What does Facebook cost? How many Apple iPhone OS users are there? Who is big in Apple Apps? What types of advertising are being used? What are advertising pricing levels? Regulatory compliance? Who got $4.4 million proceeds from a sale? What’s happening with healthcare payers and brokers? How many wearable wireless sensors will there be?
For the answers to these and other questions, turn to US Market Statistics.
A study from ABI Research forecasts that revenue from sales of Wi-Fi-enabled healthcare products worldwide (not even including Wi-Fi-equipped medical equipment) will total $4.9 billion in 2014. Visit US Market Statistics for more information.
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Providing its resellers with quantitative, current market data so they can make more informed business decisions, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (Arrow ECS) commissioned its second-annual survey of information technology decision makers at mid-sized companies. Among the survey findings, 40 percent of respondents indicated that they expect their IT budgets to stay the same in 2009. The number of executives who expect their budget to increase this year is equal to those who expect a decrease (29 percent). Those expecting an increase anticipate a 16 percent boost while those that expect a decrease think their budget will fall 18 percent. Not surprisingly, 77 percent of respondents listed “reducing costs” as the most important business issue, making it the No. 1 concern for IT executives. This is more important to respondents than “improving security/reducing risk,” which 38 percent listed as the most important issue in this year’s survey but was noted by 78 percent in the 2008 study conducted by Arrow ECS.
However, security was the second-named initiative (59 percent) among those planned for the next six to 12 months, with data management being named most often at 61 percent. Nine out of 10 report that “better access and information sharing” and “meeting service-level objectives” are the key technology issues. Approximately 38 percent of midmarket IT executives require evidence of return on investment for technical purchases, and those respondents require an average of 33 percent ROI. Only 12 percent require a one-year payback, while 33 percent look at the total cost of ownership over multiple years as the financial requirement. Arrow ECS reported $5.4 billion in global enterprise computing solution sales in 2008.
Wizzard Media has released figures today showing an increase in iPhone App sales, podcast downloads and podcast audiences from iPhone users for the first weekend after the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 3GS. Comparing with the previous weekend, the Wizzard Media Network saw an increase in audiences using the iPhone to request podcast episodes of 29% in the U.S. and 27% worldwide. As a result, there was an increase in podcasts downloaded from the network by iPhone users of 66% in the U.S. and 50% worldwide. Revenues for Wizzard’s iPhone App sales showed an average increase of 12% worldwide for the weekend after the new iPhone launch, compared to the previous weekend. Financial analyst projections for Apple’s iPhone sales average over 20 million units for 2009 (RBC, Piper Jaffrey, Citi).
AdMob’s May 2009 Mobile Metrics Report shows in less than one year, the Apple App Store has grown to more than 50,000 applications. Highlights from the May 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report: five percent of applications had more than 100,000 active users in May 2009; 14 percent of applications had between 10,000 - 100,000 active users, representing 322 applications; 54 percent of applications had less than 1,000 active users, representing 1,244 applications; the average iPhone user in AdMob’s network accessed four applications in May; five days after its launch, the iPhone 3.0 Operating System (OS) represented 44 percent of iPhone ad requests. In contrast, only 1 percent of iPod touch requests came from devices running the iPhone 3.0 OS. AdMob reached 15.1 million unique users on iPhone and iPod touch devices on 2,309 applications in its network in May, the vast majority of which were free to download.
According to the study “Personal Robotics 2009: Task, Security & Surveillance/Telepresence, Entertainment and Education Robot, and Robotic Components Markets Through 2015” (http://www.nextgenresearch.com/research/1004160-Personal_Robotics_2009), the global personal robots market will grow from $1.16 billion in 2009 to more than $5 billion in 2015. The majority of such robots in 2009 are entertainment robots -- toys -- and single-task robots, such as vacuum cleaners or floor washers.
