First identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia – the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, is sharply increasing in the UK – and likely everywhere, considering the way many people seem to have their mobile phone attached permanently to their hands.
A recent survey of 1,000 people in employment, conducted using OnePoll, discovered two thirds of respondents fear losing or being without their mobile phone. The study, sponsored by SecurEnvoy – which provides tokenless two-factor authentication, reveals that 41% of people interviewed, in an effort to stay connected, have two phones or more.
When asked if they’d be upset if a partner looked at the messages and texts on their phone almost half said that they would.
Digging a little deeper, more women worry about losing their phones than men – 70% of the women surveyed compared to 61% of the men, yet it is men that are more likely to have two phones – scoring 47% and 36% respectively, perhaps in an effort to stay connected.
When split by age it is the younger age group (18 – 24) that are more nomophobic at 77%, with the 25 – 34 age group second at 68%. Perhaps a little more surprisingly is that third most nomophobic are the 55 and overs!
“The first study into nomophobia, conducted four years ago, revealed that 53% of people suffered from the condition and our study reveals this has now risen to 66% in the UK and shows no sign of abating. A reversal on the 2008 findings is that, back then, it was men that were more afflicted yet today it’s women. I’d be inclined to draw the conclusion that, perhaps because more men have two phones, they’re less likely to misplace both and therefore be left phone-less,” said Andy Kemshall SecurEnvoy CTO and co founder. “There is another study into mobile phone use that found people check their phones, on average, 34 times a day so it wouldn’t take long for you to realise if you’d misplaced your device.”
Another interesting revelation from this study is that, with 49% of people getting upset if their messages and texts were viewed by a partner, they’re still lax at securing these devices.
Nearly half use no security protection
Forty-six percent do not use any protection at all; 41% use a four pin access code; and just 10% encrypt their device. A security conscious 3% use two factor authentication. Andy suggests, “With 58% of the respondents using at least one device for business use, this lack of security is a worrying trend that needs addressing.”
“What this study does highlight though,” concludes Kemshall “is the extent that people now rely on their mobile phones. At SecurEnvoy we have certainly seen a huge spike in demand from local government and the private sector looking to turn their staff’s phones into security devices, where they can use SMS tokenless®two factor authentication to access data securely and easily whilst on the move.”
Last night I was checking out free videos available from Amazon Prime on my Kindle Fire tablet. My widescreen TV was on with the sound muted as I checked out an old “Star Trek” episode and then an NPR documentary about Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. I could as easily have watched the videos on the TV set. But a new study shows that when it comes to watching TV, the big screen doesn’t always win.
A new study of over 1,400 consumers, from market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, uncovers major changes in how people are watching TV and movies, and the choices they make when it comes to the content they watch online.
Once the domain of early adopters, more than half (54%) of all consumers have already tried alternatives to pay TV (i.e. Netflix, Apple TV, or a network’s website).
An even greater shift is expected, with 16% of all pay TV customers saying they are likely to reduce their level of pay TV service in the next year. In addition to the notable findings below, a summary report is available for download from Chadwick Martin Bailey’s website.
This study finds consumers of all stripes would adopt online TV viewing more broadly once providers develop a simple, reliable, and cost effective solution. According to this study, many of the prerequisites for this shift are already in place.
The biggest screen doesn’t always win, even at home. Core viewing behaviors are changing; 63% of people who recently watched TV on a tablet say they used a tablet even though they had access to a television with the very same content availabl
Streaming content is not only acceptable, it’s preferred. If mainstream consumers had an attachment to physically owning their content, they’re losing it. Respondents found streaming video twice as appealing as downloading and storing content on their own devices.
All of this is happening in the midst of a cost-cutting consumer mindset. Cost concerns came up again and again in the findings, as the main reason for dropping pay TV, for cutting back on pay TV, and for never signing up for pay TV in the first place. Even 1 in 5 of pay TV’s most valuable subscribers (highest ARPU) say they are likely to cut back in the year ahead.
Online viewing is already more common than one might think. Over half of all consumers, not just early adopters, have gotten a taste of viewing TV and/or movies online via services like Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, or a network website.
“These findings show every part of the consumer TV and movie watching experience is up for grabs,” says Jon Giegengack, Director at Chadwick Martin Bailey. “In the digital music revolution, the primary shift was in how music was bought and stored. When it comes to TV and movies, everything has the potential to change: whom consumers buy from; how much they pay (if they pay at all); and the range of times and places offering viewing opportunities.”
