“E-commerce has been on fire since its inception and it still continues to grow and outpace the overall retail economy,” says Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, who predicts online shopping will amount to $68.4 billion this holiday season, a 15 percent increase over 2011.
Although the rate of increase will stay the same (sales rose 15 percent last year as well), the number of online shoppers in the U.S. is expected to grow 3 percent.
Additionally, the average shopper will spend an estimated $419 online this holiday, which represents a 12 percent increase over 2011.
The report suggests three reasons for the shift to online shopping: 1) customers want to get deals and avoid crowds; 2) while mobile conversion rates remain low, mobile commerce will account for 40+ percent of retailers’ online traffic with improved mobile technology; and 3) consumer confidence in the economy has risen and holiday retail estimates are high.
“Still, the trend largely benefits online-only retailers, like Amazon, which means that physical retailers must come up with a plan to keep consumers coming to the stores or their Web sites,” suggests AllThingsD.
Brick-and-mortar retailers have made efforts to fight back with price matching and same-day delivery, but Mulpuru expressed doubts that the maneuvers will dent Amazon’s sales.
Google is experimenting with a new social feature for Chrome that allows users to interact with others by creating and sharing instrument tracks.
“For those who want to play music with friends across the country — or down the street, for that matter — Google is testing a new interactive Web app that lets you rock out with others in real time,” reports Mashable.
The JAM with Chrome app operates via HTML5 and allows up to four people to interact online with 19 virtual instruments, including drums, keyboards and acoustic and electric guitars.
The app has two approaches: “easy mode,” featuring basic instrument functions and autoplay capabilities — and “pro mode,” which gives users full control over their virtual instruments.
“If you ever dreamed of playing in a band, now’s your chance to be a rock star,” explains Google in a blog post. “No matter what your level of talent — from daydreaming air guitarist to music pro — you can JAM together in real time over the Web.”
“Google has been upping its music profile over the past few months,” reports CNET in a related post. “It announced last month that it would soon be rolling out its scan-and-match feature for the company’s music service in Europe and in the U.S. shortly after. Scan-and-match is a feature that lets users store music on computer servers of a host service. The service can then stream songs over the Internet to the user’s choice of Web-connected music players.”
The pay TV industry as a whole lost 127,000 subscribers in the third quarter, according to a report from Sanford C. Bernstein. While some providers blame prices, programming disputes and even the housing market for subscriber drop-offs, recent results raise concerns that consumers are opting for online services instead.
“Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems Corp. and Dish Network Corp. collectively lost 102,000 video customers in the latest quarter, based on information contained in their quarterly reports on Tuesday,” notes the Wall Street Journal. “That is better than their combined loss of 193,000 a year earlier, but it isn’t a reversal.”
“The results followed Time Warner Cable’s report on Monday that it had lost more video subscribers than expected,” the article continues. “Including the numbers from previously reporting publicly held pay TV providers, the industry grew by 25,000 video subscribers, down from 148,000 a year earlier.”
Nielsen reports that at least 90 percent of U.S. homes pay for subscription TV from cable, satellite or phone companies. In the past, cable has lost subscribers to satellite and phone companies. Today, cable can offset these losses with broadband growth.
Some satellite companies including DirecTV and EchoStar (Dish’s sibling company) are looking to also diversify their offerings by expanding into Latin American markets via partnerships or acquisitions.
For the most part, the broader pay TV market has grown in recent years. “But in the past year or so, the market has seen slight shrinkage in several quarters,” explains WSJ. “That has sparked concerns that consumers might be disconnecting their pay TV services in favor of cheaper options, like online video.”
Digital video piracy has declined because of the availability of streaming video services, especially Netflix, suggests Business Insider. While streaming services as a whole have contributed to the decline of piracy, Netflix controls 33 percent of North American peak traffic (according to a new report from Sandvine).
“The real alternative to Netflix is BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing protocol through which users upload and download copies of movies and TV shows,” explains the article. “Because it’s a technology for file sharing rather than a centralized service or piece of software, BitTorrent has proven very hard for movie studios to shut down.”
But BitTorrent traffic has declined to 12 percent of traffic in North America, in part because of Netflix’s low monthly prices and expansive offerings. Netflix is also less complex and downloads more quickly than BitTorrent.
BitTorrent traffic currently comprises 16 percent in Europe — and 36 percent in Asia, where video services are not as available.
Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo predicts that by 2015 peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic will dip lower than 10 percent of network use.
