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July 30, 2004
Movie downloading spurred by broadband
As of May 2004, Nielsen Net Ratings estimates that 49% of internet users access the web via broadband from their homes- this is up from 9% in 2000 . At least one-quarter of these users have downloaded movies – implicating broadband with acts of piracy.
Posted by Alexa Wriggins at 07:12 PM
Broadband prices fell sharply in first-half of 2004
Global broadband prices fell sharply in the first half of the year as cable operators moved to meet the challenge of lower prices from Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services, according to a research report released Friday.
Monthly rental fees for broadband cable services dropped 16 percent in the first six months of this year, while DSL fees were slashed by 13 percent, reported U.K. researcher Point Topic Ltd.
"DSL has been getting more users and cable modem providers are trying to compete and get back share," said Haroon Butt, senior analyst at Point Topic.
Broadband cable service providers engaged in aggressive price cuts during the first half of the year to bring their fees closer in line with those of DSL services, which had been previously reduced to attract new subscribers, Butt said.
Cable operators surveyed said that the average monthly rental rate for entry-level cable modem services declined from US$39.20 to $32.00 over the period, a reduction of $7.20, while DSL prices dropped by $2.50 to $29.50 in the first half of the year.
These figures reflected average global pricing at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates, Point Topic said.
Only one provider, Yahoo Japan Corp., bucked the trend and upped its prices for DSL by 20 percent, Point Topic said. However, the researcher noted Yahoo Japan remains the cheapest DSL provider in the world at PPP rates.
Price cuts primarily occurred in Asia and North America but European operators have recently jumped on the price-slash bandwagon, Butt said.
He indicated that cable modem operators have more than price cuts in their arsenal, however.
"It's not just about pricing -- it's also about services," he said. "They have a triple play. They can offer cable, Internet and voice."
It will be interesting to see how the cable modem and DSL providers square off at the end of the third-quarter, Butt said, as the war between them becomes increasingly focused on services.
Scarlet Pruitt
Posted by Alexa Wriggins at 07:01 PM
July 27, 2004
Worldwide PDA market slump continues
Besieged by competition from mobile telephones and other wireless devices, worldwide shipments of handheld computing devices declined 2.2 percent to 2.20 million in the second quarter of 2004, down from 2.27 million units during the same quarter in 2003, according to research from industry firm IDC.
The market for handheld devices, also called PDAs (personal digital assistants), has been in decline since 2001, hurt by a general slump in technology purchasing, competition from wireless devices that perform PDA functions, and by a lack of new applications, said David Linsalata, an analyst with IDC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts.
"The handheld of the 1990s is the same as the handheld of the 2000s in that it hasn't really evolved," said Linsalata.
In a sign of the slowdown, the third-ranked PDA vendor, Sony Corp. last month decided to exit the market, except in Japan, leaving Hewlett-Packard Co. and PalmOne Inc. with over 65 percent of the market between them, according to IDC's numbers.
Sony, which ships the Clie handhelds, saw its market share drop by 33.2 percent in the last year. The company shipped 172,000 units during the second quarter.
PalmOne had the largest volume of shipments, selling 924,000 devices in the second quarter, down 0.6 percent from the same period in 2003. Following Sony's departure, PalmOne remains the only major PalmOS vendor in the market, IDC said.
Hewlett-Packard saw its shipments increase by 39.2 percent year-over-year, selling 530,000 devices during the quarter.
- Robert McMillan
Posted by Chad Dickerson at 09:23 PM
July 12, 2004
DRM to grow by 50% through 2008
Spending by U.S. companies on digital rights management (DRM) software reached US$36 million in 2003 and will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 50 percent until 2008 when the market will be worth $274 million according to Jupiter Research.
- David Legard
Posted by Chad Dickerson at 03:00 PM
Broadband on the march
The global broadband market will have 325 million subscribers by 2008, according to the Yankee Group. New broadband signups will reach 35 million this year and increase in 2005 and 2006 to 43 million per year. ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) will outsell cable broadband by more than two to one, Yankee Group said.
- David Legard
Posted by Chad Dickerson at 02:58 PM