“Consumers are ready to embrace a new method of accessing TV content,” agrees Peter Fondulas, CMB’s co-author on the project. “They’ve got motive, they’ve got interest, and a majority have already begun kicking the tires. What’s missing now is the right platform and offer—something easy to use, understandable, reliable, and affordable. Various players are working hard to come up with that solution; as we learned from the music industry, the first one to offer it effectively will be in an extremely strong position.”
The tablet has been the hottest device in the consumer market since Apple’s 2010 iPad launch. But over the past year, tablet use has begun to crossover from the consumer world into the workplace.
New NPD In-Stat research confirms that the most common business uses of tablets are email/calendar management, note taking, and presentations, with 77% reporting email as a common workplace use.
“Email is by far the most dominant tablet application for business users,” says Frank Dickson, VP Mobile Research. “However, when you dig into the data, you find a plethora of strong niche uses arising.”
He adds, “When business tablet users are asked to list ALL the applications they use, note taking, for example, is listed as the second most popular application. However, when survey respondents are asked to only select their most important uses, note taking is at the bottom of that list. In addition to email, customer relationship management and IT network intelligence are listed as ‘most important’ uses.”
Recent survey findings include the following:
Less than half of respondents felt they were allowed to connect to the corporate network.
The current dynamic is that users are bringing their own tablets into the workplace.
Only 22% of owners in our survey had their tablets paid for by their companies.
There is a high correlation between the usage of 3G on tablets and the frequency of business travel.
New NPD In-Stat research, The Business of Tablets: Tablet Usage in US Business (#IN1205312ID), is based on survey results derived from NPD In-Stat’s Technology Adoption Panel (TAP) of technology users and decision makers who contribute their opinions and insights about technology usage and technology issues in the workplace and at home.
TAP is a dynamic, online survey panel of approximately 18,000 technology users and decision makers.
This particular survey yielded 905 respondents. Survey questions were focused on tablet usage for business and personal use.
This research is part of NPD In-Stat’s Smart Mobile Devices service, which provides analysis of the market for portable consumer electronics, including e-readers, digital photo frames, portable media players, handheld game consoles, personal navigation devices, digital cameras and mobile computing devices, such as tablets.
Portable media devices, such as smartphones, iPhones, and iPods, are gaining popularity in the vehicle as consumers increasingly use them to access digital content while on-the-go, according to leading market research company The NPD Group.
In fact, sales of products designed to integrate portable devices in the vehicle accounted for more than $170 million in 2011, according to NPD’s Retail Tracking Service.
NPD’s most recent study, Mobile CE: A Look Inside the Vehicle, found 84 percent of vehicle owners have a portable media device and more than three quarters (79 percent) are using them in the car. These devices are also used regularly with half of smartphone owners, and nearly two-in-five (37 percent) iPod owners said they use their devices “always” or “most of the time” while driving.
Despite the popularity of these devices, traditional car audio products are still in demand. Seventy three percent of vehicle owners with an FM radio said they use it during most car trips and 57 percent of consumers said the presence of a compact disc player will be vital in their decision to purchase their next car stereo system.
“Traditional radio and CD audio remain firmly entrenched in the vehicle from both a device and entertainment standpoint,” said Ben Arnold, NPD’s director of industry analysis.
“But as ownership of mobile devices, digital content, and apps expands, consumers will be looking for ways to customize the in-vehicle environment with content and services.”
In-vehicle connectivity is also starting to emerge as a purchase factor with a third (32 percent) of consumers saying the feature is highly important in their decision to buy future car audio products.
Consumers are also connecting their digital media devices through a variety of ways. While 18 percent of vehicle owners have an auxiliary input installed into their vehicle stereo system, 11 percent are connecting through a USB port.
Wireless connections favored
Despite being present in just 13 percent of vehicles, wireless connectivity is gaining favor as a way to more easily control these devices and tap into connected services. More than half (56 percent) of vehicle owners with a built-in Bluetooth or wireless phone connection installed said they always use it or use it most of the time.
“The key is for auto makers and traditional audio manufacturers to facilitate consumer use of connected devices in the vehicle, allowing content from the smartphone, tablet, or digital media player to easily stream or be controlled through the deck mounted in the dashboard,” Arnold said. “We’re only going to see greater consumer attachment to social media, streaming audio and video, and other services as content options grow.”
