Please welcome keynote speaker at CONNECTIONS™ Europe, Didier Zwierski, Vice-President, Americas General Manager & Technology and Development Manager, PHILIPS Consumer Electronics - BU Home Networks.Biography coming soon.
CONNECTIONS™ Europe
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
CONNECTIONS™ Europe Keynote
Please welcome keynote speaker at CONNECTIONS™ Europe, Didier Zwierski, Vice-President, Americas General Manager & Technology and Development Manager, PHILIPS Consumer Electronics - BU Home Networks.Biography coming soon.
CONNECTIONS™ Europe
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Richer Digital Media Offerings Needed to Spur German Home Networking Offerings
Parks Associates’ research indicates companies need to develop and market richer digital media offerings in order to spur the German home networking market. “While home network penetration has grown in Germany, there has not been an upsurge comparable to France or the U.K.,” said John Barrett, director of research, Parks Associates. “More competition combined with digital media offerings such as video-on-demand, IPTV, and multiroom DVR are required to promote greater adoption of home networks.”
Parks Associates’ Global Digital Living (GDL), which surveyed households worldwide on their technology use and attitudes, finds:
CONNECTIONS™ Europe provides thorough examination and understanding of advanced technologies and services for residential and mobile environments, including digital entertainment, IPTV, telco TV, set-top boxes, advanced communications across mobile and landline platforms, and home management and its corollary services.
Parks Associates’ Global Digital Living (GDL), which surveyed households worldwide on their technology use and attitudes, finds:
- Among the surveyed countries, Germany has one of the lowest percentages of households who download or upload videos to P2P websites on a monthly basis. Germans are also less likely to watch videos via video sharing sites.
- Among the European countries surveyed, Germany has the lowest percentage of households who watch purchased DVDs on a monthly basis. Conversely, among all the surveyed countries, Germany has the highest percentage of households who watch movies on broadcast TV.
CONNECTIONS™ Europe provides thorough examination and understanding of advanced technologies and services for residential and mobile environments, including digital entertainment, IPTV, telco TV, set-top boxes, advanced communications across mobile and landline platforms, and home management and its corollary services.
iPhone price cut
Welcome to the mobile phone business, Apple! A mere ten weeks after introducing the iPhone, Apple has made some big adjustments. The company is slashing the price of its 8 GB iPhone from $599 to $399 in time for the holiday shopping season. The company is also phasing out the 4 GB version, which had sold for $499.
Handset price decreases are nothing new to the mobile space, but such drastic price reductions at such an early stage are a rude wake-up to Apple as it enters a market where it faces stiff competition. There's no question that the iconic iPhone is as slick as a device as the mobile phone industry has seen in sometime, and Apple is already transferring features such as the touchscreen to its new iPod devices.
However, after such a hyped introduction, it would appear that Apple hasn't overcome the resistance that we predicted in our June white paper - The iPhone: A Consumer Perspective. Granted, we know that Steve Jobs is definitely not referring to the iPhone as a "hobby" (as he did with the underperforming AppleTV). However, even with Apple's great history of developing intuitive and in-demand products, pricing is a big hurdle to overcome as consumers consider the purchase of an advanced mobile phone handset.
In Parks Associates' white paper we noted that only 3% of consumers surveyed in a recent study (Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services: Second Edition) expressed a strong willigness to pay $499 or more for an iPhone. We're still not convinced that a $399 price point is going to spur significant dividends, either. At this price point, the needle only bumps to 4% of consumers.
Apple has enjoyed some great gains in the last few years, but it's got major challenges ahead of it if growth is going to continue. Recent defections from content providers away from the iTunes service and the company's need to convince millions of users to replace their existing iPods are among two key issues. Perhaps this is only a moment where Apple simply catches its breath before charging ahead, or it's a sign that even the great Apple has its limits. We're watching closely.
Handset price decreases are nothing new to the mobile space, but such drastic price reductions at such an early stage are a rude wake-up to Apple as it enters a market where it faces stiff competition. There's no question that the iconic iPhone is as slick as a device as the mobile phone industry has seen in sometime, and Apple is already transferring features such as the touchscreen to its new iPod devices.
However, after such a hyped introduction, it would appear that Apple hasn't overcome the resistance that we predicted in our June white paper - The iPhone: A Consumer Perspective. Granted, we know that Steve Jobs is definitely not referring to the iPhone as a "hobby" (as he did with the underperforming AppleTV). However, even with Apple's great history of developing intuitive and in-demand products, pricing is a big hurdle to overcome as consumers consider the purchase of an advanced mobile phone handset.
In Parks Associates' white paper we noted that only 3% of consumers surveyed in a recent study (Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Services: Second Edition) expressed a strong willigness to pay $499 or more for an iPhone. We're still not convinced that a $399 price point is going to spur significant dividends, either. At this price point, the needle only bumps to 4% of consumers.
