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Tag: market-data

  • Sony Not Cutting PS3 Price – or Planning Non Blu-ray Version


    Sony has no intention of releasing a PS3 without a Blu-ray drive.

    The suggestion that the Japanese company would ditch the high-def format was scotched by Sony’s marketing manager Kim Nguyen.

    "That would pretty much destroy the PS3’s backbone, our games were built on Blu-ray." Kim told Silicon Alley Insider. "Quote that: Blu-ray will always be part of PS3."

    Speculation about the console’s Blu-ray drive and a possible price cut began a few weeks ago.

    However, the Sony executive told SAI there were no immediate plans to reduce the price tag.

    This is despite renewed pressure from industry figures, including Electronic Arts exececuties.

    They say only 3 per cent of the PS1’s sales were at its launch price of USD $299 – and it only began selling when the price dropped.

    They also point to the Xbox 360’s growing market share, suggesting it is largely as a result of a price drop.

  • TeleGeography Survey Shows VoIP Surge in Europe












    VoIP telephone services in Western Europe leapt to just under 30 million consumer lines by mid-2008 – up from 20 million only a year earlier.

    That figure has continued to climb and totalled 35 million lines at the end of the year, according to a survey by researchers TeleGeography.

    The study into fixed-line VoIP usage also found that while the aggregate pace of growth across Europe remains rapid, fixed line market trends in each country are surprisingly unique.

    Household penetration of VoIP telephony at mid-2008 ranged from slightly less than 50 per cent in France to less than 3 per cent in Spain.

    In terms of annual subscriber growth rates ranged from 544 per cent in Portugal to a comparatively anemic 13 per cent in Norway.

    TeleGeography analyst Patrick Christian said VoIP services are reshaping the fixed line market in Europe.

    But he said regional market differences were were much in evidence.

    "Europe may have a single market, but it’s far from common," he said.

    "However, while the uptake of IP telephony services varies widely, VoIP has been a powerful spur to innovation, even in some countries with relatively modest numbers of VoIP subscribers."

    This has taken the form of "incumbents" having to slash the price of traditional telephone services, to deploy higher-speed broadband networks and to introduce new video-over-IP services in the face of the challenge presented by IP-based competitors.

    TeleGeography projects that the number of VoIP subscribers will continue to grow strongly, increasing from 35 million at end-2008 to 45 million by the end of 2009.



  • Carrier VoIP Equipment Spend Down, IMS To Become Revenue Driver by 2011







    The worldwide market for carrier VoIP equipment has stalled after a pro-longed period of double-digit annual revenue growth that began in 2002.

    This led to the market contracting for the first time ever in 2008, with a drop in revenue of 6 per cent, according to Infonetics Research.

    On a brighter note, a second Infonetics report, found that IMS deployments are likely to become a serious revenue driver by 2011.

    Diane Myers, directing analyst at Infonetics, said the fourth quarter of 2008 confirmed what had been seen in the previous two quarters in North America, with signs in Western Europe and some parts of Asia as well.

    "The market for carrier VoIP equipment has stalled due to large deployments nearing completion and shifting strategic priorities," she said.

    "The global economic downturn will likely exacerbate the drop in VoIP equipment sales."

    The second Infonetics report paints a more optimistic picture for VoIP equipment manufacturers.

    It shows that worldwide sales of IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) equipment, including HSS (home subscriber servers) and CSCF servers, were up 94 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007.

    Myers said IMS deployments are growing, led largely by European operators.

    Fixed-line VoIP services are still the most popular applications delivered over IMS, however the reports suggests rich communication services will be an important part of the shift from fixed-line VoIP services to mobile networks and integration with standardized devices.

    She said the revenue total for IMS deployments is small currently, but will grow rapidly and become substantial in 2011 and beyond as mobile operators upgrade infrastructure.

    "With over 100 service providers worldwide having chosen their IMS vendors, less than half are fully deployed with live traffic," she said.

    "The move to turn-up the remaining deployments, in addition to new deployments, will help fuel the sales for IMS network equipment.

    "Mobile operator migration to IP and adoption of RCS will drive the deployments for IMS during the next four to five years."

  • Acer Plans To Drive Down Price of Smartphones







    It was always on the cards from the moment Acer announced its intention to enter the smartphone arena.