“It’s not a given that BitTorrent use indicates illegal downloading of a video file — some game developers use it to distribute legal copies of their software, for example — but it is heavily used for video downloads,” writes Business Insider.
The new Global Internet Phenomena Report from Sandvine found that Netflix accounts for 33 percent of peak residential downstream traffic in North America, while other streaming services struggle to amount to two percent.
“Amazon’s video service on the other hand,” GigaOM writes, “which is widely seen as its biggest competitor, only causes 1.75 percent of peak residential downstream traffic.”
“Other competitors fare even worse in Sandvine’s report: The network management company sees Hulu causing 1.38 percent of residential peak downstream traffic, with HBO Go barely registering with 0.52 percent,” notes the post.
Second place goes to YouTube with 14.8 percent of peak residential downstream traffic and 30.97 percent of peak mobile downstream traffic. The site takes up even more peak residential downstream traffic abroad, accounting for 15.9 percent in the Asia-Pacific region and 21.84 percent in Europe.
In North America, HTTP, BitTorrent, and iTunes were the next popular in downstream. Facebook followed Amazon at 1.48 percent of peak residential downstream traffic.
Following Netflix’s lead, Hulu has launched a dedicated kids section. Starting yesterday, the ad-free Hulu Kids feature is available to Hulu Plus subscribers via the service’s website and the PS3.
“Hulu Kids comes with shows from PBS, Nickelodeon and Lionsgate, and the content is sorted by age groups,” reports GigaOM. “The total number of shows listed on the section currently stands at 43. A spokesperson confirmed that Hulu is working on bringing Hulu Kids as a separate content section within the Hulu Plus app to additional devices.”
According to the Hulu blog announcement, current children’s programs include popular titles such as “Thomas & Friends,” “Robot and Monster,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Dinosaur Train,” “Arthur” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Netflix launched its own kids section online last summer with a new design meant to be more appealing to younger users. Hulu is simply relying on its recently launched Web UI.
“Making this kind of content exclusively available to Hulu Plus subscribers shows that Hulu is starting to put a much bigger emphasis on its paid offering, and slowly deemphasizing the free Hulu.com website in the process,” suggests GigaOM.
“The fact that these kids shows are available ad-free is good news for parents who don’t want their kids confronted with advertising, but it’s also a sign that Hulu is moving towards becoming a more direct competitor for Netflix, which has always been ad-free,” concludes the post.
Exhibitors Regal and AMC were at ShowEast in Florida to support the Warner Bros. high frame rate (HFR) release of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
“Meanwhile, the studio moves cautiously with its plans to introduce the theater technology, which has encountered a number of problems as it goes through a testing phase,” writes Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter.
Some industry sources had anticipated tens of thousands of screens would be ready to show the film at 48 fps. “Instead, Warners has decided to offer ‘Hobbit’ in what is being called HFR 3D as a platform release, using 400 screens domestically, that will include 90 screens from Regal and 92 from AMC along with another 500 in international markets,” notes Giardina.
When Jackson’s film launches December 14 in the U.S., most theaters will screen the film at the traditional frame rate of 24 fps.
The slow adoption has hurt manufacturers who had banked on selling equipment, although they remain optimistic of HFR’s future. A number of studios plan to produce HFR movies for release in 2013 and 2014.
“We want to make sure we do it properly and make sure the public sees it in its best form,” explains Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. “We are very committed to this. [High frame rates are] the most important change in exhibition, probably since the introduction of sound.”
Theaters have faced a number of obstacles. “Some configurations could play HFRs but then couldn’t easily switch back to 24 fps for projecting other items like trailers,” writes Giardina. “There have also been some issues with how individual technologies worked in combination with other newly developed products. Additionally, theater personnel require training on the new technologies.”
Nikon has announced its fifth DSLR model since January with the new D5200, an update to the D5100 that includes features popular on Nikon’s more advanced D7000.
Unveiled on Tuesday, pricing has yet to be announced, but the camera is expected to ship by December.
“The new consumer-level DSLR shooter pulls a number of features from Nikon’s pricier D7000 camera, including its 39-point autofocus system (up from the 11 points found on the D5100) and 2016-pixel RGB metering sensor,” reports Digital Trends.
“Buyers of the new camera might want to consider investing in some beefy SDHC/SDXC cards and hefty external hard drive, with its new super-sized 24.1-megapixel APS-C sensor guaranteeing snap-happy photographers rapid memory usage with the large picture files the camera will be serving up,” suggests the post.