Apple has enjoyed some great gains in the last few years, but it's got major challenges ahead of it if growth is going to continue. Recent defections from content providers away from the iTunes service and the company's need to convince millions of users to replace their existing iPods are among two key issues. Perhaps this is only a moment where Apple simply catches its breath before charging ahead, or it's a sign that even the great Apple has its limits. We're watching closely.
CONNECTIONS EUROPE: Strategies for Digital Living Markets
CONNECTIONS™ Europe will host 220-250 managers, strategists, and executives marketing digital products and services in Europe. http://www.connectionseurope.com/
- Key trends for European/Global digital lifestyles markets
- Interactive sessions with Parks Associates' analysts
- Controls and health management
- The hyper-competitive European telecom environment
- The evolution of IPTV services
- The “next big thing” in European TV
- Service providers: competing on service and innovation
- Value-added services and features
- Fixed/mobile, home network, and multimedia features
- Digital entertainment: downloads, social media, Web 2.0
- Connectivity beyond application-specific platforms
- Communications and entertainment
CONNECTIONS™ SUMMIT at CES Focuses on Strategies for Converging Media, Entertainment, and Controls
CONNECTIONS™ Summit, a one-day executive summit, precedes 2008 International CES and features expert insight and debate on market strategies for home systems, new media and social networking, home networking, and digital entertainment.
Preliminary Speakers:
Ralph Ackerman, Founder and Director, International Short Film Association
Ade Bamigboye, CTO, Intamac Systems Ltd
Marc Canter, CEO, Broadband Mechanics
Brian Caskey, VP, Worldwide Marketing, UTStarcom
Jonathan Cobb, Founder, CTO, Kiptronic, Inc.
Joe Dada, CEO, SmartLabs, Inc.
Paul Palmieri, President & CEO, Millennial Media, Inc.
Kate Purmal, GM and SVP, Digital Content Solutions Division, SanDisk
John Reister, Chief Architect, IPTV, BigBand Networks, Inc.
William T. Schafer, Director, Product & Channel Development, Crestron Electronics
Dan Scheinman, SVP and GM, Cisco Media Solutions Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
Singu Srinivas, President, HiWired, Inc.
Chris Wagner, EVP, Marketplace Strategy, NeuLion, Inc.
Ben Weinberger, CEO, Digitalsmiths Corporation
Michael Wexler, President, HiWired, Inc.
TBD, Superna
CONNECTIONS™ designed the summit as the ideal preparatory event for 2008 International CES. The summit sessions feature panels of leading executives, moderated by Parks Associates analysts. In addition, Parks Associates will provide consumer and industry data on various product and service categories of 2007, with forecasts for growth in 2008 and beyond.
“The convergence of controls, broadband, and digital content will promote growth in many advanced industries serving consumers,” said Kurt Scherf, principal analyst, Parks Associates. “We will be discussing these and other opportunities at the CONNECTIONS™ Summit.”
For more information, visit http://www.connectionsconference.com/ or http://www.cesweb.org/.
Preliminary Speakers:
Ralph Ackerman, Founder and Director, International Short Film Association
Ade Bamigboye, CTO, Intamac Systems Ltd
Marc Canter, CEO, Broadband Mechanics
Brian Caskey, VP, Worldwide Marketing, UTStarcom
Jonathan Cobb, Founder, CTO, Kiptronic, Inc.
Joe Dada, CEO, SmartLabs, Inc.
Paul Palmieri, President & CEO, Millennial Media, Inc.
Kate Purmal, GM and SVP, Digital Content Solutions Division, SanDisk
John Reister, Chief Architect, IPTV, BigBand Networks, Inc.
William T. Schafer, Director, Product & Channel Development, Crestron Electronics
Dan Scheinman, SVP and GM, Cisco Media Solutions Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
Singu Srinivas, President, HiWired, Inc.
Chris Wagner, EVP, Marketplace Strategy, NeuLion, Inc.
Ben Weinberger, CEO, Digitalsmiths Corporation
Michael Wexler, President, HiWired, Inc.
TBD, Superna
CONNECTIONS™ designed the summit as the ideal preparatory event for 2008 International CES. The summit sessions feature panels of leading executives, moderated by Parks Associates analysts. In addition, Parks Associates will provide consumer and industry data on various product and service categories of 2007, with forecasts for growth in 2008 and beyond.
“The convergence of controls, broadband, and digital content will promote growth in many advanced industries serving consumers,” said Kurt Scherf, principal analyst, Parks Associates. “We will be discussing these and other opportunities at the CONNECTIONS™ Summit.”
For more information, visit http://www.connectionsconference.com/ or http://www.cesweb.org/.
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