To learn more about how mobile audio manufacturers can gain from this opportunity, read Ben Arnold’s blog.
The iPad3 is due for unveiling March 7, while a smaller version is in the works.
Apple Inc. fans drool over every new release of the company’s hardware and March 7 they’ll get their first look at the new iPad3, accoridng to iMore.
Quoting “sources reliable in the past,” Rene Richie says, it will feature a quad-core Apple A6 system-on-a-chip, 2048×1536 Retina display, and possibly 4G LTE networking.
The site admits the 4G LTE and quad core system are both speculative at this point.
Rumors say the new iPad3 may also have better cameras.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is testing a smaller version of the iPad with a screen of about 8 inches, a size that would put it in competition with Amazon’s Kindle Fire – especially if priced lower.
Personally, we find the smaller form factor of the Kindle Fire is much easier to use generally than the 10-inch tablets we tried – although we haven’t used an iPad.
We think Apple needs some lower-priced entry level products now that cheap mp3 players are everywhere, high powered PC laptops go for under $500, and inexpensive tablets such as the Kindle Fire are available.
U.S. consumer technology hardware and consumable sales fell just one half of a percent in 2011 ending the year at nearly $144 billion, according to market research company The NPD Group.
Nearly 60 percent of all sales in 2011 were driven by the top five categories; PCs, TVs, tablets/e-readers, mobile phones, and video game hardware, according to NPD’s Retail and Consumer tracking services and Mobile Phone Track. PCs (notebooks and desktops) generated the most revenue with nearly $28 billion in sales, accounting for almost 20 percent of sales, but that figure was a decline of 3 percent from 2010.
Tablets/e-readers were the clear winner in 2011, nearly doubling sales to $15 billion in 2011. We have been using our Kindle Fire tablet and WiFi Kindle e-reader much more than we use the netbook we bought a few years ago. We still find that netbook easier to use for work due to its built in keyboard, but for reading, games, music, and surfing the web, the tablet is much handier. So we think the tablet revolution is much more robust than the the netbook surge was.
“U.S. hardware sales growth is becoming harder and harder to achieve at the broad industry level,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of Industry Analysis at NPD. “Sales outside of the top five categories fell by 8 percent in 2011 as consumers shifted spending from older technologies to a narrow range of products.”
Apple benefited from this shift as it was the leading consumer electronics brand for the second year in a row. Among the top five brands Apple was the only one to experience a sales increase, posting a 36 percent rise over 2010. By the critical fourth quarter Apple accounted for 19 percent of all sales dollars, almost twice as much as number two Hewlett-Packard.
Personally, we’re just not that into Apple. It sells good products, but many cost three times more than comparable PCs, Android or Amazon devices. We used Apple Macs for a decade in publishing until less expensive PCs flooded the market. We haven’t been back since except for a couple of test rides that didn’t convince us to switch.
At the retailer level, Best Buy came out on top once again, followed by Walmart and Apple. Staples and Amazon tied for fourth place to round out the top five, a repeat of 2010.
Non-retail channels up 7 percent
Sales through online, direct mail, and TV shopping channels jumped 7 percent and accounted for 24 percent of all sales, up from 22 percent in 2010. Sales through these non-retail channels captured 25 percent of industry revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“While in-store sales fell about 2.5 percent in 2011, the growth in online volumes for retailers meant that retail name plates still accounted for well over four of every five dollars spent on CE hardware in the US,” said Baker.
“Despite their sales strength, retail stores still face serious challenges in 2012 as volumes in the traditional CE categories, which once carried these stores, continue to slide. It shouldn’t be forgotten, however, that a large majority of mobile phones and tablets/e-readers (the two fastest growing CE categories) have mostly been driven through in-store experiences.”
With nearly one-third of all Americans now owning a tablet or e-reader, Valentine’s Day romantics should take note. A new Tablet Trends Study just released by Rosettareveals that the majority of tablet users (68%) will likely spend significant time with their touch-screen devices in the bedroom.
At the potential expense of their significant others, consumers are enjoying their own private “honeymoon” with their tablets for the first few months as they get to know their new devices in some untraditional rooms in the home, including 24% who take their tablets to the bathroom.
In addition to these headline findings, the Tablet Trends Study also unveils important key learnings for marketers about where and how tablets are being used over time.
