According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, 65 percent of technology experts and stakeholders agree that mobile payments will be widespread by 2020.
Considering the strong push into mobile payments by PayPal and Google, eight years might seem pretty long but those polled felt the transition will take time because “people will resist technology that wants to learn everything about their personal purchasing habits,” AllThingsD reports.
“There is nothing more imaginary than a monetary system… Of course we’ll move to even more abstract representations of value. Other countries are already content to use their phones; we’ll catch up eventually,” Harvard professor Susan Crawford told Pew.
“The 2020 date might be a bit optimistic, but I’m sure that this will happen. What is in your wallet now? Identification, payment, and personal items. All this will easily fit in your mobile device and will inevitably do so,” commented Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist.
A new forecast from Strategy Analytics suggests that global revenue from mobile advertising and content will surge to $67 billion this year.
Total mobile media will reach $148 billion with $82.8 billion coming from mobile data subscription sales, the firm predicts.
GigaOM offers the following highlights from the Strategy Analytics report: “App downloads will grow 38 percent to 23 billion… App spend will grow 30.7 percent to $26.1 billion… Apps will make up 18.9 percent of mobile media outlay… Mobile ad spend will grow 85.4 per cent to $11.6 billion… In-app ad sales in the U.S. and western Europe will overtake mobile web display sales ($934.5 million).”
In contrast to the vibrant ad and app growth, video’s increase is not as impressive. “Despite the huge audience of 271 million users, ad revenues from mobile video are tiny — a meager $223 million globally in 2011,” the report states.
Dolby has introduced its next generation theatrical sound system called Atmos, which “gives the illusion of an infinite number of channels around and above you.”
Designed to achieve the highest level of sound quality that is not possible in the home, Atmos features according to Dolby include:
Integrates easily into existing audio postproduction workflows, supports up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio streams, and allows for up to 64 discrete speaker feeds.
Atmos expands the creative palette with overhead speakers, adds side surrounds closer to the screen for improved transitions, and works across a wide array of speaker configurations and auditorium shapes and sizes.
Additionally, the system simplifies distribution with a single Digital Cinema Package (DCP) master, which can then be faithfully rendered at playback that is independent of channel count or speaker location.
Initially, Dolby is targeting Atmos for a select number of premium global locations in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan, with plans for a larger rollout in 2013.
NimbleTV, a New York City-based start-up backed by Tribune Co., “is promising to sign up anyone anywhere in the world for pay TV service locally, and then deliver live and recorded programming over the Internet to a slew of devices — an approach the company maintains is perfectly legal,” reports Multichannel News.
“It’s the latest example of how technology companies are trying to break into the closed system of television distribution in the United States,” comments The New York Times in a related post.
“Here’s how it works, according to CEO Anand Subramanian: NimbleTV signs up for satellite or cable TV service on behalf of its customers, and manages the installation of set-top boxes at a physical location somewhere in a given market. The company then re-encodes the signals to deliver live TV or DVR recordings over the Internet, to wherever the customer may be,” explains Multichannel News.
The customer would pay for the regular monthly service and pay an additional $20 fee to NimbleTV.
Reportedly, the response from pay TV operators has been positive as this may attract more subscribers. And unlike Aereo, the operators will be paid.
Customers will be able to access 26 channels during the initial beta test in New York, including ABC, FOX, NBC, TNT, TBS, USA, Bravo, ESPN2, CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Disney Channel, Lifetime, Discovery, Food Network, FX, IFC, NFL Network and MLB Network.
Sony announced on Friday that it will launch “PlayMemories Online” this week, a photo and video sharing service that will offer 5GB of free storage.
“The service will allow users to upload photos and videos taken with Sony cameras, using its ‘PlayMemories Home’ software for Windows and Macintosh,” reports PC World. “Photos can also be uploaded from smartphones and tablets using an Android app that will be available from the Google Play store.”
The service is part of Sony’s efforts to link its products online, similar to how Apple allows sharing via its iCloud service. Other companies such as Samsung will also be rolling out cloud platforms.
Sony is developing other online offerings as well. “It has grouped many of its online music, movies, and games into its Sony Entertainment Network, and is developing a PlayStation platform that will expand the brand beyond Sony-made consoles, on approved devices made by other hardware manufacturers,” according to the post.
New findings from Nielsen suggest Hispanic consumers in the U.S. are often the top users of smartphones, online video, social networks and other media.