The tally of wireless operators committed to deploying LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks and offering LTE-based services to their subscribers in 2010 has climbed to at least 12, according to a study from ABI Research. By the following year nearly 34 million users worldwide are forecast to subscribe to the new ultra-fast data services, which promise speeds rivaling those available via cable or DSL. “Spectrum availability is the primary factor impacting deployment plans,” comments senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. “In countries where telecommunications regulators are making appropriate spectrum available, many operators have announced plans to launch LTE. These include the US, Sweden, China, and others. Where no such spectrum allocations exist, operators are postponing LTE plans.” The first operators intending to deploy LTE include Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS Wireless, and U.S. Cellular in the United States.
Interactive advertising is responsible for $300 billion of economic activity in the U.S., according to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The advertising-supported Internet represents 2.1% of the total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). It directly employs more than 1.2 million Americans with above-average wages in jobs that did not exist two decades ago, and another 1.9 million people work to support those with directly Internet-related jobs. A total of 3.1 million Americans are employed thanks to the interactive ecosystem. These are the key findings of the first-ever research to analyze the economic importance, as well as the social benefits, of the Internet. Among findings: small businesses have thrived as a result of the Internet. Tthere are more than 20,000 Internet-related small businesses in the U.S. that provide a variety of services such as web hosting, ISP services, web design, publishing, and Internet-based software consulting. Many of these businesses have 10 or fewer employees. To read the full study, please go to www.iab.net.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising.
A consumer survey conducted by ABI Research has found that while most owners of home networks find their equipment works reasonably well, they would be willing to upgrade if that resulted in easier troubleshooting. The conclusion: there is an opportunity for home network equipment vendors if they can automate some of the commonest diagnostic and configuration tasks.
Although nearly 30% of the 1007 respondents to the survey reported some initial difficulties in setting up their equipment, only 11% actually returned products as being “too hard” – a figure at the low end of the typical range of consumer electronics returns reported recently by the Wall Street Journal. Most of the problems occurred with wireless setup, suggesting that vendors have an opportunity to make wireless network setup and security a much easier process through software and hardware solutions. At present the overwhelming majority of those surveyed use their home networks to provide Internet access to more than one computer; printer sharing and (in those under 35) online gaming ran distant second and third. However that usage pattern – and the associated setup and maintenance – will soon become much more complex, as networks increasingly assume the role of distributing multimedia content around the home. www.abiresearch.com.
Modernizing key legacy applications is the top software initiative for businesses this year, according to a new survey by Forrester Research, Inc. The survey of more than 2,200 IT executives and technology decision-makers in North America and Europe is Forrester’s largest annual study of software spending and adoption trends for both enterprises and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) and is part of Forrester’s Business Data Services (BDS) series. BDS provides an extensive data set for B2B Market Research professionals’ go-to-market strategy assessments.
“The costs of operating monolithic legacy applications makes them unsustainable, and these survey results show that firms are seeking efficient ways to modernize,” said Jean-Pierre Garbani, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. “Companies are willing to adapt their business processes to cheaper packaged software solutions rather than wait for custom applications. Automation is the key to IT’s future.”
Updating key legacy applications was cited as the top initiative for both enterprises and SMBs at 64 percent and 55 percent, respectively. More than one-quarter of enterprises and more than one-fifth of SMBs said that updating and modernizing key legacy applications is very important. Top-line overviews of the full survey responses are available to Forrester RoleView™ clients. Subscribers to Forrester’s Business Data Services receive more detailed data and access to unlimited custom data cuts. Other key highlights of the survey include:
Software budgets will hold relatively steady. Enterprises allocated 16 percent of their IT operating budgets toward expensed software costs in 2008 and plan to allocate 17 percent over the next year. SMBs allocated 19 percent toward expensed software costs in 2008 and plan to allocate 19 percent in the next 12 months.