According to Nikon, the D5200 features a more intuitive user interface and shoots 1080p video at 60 fps. An optional WU-1a adapter offers remote shutter control and the ability to send photos wirelessly to iOS and Android devices.
The TFT LCD screen “flips out, twists and turns, making it more likely you’ll get the picture you’re after when shooting at arms’ length over the top of people’s heads,” notes the post.
“For those who prefer a dash of color with their camera bodies instead of the usual black, the Japanese camera giant is offering the D5200 in two other flavors — bronze and red.”
Microsoft has filed a patent application outlining a new way to use the Kinect motion controller that could allow content creators to limit content or help cable providers target ads based on viewers.
“The patent has the ominous title of ‘Content Distribution Regulation by Viewing User,'” Geek.com explains. “It details a system whereby the people sitting in view of a TV can be detected using cameras and sensors like those found in the Kinect motion controller.
“Once logged, the content provider can assess the audience and either choose to charge more for viewing the content or block access based on there being too many people.”
The post points out that cable providers could use the system to determine viewers’ ages in order to limit mature content or provide more relevant ads.
“But even so, this isn’t a system that would go down well with consumers, and how are they going to enforce its use? ‘This content can only be viewed with the Microsoft Kinect turned on’ is not a message I can see working as part of a content distribution system,” suggests the post.
“It’s no surprise the [Microsoft] team is continuing to figure out new ways to use the device, I just wish they were coming up with ideas that are a little less draconian.”
The new Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones, launching on Friday, run Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 operating system. The phones connect to AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Pre-orders through AT&T have already begun.
“The prices for these 4G LTE phones are particularly reasonable, and less than those rumored, with the Lumia 820 costing a mere $50, and the higher-specification Lumia 920 just $100; but you’ll have to sign your life away for two-years to take advantage,” reports Digital Trends.
“You can choose between a red, white, grey, black or yellow Lumia 920, while the Lumia 820 comes with a variety of rear covers for you to choose between,” according to the post.
The Lumia 920 features an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, 4.5-inch 1280 x 768 touchscreen and a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. The 820 has a 4.3-inch screen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution.
Apps include Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia City Lens.
“The Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 are exclusive to AT&T, but T-Mobile offers its own version of the 820, named the Lumia 810, and Verizon will also be getting in on the Windows Phone 8 fun with the Lumia 822,” explains the post. “They’re identical when it comes to features, but vary slightly in design.”
Google’s official Nexus 4 announcement did not shock anyone in the tech community, as the phone has been leaked for the past few weeks, but the phone looks and feels much better in person, writes The Verge.
The Nexus 4 “features a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 IPS display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor — which Google claims is the fastest on the market — an 8 megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, and up to 16GB of storage,” notes the post, adding that although it shares many features with the LG Optimus G, the Nexus 4 seems a much more polished and attractive phone.
One major drawback of the Nexus 4 is that it does not support 4G LTE technology. The phone does come as an unlocked HSPA+ device, but fails to rival the iPhone 5 in 4G LTE capability.
The Verge notes that the Nexus 4 screen is “terrific” and “not just in pixel density.” The screen uses LG’s G2 technology to integrate touch into the surface layer of glass. This allows the phone to be thin while bringing the display pixels close to the screen.
The phone, available for purchase November 13, runs on the new Android 4.2, which includes features like widget functionality on the lock screen, gesture typing, and “a completely redesigned UI focused on single-handed input,” according to the post.
“The device will sell for $299 with 8GB of storage, or $349 with 16GB. A T-Mobile version will sell unlocked for $199 on a two-year contract. Alongside the improved screen and faster CPU, the Nexus 4 has 2GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, NFC, Bluetooth, and built-in compatibility with Google’s latest accessory, the Wireless Charging Orb — an inductive charging dock.”
After eight years of competition, Microsoft’s Hotmail has been knocked off the top spot as most-used email service by Google’s Gmail.
Hotmail launched in 1996 as one of the first Web-based email services and was purchased the following year by Microsoft for an estimated $400 million.
“Hotmail has been continually revised, upgraded and refined by Microsoft, with the company even going so far as to introduce an ‘all-new’ update a year ago that mimicked many of the features that won users over to Google,” reports Digital Trends.
However, the update was not enough for the service to maintain dominance, as Gmail took the lead last month worldwide.
“This isn’t the first time that this shift has been reported; Google quietly boasted about it happening way back in June of this year, in the middle of a blog post about cloud computing when it announced that it had ‘more than 425 million active users globally,'” indicates the post, pointing out that comScore disagreed with Google’s numbers at the time.