“According to the study, Hispanics outpace all [other] ethnic groups in mobile downloads of music and photos, and are more likely to watch video online and on the their mobile phones than others,” TechCrunch reports. “Specifically, Nielsen says that Hispanic video viewers are 68 percent more likely than non-Hispanic White viewers to watch video on the Internet, and 20 percent more likely to watch video on their mobile phone.”
Hispanic consumers send and receive more SMS text messages than any other ethnic group and also make 40 percent more calls than the average U.S. customer.
The study also found Hispanic adults are 25 percent more likely to follow a brand; 18 percent more likely to follow a celebrity; 21 percent more likely to post links, articles, videos and websites; 17 percent more likely to build or update a personal blog; and 7 percent more likely to have one or more social networking profiles.
“Says Nielsen, ‘mobile presents a significant avenue of opportunity for marketers looking to reach Hispanic consumers,’ and the firm also notes that the group has ‘amassed significant buying power, despite perceptions to the contrary,'” the article states.
TechCrunch points out that this not only represents an opportunity for marketers, but also for developers of apps and services.
Scientists from the University of Texas at Dallas have developed an imaging chip for smartphones and small cameras that gives the user a super-human power: a form of X-ray vision.
The technology taps into an unused range of the electromagnetic spectrum, called the terahertz range, which our eyes cannot perceive.
“The breakthrough here is that scientists have figured out how to combine seeing into this terahertz range with the chip manufacturing technology called CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), which is used to make chips for computers, smartphones, HDTVs, game consoles, and many other objects we take for granted,” reports Digital Trends.
The ability could have negative repercussions such as privacy issues, so for now the team is only working on a version that operates within four inches. Even at that range, however, the technology has great potential like finding wall studs, authenticating documents and eventually wireless communication, the article states.
Despite an overall good earnings report, Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division, which houses the Xbox and Windows Phone, saw a 16 percent drop in revenue from last year.
While Xbox remains the leading game console, sales were down 48 percent due to the “soft gaming console market,” according to Microsoft.
“But with the console market slowing down — which won’t pick up until the next generation console war begins next year (not including Nintendo’s Wii U release this Fall) — it’s becoming increasingly clear that Windows Phone will have to start earning some money for the Entertainment & Devices division,” reports VentureBeat. “Microsoft can’t afford to have two major product lines sagging and bringing down an entire business division.”
So far, the Nokia Lumia 900 has had a promising start, selling out in various retail stores. The phone could be the launching pad for the Windows Phone platform, but it has certainly been a costly endeavor for Microsoft.
“According to Microsoft’s 10-Q quarterly filing today, the division’s operating income also decreased, due to payments made to Nokia (Microsoft is paying Nokia $1 billion over the next few years for the Windows Phone partnership), a 33 percent increase in R&D costs, and a 50 percent increase in sales and marketing expenses,” the article states.
Barry Diller will make the case for his new Aereo service in a presentation to the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday.
His testimony is expected to make the case for time-shiftable television signals via the Internet as a “natural progression of video delivery,” reports Broadcasting & Cable, adding that the future of online video is “more content, more choice, more control, and more online access to broadcast TV signals via his new service, Aereo.”
“While innovation and competition can and should flourish in the online environment,” Diller says, “it is important to protect and preserve the consumer’s right to access free over-the-air broadcast television.”
“Even with the rise of cable channels and networks,” he adds, “the most popular television programming remains that which is distributed by the major broadcast networks.”
Diller also makes the point that content creators sued to block the VCR, which ultimately proved to be a lucrative market for them.
According to media giant Viacom, the second most popular means of viewing television programs is now via a tablet, with Apple’s iPad leading the trend.
Viacom recently surveyed 2,500 consumers about how they watch full-length TV shows, finding 15 percent of total viewing takes place on tablets.
“The change has largely been at the expense of computer viewers, as Viacom’s study says that the most popular genres on tablets, comedy and music, most closely align to those who’d normally watch on their PC or smartphone,” The Verge reports. “Traditional television has maintained dominance in reality TV, along with drama, sci-fi, and sports.”
The study also addresses multitasking, indicating that “many respondents use tablets to multitask or as a complementary experience” to the TV experience.
Additionally, a recent Nielsen study determined that 26 percent of U.S. tablet owners use their devices “several times a day” while watching television.
The Verge asks, “…with tools like Hulu and Airplay making watching TV on a tablet easier than ever, how long will the traditional TV set be able to hold on?”
At Upfronts 2012 last week, Hulu announced to potential advertisers that it plans to produce four new original Web-based programs.