For brands that understand these new behaviors and adapt engagement strategies to follow usage patterns, their investment and effort to reach consumers on connected deviceswill be far more effective. Marketers beware, the rules are changing for where and how to reach consumers on connected devices:
Capitalize on the honeymoon period. When the device is new, consumers tend to explore the full range of capabilities offered by tablets, from buying applications to creating documents, to shopping. After six months or more of ownership, a clearer pattern emerges as certain usages drop off and they continue to more actively use their tablets for things like reading or checking email, watching TV or movies, reading e-books, magazines or newspapers, and using social networking sites. Brands who understand this timeline can market more effectively during different stages.
Keep the spark alive. Those who have owned their tablets for seven months or longer are more likely to prefer using a computer for many of the activities that they have previously explored during the honeymoon period. The opportunity for marketers is to give consumers more reasons to fall in love with their tablets over and over again, and to find the right intersection points between the tablet, computer and even smartphone usage as behaviors shift over time.
Timing is everything. Targeting customers on their tablets with the right message or experience at the right moment is critical for brands to sell more apps, products, services and accessories. Understanding how, where and why consumers are using their devices deepens the ‘can’t-live-without-you’ connection.
“Like in any relationship, the pressure is on to keep consumers engaged and happy with their tablets beyond that initial infatuation period,” said Jay Lichtenstein, a Partner in Rosetta’s Consulting Practice. “The key is to deeply understand a user’s motivations and needs and then build the experiences to captivate them.
Here is an infographic Rosetta created illustrating its findings:
Facebook-led social media are redefining communication, Bing is gaining ground in search, brand dollars are shifting to online, the video boom, and rise of the smartphone and tablet markets are among the trends examined in digital measurement firm comScore’s new 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report.
“2012 promises to be an exciting year for the digital media industry as the explosion of available content and proliferation of web-enabled devices drive the evolution of the digital consumer, creating new opportunities and challenges for the entire digital ecosystem,” said Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Development.
“In order to be successful in this new paradigm, digital marketers must understand the key trends shaping the current marketplace and what that means for the future of their businesses.”
Key insights from the 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus include:
Facebook-Led Social Media Market is Redefining Communication in the Digital and Physical Worlds
Social Networking accounted for 16.6 percent of all online minutes at the end of 2011 and is on track to surpass Portals as the most engaging online activity in 2012. Facebook continues to lead as the driving force behind this shift in consumer behavior, accounting for the largest share of online minutes across the entire web in 2011.
Bing Gains Ground in Search
Although Google maintains a strong lead in the U.S. search market, one of the most notable stories in search in 2011 was Bing’s positive growth trajectory. Bing closed out the year by surpassing Yahoo! for the #2 position among core search engines for the first time in its history, bolstered in part by its social search partnership with Facebook implemented in early 2011.
Online Video Boom Signals Sea Change in Video Ecosystem
Online video viewing witnessed impressive gains across a variety of measures in 2011, signaling a behavioral shift in how Americans are consuming video content. More than 100 million Americans watched online video content on an average day to close out 2011, representing a 43-percent increase versus year ago.
Digital Advertising Enters Era of Increased Accountability as Brand Dollars Continue to Shift Online
A staggering 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered across the U.S. web in 2011 as brand advertisers continued to shift dollars to the digital medium. This shift in ad dollars has magnified the need for greater transparency and accountability in ad delivery across the digital advertising ecosystem.
Smartphone and Tablets Fuel the Rise of the Digital Omnivore
The rise of smartphones and tablets has drastically altered consumers’ digital media consumption. In 2011, the majority of all mobile phone owners consumed mobile media on their device, marking an important milestone in the evolution of mobile from primarily a communication device to also a content consumption tool. At the end of the year, more than 8 percent of all digital traffic was consumed beyond the ‘classic web’ via devices such as smartphones and tablets.
E-Commerce is Back and Better Than Ever
Despite the backdrop of continued economic uncertainty, 2011 was a strong year for retail e-commerce. Throughout the year, growth rates versus the prior year remained in double-digits to significantly outpace growth at brick-and-mortar retail. Total U.S. retail and travel-related e-commerce reached $256 billion in 2011, up 12 percent from 2010.
Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs also made it clear that while he was a visonary marketer, he wasn't much liked by many.
