site, followed by posting status updates.
SMB expectations of social media are in line with their experiences, although they are not quite as successful as they had hoped. More...
OTT Long-Term Disruptive Effects on Pay-TV
Internet connectivity is becoming a common built-in feature in consumer electronics devices, but consumers are just beginning to use this capability to watch IP video online. The upside growth opportunity is therefore huge.
Overall, just 1 percent of all adults currently watch video from the Internet via one of these devices daily, and 5 percent weekly. More...
Mobile VoIP Plans its Escape from Captivity
Likewise, the benefits gained from Skype and Google Voice will drive Voice over IP (VoIP) service evolution.
In-Stat estimates the total number of mobile VoIP users will reach 288 million by the end of 2013. Of these, well over half will be associated with online mobile VoIP providers, under one-third will utilize mobile VoIP with traditional 3G MVNOs or mobile operators, and 11 percent with WiMAX/LTE operators. More...
Cable MSOs Investing in New Infrastructure
"True to form, operators in North America, particularly in the U.S., spent what was left of their equipment budgets in the fourth quarter of 2009, giving a year-end boost to CMTS and edge QAM vendors," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and video at Infonetics Research. More...
Adoption of 3D-capable Consumer Electronics
"Our research shows an imminent upsurge in the adoption of 3D-capable High Definition (HD) and Blu-ray hardware, now strengthened by a clearly defined 3D roadmap," says Jim Bottoms, Director at Futuresource.
Futuresource expects that a high percentage of Blu-ray players will ship with 3D capability next year, and within a few years it will probably be difficult to buy an HD video disc player without 3D. More...
Why Traditional EPGs are Doomed to Failure
It's estimated that 59 million households in Western Europe were equipped with EPGs at the end of 2008 -- a penetration of 36 percent of all TV households. This number will grow 19 percent yearly between 2008 and 2014 so that nearly three quarters of all TV households will have access to EPGs in 2014.
The analysts report has identified about 300 EPGs on the different platforms in Western Europe. More...
U.S. Market Internet User Segmentation Mix
The demographic mix of Americans capable of using the Internet continues to evolve. With 71 percent of Americans using the Internet (from any location) at least once per month in 2010 -- U.S. Internet users now better resemble the general population.
Overall, eMarketer forecasts the number of monthly Internet users in the U.S. will rise to 250.7 million in 2014, up from 221 million in 2010.
More than one-half of new (novice) users will be ages 45 and up, as many of the remaining laggards join the mainstream. Among younger groups, the Internet is nearly ubiquitous, and most who are able to access it already do so -- leaving limited potential for new growth. More...
Hospitality TV Operators Embracing IPTV
Hotels and Airlines alone will account for a $1.9 billion global market in 2012, indicating that for most hospitality applications, analog video use is likely to quickly become extinct.
MRG says that both In-Room Entertainment (IRE) and In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) markets show a sharp shift in user expectations.
"While respondents indicated that IPTV may be too expensive for the low-end market, the study finds that there is a substantial and growing need for IPTV to serve the mid- and high-end of the hospitality market. More...
Decline of "Passive" Entertainment Consumer
Early technology adoption is no longer constrained by income, education, ethnicity, or social status. As a result, a larger percentage of young adults than in the past consider themselves to be early-adopters.
"Whether it is TV Everywhere initiatives, over-the-top video services, Web-to-TV devices, or 3D digital televisions, the market success of each new innovation will be dependent on attracting early-adopters," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. More...
Evolution of Broadband Traffic Characteristics
The top two vendors in the service provider router space, Cisco and Juniper, together went from attaining 69 percent of the worldwide router market in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009 -- while Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, and others gained share.
Tellabs pushed past Ericsson in 2009, putting them in the top five for the first time. More...


