CES 2013: Entertainment Trends Drive New Technologies

With entertainment spending growing to $18.7 billion according to IHS Screen Digest, the entertainment industry is reaping the rewards of offering consumers more choice and options in how they consume content. TV Everywhere’s multi-channel, multi-device approach is finally complementing rather than cannibalizing. The year saw strong growth in Blu-ray discs. UltraViolet’s 7 million households and 8,500 titles now position the format to grow significantly in 2013. Video streaming or SVOD tripled in the first three quarters of the year to an estimated $1.7 billion. And studios continue to experiment with their windowing strategies for electronic sell-through. In this environment, the CE industry continues to respond and innovate. Continue reading CES 2013: Entertainment Trends Drive New Technologies

Consumer Study Points to iPhones and iPads for Holiday Wishlists

  • According to data from research firm Parks Associates, consumers have Apple devices on their holiday wishlists this year.
  • Parks reports that 53 percent of prospective smartphone purchasers plan to buy an iPhone for the holidays, compared with 33 percent who indicated the same in the third quarter and 24 percent one year ago.
  • “And when it comes to tablets, most of those surveyed said they’d prefer an iPad,” reports AllThingsD. “Following the iPad at 44 percent was Kindle Fire, with 24 percent of consumers expressing interest in Amazon’s touchscreen tablet.”
  • “Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they’d go with the Microsoft Surface tablet — down from the 45 percent who just a few months ago said they wanted the Surface — and the Google Nexus tablet came in last at 12 percent.”
  • Additionally, Parks notes, “When presented with the iPad mini as a tablet alternative, many of those planning on purchasing other tablet brands opt for the iPad mini.” And among those planning on buying an iPad, 40 percent said they would opt for an iPad mini.
  • The smartphone portion of the Parks survey focused on brands only, not individual models, so it is not clear which version (and price point) of iPhone is enticing consumers.

Google Android 4.0 Phone Set for Launch: Ice Cream Sandwich, Anyone?

  • Google’s third-generation Nexus Prime smartphone will reportedly arrive in October running the Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” OS (in time to compete with Apple’s rumored iPhone 5 release).
  • The device is expected to feature a 720p Super AMOLED HD display, a 4G LTE radio and front/rear-facing cameras, powered by a 1.5GHz processor.
  • The display will reportedly include a 4.5-inch panel with a PenTile layout.
  • According to Digital Trends: “Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is said to be not just a simple update from the current version of Android. Instead, ICS is intended to be a multi-device OS, which created a unified user experience across Android tablets, phones and Google TV. This could help solve some of the fragmentation problems that Google has with Android, and is one of the primary weak points in its battle with Apple’s seamless iOS.”