“Original television content made for the Web is a new market, with several technology powerhouses at the helm including Hulu, Yahoo and YouTube,” reports Digital Trends. “All three companies hope to capture the elusive mainstream audience, but we’re inclined to place our bets on Hulu after the announcement of its new line-up of Web-based shows.”
Hulu’s initial jump into original programming included the critically acclaimed “League of Extraordinary Dancers” and “The Confession” starring Kiefer Sutherland. New programs will feature the likes of Danny Leiner, Seth Meyers and Adrian Grenier.
Hulu says it will be investing $500 million in licensing content and producing original programs.
“Between original Netflix renewing shows like ‘Lillyhammer,’ YouTube’s original content channels, and now Hulu, competition among Web-based services to offer original programming is just beginning to heat up,” suggests the article.
Avid Technology announced at NAB that it will be providing the “most comprehensive system in the history of NBC Olympics” for the network’s upcoming coverage of the summer games.
“Marking NBC’s Olympics division’s and Avid’s sixth consecutive Summer or Winter Games working together, the effort centers on Avid Interplay Media Asset Management (MAM) system,” writes Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter.
“Installed as part of a system that includes technology from third party vendors Sony and Harmonic, the Interplay MAM will be used to create two simultaneous feeds for use in London and at NBC Olympics in New York, according to Avid,” explains the article.
London’s International Broadcast Center will be outfitted with Avid Symphony and Media Composer editing systems that will be connected to ISIS shared storage and Interplay.
The Future of Broadcast Television Initiative (FoBTV) launched at the NAB Show last week with 13 international broadcast and engineering groups.
The goal is to create a global standard for digital broadcast TV, one that will enable future services such as ultra high-definition television, 3D, and mobile and Internet services.
“The challenges of a global specification may seem daunting, but the benefits of achieving such a goal are enormous,” said Phil Laven, chairman of the Digital Video Broadcasting Project in Switzerland.
The world standard is intended to replace current incompatible digital standards including ATSC in North America, DVB-T and DVB-T2 in Europe, and others.
“Over the years multiple standards around the world have cost the industry and consumer billions in any currency,” said Lavin. “Consumers now expect that their portable devices will be able to receive TV signals anywhere in the world. Thus, a single global standard is becoming essential.”
FoBTV does not plan to write the standard on its own, but hopes to work with standards-setting organizations around the world, including the Advanced Television Systems Committee in the U.S.
Social media innovation for TV was making inroads at NAB last week, but the interest in integration is even greater, according to Sam Decker, CEO of Mass Relevance.
“There are so many technology providers here, and the interest in social TV is disproportionate to the innovation,” he said during the show. “It’s such a small part of all the real estate and discussions that are happening.”
Decker notes that the tech crowd is “beginning to react to demands from producers who want more social functionality in the production process,” reports Lost Remote.
The comments suggest that social media may be where the Internet was in the late 1990s regarding TV, writes Cory Bergman in the post, adding that now “we can feel the beginning of a shift to infuse social in just about every TV production product.”
The article cites some interesting innovation in this space, including the new Engage platform from TV graphics firm Chyron, a social media prompter for TV talent from Never.no, automatic content recognition (ACR) solutions from Audible Magic and Civolution, and more.
In response to the release of Project Glass, a Forrester analyst recommends that “smart developers should start experimenting with applications for wearables on the ‘big five’ platforms (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook) today,” TechCrunch reports.
Sarah Rotman Epps says within three years, wearables will “matter to every product strategist,” but before they go mainstream, they’ll have to be backed by one of the “big five.”
“Indeed, Forrester’s analysts think wearables will follow a similar path to that of the smartphone market: In the first phase, Apple will create an early app and accessory ecosystem for wearable computing. Google’s open platform, however, will give developers more freedom and broader wearable experimentation. Microsoft, thanks to its recent shift toward open Web standards, will then be able to offer something akin to an ‘anti-platform’ platform for a future operating system for wearables that could be even more flexible than Apple’s and Google’s offerings,” the article states.
In a related Engadget post, the Oakley eyewear company has been working on ways to project information onto sunglasses since 1997.
The company hopes to “start by augmenting the world of sports before ultimately blending into more consumery pursuits with shades that could run solo or pair up with a smartphone,” according to the post. It hopes to trump the likes of Project Glass by focusing on style.
While the function of the glasses is important, so is the design, notes Oakley CEO Colin Baden, who understands that when it comes to putting something on the face, consumers can get very particular about the look and feel.