The Washington Post says a lengthy F.B. I. report on Steve Jobs made when he was begin considered for a government position in President George H.W. Bush’s administration in 1991 paints a somewhat unflattering portrait of the late Apple founder and CEO.
The F.B.I. made the files public following a Freedom of Information Act request from the Post.
The report notes that “Several individuals questioned Mr. Job’s honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals.”
Another described him as “shallow and callous to people in his personal relationships,” and mentioned his narcissism, but added, “he has far reaching vision and can vitalize plans and goals.”
A number of people interviewed said they thought Job’s was qualified for a job on the Bush Administration’s Export Council, even though they did not much like the man.
The report says people who knew Job’s questioned his lack of support for his daughter born out of wedlock and her mother.
The files also disclose Job’s college use of marijuana and LSD and reveal that Apple received a mysterious bomb threat at one time.
It seems fairly clear from the files that Jobs stopped his drug use years prior to the investigation and drank very little alcohol.
Despite their distaste for Jobs personally, nearly all the interviewed people thought he was qualified for the government position.
2012 is a turning point for the mobile devices market as most device vendors go full swing into LTE, according to a new report from Market Research.
Having already witnessed over 269 unique device launches, and shipments of over 8 Million units in 2011, the LTE devices ecosystem is set to grow at a CAGR of over 104 % over the next five years.
In 2016, there will be nearly 300 Million LTE device shipments all over the globe, with revenues of over 82 Billion USD.
Equally important to consider is the recent approval of the LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) standard by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union).
It is clear that developed LTE markets with available spectrum, such as the United States and Japan, will be the first countries to launch LTE-A devices, and major device vendors and chipset manufacturers, such as Samsung, Motorola Mobility and Qualcomm, will certainly be frontrunners to enter the 4.5 G market in order to grow revenues.
However, there still remain some key unanswered questions in relation to LTE-A adoption such as when would the first LTE-A devices launch? And how many subscriptions will it account for relative to LTE?
“LTE and LTE-Advanced Devices” takes an in-depth look at answering the aforementioned questions besides analysing key trends, vendor/service provider strategies, market share, shipments and revenue in the LTE devices ecosystem.
The report is complemented by a comprehensive LTE-Devices Database that lists LTE device sales and subscriptions by region, country and service provider from 2011 to 2016, and a complete list of 269 commercial LTE devices by vendor, device type, and operating frequency band.
First identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia – the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, is sharply increasing in the UK – and likely everywhere, considering the way many people seem to have their mobile phone attached permanently to their hands.
Last night I was checking out free videos available from Amazon Prime on my Kindle Fire tablet. My widescreen TV was on with the sound muted as I checked out an old “Star Trek” episode and then an NPR documentary about Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. I could as easily have watched the videos on the TV set. But a new study shows that when it comes to watching TV, the big screen doesn’t always win.
The tablet has been the hottest device in the consumer market since Apple’s 2010 iPad launch. But over the past year, tablet use has begun to crossover from the consumer world into the workplace.
Portable media devices, such as smartphones, iPhones, and iPods, are gaining popularity in the vehicle as consumers increasingly use them to access digital content while on-the-go, according to leading market research company 
Facebook-led social media are redefining communication, Bing is gaining ground in search, brand dollars are shifting to online, the video boom, and rise of the smartphone and tablet markets are among the trends examined in digital measurement firm comScore’s new 
Although Google maintains a strong lead in the U.S. search market, one of the most notable stories in search in 2011 was Bing’s positive growth trajectory. Bing closed out the year by surpassing Yahoo! for the #2 position among core search engines for the first time in its history, bolstered in part by its social search partnership with Facebook implemented in early 2011.
Online video viewing witnessed impressive gains across a variety of measures in 2011, signaling a behavioral shift in how Americans are consuming video content. More than 100 million Americans watched online video content on an average day to close out 2011, representing a 43-percent increase versus year ago.
The rise of smartphones and tablets has drastically altered consumers’ digital media consumption. In 2011, the majority of all mobile phone owners consumed mobile media on their device, marking an important milestone in the evolution of mobile from primarily a communication device to also a content consumption tool. At the end of the year, more than 8 percent of all digital traffic was consumed beyond the ‘classic web’ via devices such as smartphones and tablets.
2012 is a turning point for the mobile devices market as most device vendors go full swing into LTE, according to a new report from Market Research.