Reducing IT costs and improving integration are top goals. Eighty-one percent of enterprises consider reducing IT costs to be an important goal, with improving integration between applications not too far behind at 77 percent. Seventy-one percent of SMBs consider improving integration to be important, with reducing IT costs and using information technologies to increase innovation next.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) concerns and barriers have diminished. Compared with 2008, the 2009 landscape for SaaS is looking brighter, but there are still some bumps along the road to adoption. Currently, at 31 percent, security concerns are the most commonly cited reason why enterprises aren’t interested in SaaS. At 39 percent, total ownership costs represent the top concern for SMBs that aren’t interested in SaaS.
Packaged applications are preferred. When implementing a major application, a packaged application or application modules are the most preferred deployment options for 33 percent of enterprises and 45 percent of SMBs. The next preferred option for both is a tailored solution assembled from existing custom and packaged application modules. Few firms prefer to turn to SaaS or a hosted solution. www.forrester.com.
Locally placed search advertising in the U.S. is projected to grow 30 percent over the next five years, from $4.1 billion in 2008 to $5.3 billion in 2013. According to research by Borrell Associates, this growth will be led primarily by advertising service providers that adopt scalable technology infrastructure and recalibrate their economics to allocate more customer investment to search media spend. According to the report, many online advertising resellers and affiliates, who service local businesses, churn half their customers within a year’s time, and some lose as many as 90 percent. This often is due to missed expectations and a lack of return on investment for local-business customers. Critical points for local advertising success include correctly pricing advertising products for local businesses, and devoting a greater percent of that investment to media spend. Most important, advertising products and value must be easily understood by local businesses. That requires a shift from selling Web site clicks to selling measurable leads, delivered via email and phone calls. This report is available for free at Clickable.com.
A recent IDC survey of IT and line of business (LOB) professionals shows that more than 60% of respondents believe that now is a good time to negotiate steep discounts for traditional on-premise software. "In this economy, traditional licensing approaches are under fire, with steep license discounts and maintenance concessions the norm," said Amy Konary, program director, Software Pricing, Licensing, and Delivery. "In order to survive the downturn and position for growth in an eventual recovery, software companies will have to evolve their go-to-market approach, and subscription pricing and SaaS will play a key role."
This IDC survey also showed that organizations are highly interested in software pricing options that help shift spending from capital budgets to operating budgets. Additionally, more than half of C-Level executives surveyed are open to buying software from a small firm with a very short track record, if the price is good and functionality seems at least comparable.
Fueled by a need for marketing organizations to be more accountable to the business and a shift in marketing budgets' allocation for interactive channels, in order to match consumers’ migration online, the US Web analytics market will grow to $953 million by 2014 — an impressive 17 percent compound annual growth rate — according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc.
Consumer confidence in the overall US economy moved up sharply in May, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA-CNET Indexes also show that consumers continue to feel more confident about future spending on technology and consumer electronics (CE). The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE) climbed in May, reaching 174.6, up nearly six points from last month. The ICE, which measures consumers’ confidence in the overall economy, is at its highest level since February 2008 and up over eleven points year-over-year. “We see significant indications that consumers believe an economic recovery is underway,” said Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s director of research and economist. “Consumers are showing increasing signs of optimism as both their outlook for the economy and their personal financial health improve.” Confidence in technology and consumer electronics also reached its highest level of the year. The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE) climbed to 81.1, an increase of nearly four points from last month. The ICTE, which measures consumer confidence in technology and consumer electronics, is nearly eight percent higher than the same period last year. “Consumer spending on technology appears to have bottomed,” said DuBravac. “While the economy continues to deteriorate, albeit at a slower rate, consumer spending generally and specifically consumer spending on technology are likely beginning to rebound, which is inline with the timing of consumer spending in past recessions.”
The CEA-CNET Indexes are comprised of the ICE and the ICTE, both of which are updated on a monthly basis through consumer surveys. New data is released on the fourth Tuesday of each month. CEA and CNET have been tracking index data since January 2007. To find current and past indexes, charts, methodology and future release dates, log on to www.CEACNETindexes.org.