But now it is official, as confirmed by third-party metrics. Digital Trends notes that Microsoft introducing Outlook.com as its Hotmail replacement in July could be a factor.
American email service use is slightly different than the global stats. Yahoo has 40.8 percent of the U.S. market, compared with Gmail’s 36.7 percent and Hotmail’s 18.9 percent.
Once an Internet giant, AOL has dwindled as dial-up subscribers dropped off and Time Warner dropped the company. Now, CEO Tim Armstrong and executives have unveiled a new plan for the company, which could signal a major comeback.
“That strategy involves pruning the company into three operational units: a membership and subscription group; a ‘content brands group’ (Huffington Post, TechCrunch, etc.); and an advertising group,” reports paidContent.
“The first group,” the article continues, “amounts to a legacy unit that will presumably be spun off or milked for cash while the other two units could drive AOL’s re-emergence as a powerful media entity. According to Armstrong, advertisers are looking for ‘fewer, bigger partners’ that can distribute their messages on a massive scale. If he is right, AOL is well-poised to offer ad buyers what they want through its network of content providers, partners and ad platforms.”
AOL’s ad networks and video platforms have seen impressive growth, giving the company its best results in seven years.
Armstrong anticipates AOL’s video revenue to rise to $100 million in 2012 from just $10 million two years ago. The company claims it has risen to No. 2 in overall video views, trailing only YouTube.
“Finally, AOL predicts that 2013 will see more and more TV dollars pouring into its sprawling video properties… and that video will eventually overtake display dollars,” paidContent writes.
“If these predictions are even partly correct, it means that AOL has a leg up in the emerging (and lucrative) video ad market and that it will have to be less preoccupied with the problem of mobile media consumption that keeps up other publishers up at night,” the article concludes.
Internet radio provider Pandora has gained 150 million registered users in the U.S. but hasn’t been able to make a profit due to prohibitive music licensing fees. The company is now suing the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for “reasonable” fees.
“Pandora is seeking a blanket licensing fee that would cover all songs represented by the 435,000-member group,” Bloomberg reports.
Pandora and ASCAP had an experimental fee agreement from 2005 to 2010, which Pandora said was “effectively non-negotiable” and “ill-suited and not reasonable,” according to court papers. Following that arrangement, the two sides haven’t been able to reach another agreement, which leaves the decision to the U.S. District Court in New York.
However, ASCAP and the Radio Music Licensing Committee were able to come to a fee agreement, one that Pandora was not offered. The Radio Music Licensing Committee represents Clear Channel, which runs a rival Internet service called iHeartRadio.
“Pandora also claims that it’s entitled to lower rates because some large music publishers have announced they are withdrawing new media rights from ASCAP and negotiating licensing fees directly with Web radio services,” Bloomberg writes.
The proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act of 2012 could help to solve licensing disputes by requiring “music royalty rates for Web broadcasters to be comparable to what satellite radio and cable companies pay,” the article explains.
Last year, nearly half of Pandora’s revenues went to royalties — more than six times the percentage satellite radio Sirius XM paid. “For the six months that ended July 31, Pandora reported that its net loss increased to $25.6 million from $8.57 million a year earlier, while revenue rose 54 percent to $182 million,” notes the article.
Normally on opposing sides, top Silicon Valley companies are coming together with media giants and cable operators to resist the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Viacom, Disney, cable operators, a toy makers trade group and others have argued that the changes are so arduous that, “rather than enhance online protections for children, they threaten to deter companies from offering children’s Web sites and services altogether,” reports The New York Times.
“But the underlying concern, for both the industry and regulators,” the article continues, “is not so much about online products for children themselves. It is about the data collection and data mining mechanisms that facilitate digital marketing on apps and Web sites for children — and a debate over whether these practices could put children at greater risk.”
The update would institute persistent ID systems and require further parental permissions for data collection for ads.
Alan L. Friel, chairman of the media and technology practice at Edwards Wildman Palmer law firm, rebuts concerns that tracking is inherently bad.
“What is the harm we are trying to prevent here?” he asks. “We risk losing a lot of the really good educational and entertaining content if we make things too difficult for people to operate the sites or generate revenue from the sites.”
“The economic issue at stake is much bigger than just the narrow children’s audience,” suggests the article. “If the F.T.C. were to include customer code numbers among the information that requires a parent’s consent, industry analysts say, it might someday require companies to get similar consent for a practice that represents the backbone of digital marketing and advertising — using such code numbers to track the online activities of adults.”