    Now the Taiwanese electronics giant has made it clear that it plans to drive down the cost of smartphones – to a level where mobile operators could give them away for free.

    Acer plans to release two low-priced handsets – the F1 and L1 – in October. Both will be touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile 6.5.

    They will obviously be pitched as entry-level smartphones and will be sold as Pay as you Go models for around USD $62 after network subsidies.

    Acer’s Smart Handheld Business Group head, Aymar de Lencquesaing, speaking at CeBit, said there were four billion mobile phone users on the planet, but only 200 million smartphone users.

    He reasoned that driving down the price and enabling operators to give the phones away free – with a contract – was the "surest way to drive adoption".

  • Mobile Operators Must Cut Data Fees and Offer Smartphone Subsidies







    While prospects for the overall mobile handset market remain gloomy, smartphones remain a bright spot with global unit growth as high as 11.1 per cent in 2009, according to iSuppli.

    The analysts’ optimistic forecast for global smartphone unit shipments translates into 192.3 million units in 2009, up from 173.6 million in 2008.

    A more pessimistic outlook calls for growth of only 6 per cent this year, reaching 183.9 million units.

    Tina Teng, senior analyst for wireless communications for iSuppli, stressed that for the optimistic scenario to come to fruition, wireless network operators had to cut fees for data services and offer aggressive subsidies to reduce consumer smart phone prices.

    "Furthermore, wireless operators and handset brands have to sell consumers on the value of smartphones to encourage customers to upgrade," she said.

    However, if consumer confidence continues to erode, iSuppli’s pessimistic forecast is likely to prevail, Teng warned.

    According to the optimistic scenario, smartphones will represent 17.4 per cent of total mobile handset unit shipments in 2009.

    If the pessimistic scenario holds sway, smartphones will account for only 16.6 per cent of total mobile handset shipments this year.

    The optimistic scenario also foresees a unit shipment Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21 percent from 2008 to 2013, while the pessimistic view predicts an 18.3 percent growth rate.

    Teng said that with 3G networks becoming prevalent around the world, smartphones are now for consumer as well as corporate users.

    "Consumers increasingly are demanding data-intensive applications that require the kinds of high data speeds supported by 3G networks," she said.

  • Can Rising HDTV Prices Be Sustained?












    After a period of steadily dropping HDTV prices the cost of sets to consumers appears to be climbing again.

    The average selling price for HDTVs in the US jumped by more than 10 per cent in February, according to data from the Retrevo CE Index.

    TV prices started a downward shift around May last year, ultimately dropping approximately 35 per cent in January 2009.

    Vipin Jain, CEO of Retrevo, said the price cuts had come as the economy and consumer spending weakened.

    He said this prompted manufacturers and retailers to offer steep discounts during the holidays and leading up to the Super Bowl – two important seasons for HDTV sales.

    "This meant great deals for consumers, but hurt the bottom lines of TV makers," he said.

    "The bankruptcy and liquidation of Circuit City may have also played a factor in keeping prices down.

    "Now that deep discounts from the all-important holiday and Super Bowl seasons are over, excess inventory is clearing out of the channel and merchants are returning to running their business at more sustainable price levels."

    Jain questioned whether the upward price trend was sustainable but said deals were still to be had.



  • Research Identifies IP Media Phone as $7bn Opportunity by 2013


    The evolution of the media phone product segment may just be beginning but it has the potential to become the 4th screen in the home.

    That’s according to a report by In-Stat, which said the device could also become a next generation business IP phone.

    The researchers say service providers and IP phone manufacturers are introducing media phones to add value to traditional voice telephones and enable IP-based services.

    Already devices such as the Verizon Hub and AT&T HomeManager, which support both IP communications and the delivery of Internet information and multimedia content, have been launched on the market.

    The free report, The Media Phone Has Arrived, can be downloaded from the In-stat website.

    Other findings include:

    • Consumer media phones will generate between $4-$8 billion in annual revenue, worldwide, by 2013.
    • Business media phones will generate $3.3 billion in annual revenue, worldwide, in 2013.
    • The US market will open up in 2009, with Europe coming on line in 2010.

  • Cypress Communication's Frank Grillo Wins voip-biz.news' Person of the Year Award


    Frank Grillo, Cypress Communication’s executive vice president of marketing, is the winner of the voip-biz.news’ Person of the Year award.

    In nominating him for the title, the telecoms professional was described as a "visionary executive" and "innovative thinker" with "technical acumen".

    Grillo joined Cypress Communications in August of 2005 and was responsible for taking C4 IP, Cypress’ hosted VoIP and hosted unified communications solution, from inception to launch.

    Praising Grillo’s handling of the process, a voter said: "C4 IP is a technically challenging configuration and took Frank Grillo’s visionary leadership, technical acumen and foresight to launch.

    "It is the only integration of two traditionally disparate platforms: the carrier class softswitch, Nortel CS 2000, with the powerful multimedia server, MCS 5200.

    "With the successful integration of these platforms, Cypress became the only company in the USA, and only one of three in the world, to accomplish this feat.

    "To date, the C4 IP solution has won 10 awards for product innovation, and under Grillo’s leadership, C4 IP now has over 6,000 installed seats and is credited with the largest hosted VoIP/unified communications installation in the US."

    Prior to joining Cypress, Grillo was senior vice president of business services for Z-Tel and senior vice president of global business markets for MCI WorldCom.

    From 1995 to 2000 he was vice-president of marketing for LDDS.

    Voip-biz.news would like to thank everyone who took the effort to nominate a product and to cast a vote.

  • MyGlobalTalk and IPsmarx's SIP-based Calling Card Platform Share voip-biz.news Product of the Year Award


    Two innovative products dominated voting to share the honours in voip-biz.news’ Product of the Year 2008 competition.

    With 33 per cent of the nominations, MyGlobalTalk’s VoIP calling solution earned praise for its sound quality and call rates, as well as features such as no contract being required, no connection fees and no minimums.

    Launched as a BETA version in June 2008, MyGlobalTalk now works on any cell phone, land line or computer.

    The company, which is part of i2Telecom, is preparing a widgets launch which will enable MyGlobalTalk to be used from Outlook, iGoogle or Facebook.

    In the many comments of recommendation, voters also highlighted customer service and ease of use as reasons for their satisfaction with MyGlobalTalk.

    Sharing this year’s award is IPsmarx’s SIP-based calling card platform, which eliminates the need for a VoIP gateway and PSTN lines using DID technology.

    Fully over IP, the calling card solution offers a range of advanced features.

    So much so that the product was described by voters as "the platform of the future", "user friendly" and having a "great technical support team".

    One reader said: "I am extremely impressed with IPsmarx’s ability to think outside the box and eliminate common problems that exist in the calling card space."

    To take this year’s award, the joint winners saw off a large field which included well-known names including Mobivox, Ifbyphone, XConnect, Skype, Fring, ShoreTel, Cypress communications and HelloSoft.

    Voip-biz.news would like to thank everyone who took the effort to nominate a product and to cast a vote.

  • Vonage Confident of Growth Despite Subscriber Loss


    VoIP provider Vonage had a revenue increase of 9 per cent to USD $900 million in 2008.

    However, reporting on its fourth-quarter and full-year 2008 earnings report, the company said it had lost a net of 14,700 subscribers in Q4.

    Net loss excluding debt extinguishment costs narrowed to USD $34 million from USD $93 million excluding certain charges.

    GAAP net loss was USD $65 million or $0.41 per share in 2008.

    Marc Lefar, Vonage’s CEO, said the company had improved its financial position throughout 2008 – to the extent that it delivered adjusted operating profit and positive cash from operations for a full year for the first time.

    Noting the loss of subscribers, he was optimistic about Vonage’s business model, which he said was solid and the market opportunity for digital voice remains robust.

    "While our financial performance was sound, we fell short in our ability to substantially grow our subscriber base," he said.

    "However, we are confident Vonage has significant opportunities to create future value for shareholders."

    Lefar said a range of initiatives were being lined up for launch, including:

    • improving the customer experience
    • enhancing distribution and marketing
    • improving quality and reliability
    • initiating new products and features
    • optimizing our cost structure
    • improving talent management

    Lefar said he was confident these will drive Vonage forward as a business model poised to achieve significant new growth.