A new report from Pew Internet finds that 74% of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time location-based information, while 18% use a geosocial service to “check in” to locations or share their whereabouts with friends. The survey goes on to find that over the past year, smartphone ownership among American adults ballooned, from 35% in 2011 to 46% this year, and the overall proportion who get location-based information has almost doubled over that time period, from 23% in May 2011 to 41% in February 2012. The percentage of adults who use geosocial services like Foursquare has likewise risen from 4% in 2011 to 10% in 2012.

For more information, see http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2256/location-based-services-smartphones-foursquare-geosocial-gowalla

Almost 90% of smartphone owners report having used their phones in the past month to help them arrange meetings, solve problems, or find information. The ever-expanding functionality of smartphones has made the devices almost irreplaceable in users’ daily lives. A new Pew Internet & American Life survey, “Just-in-Time Information Through Mobile Connections” found that cell users — defined as anyone who looked up information or coordinated a meeting on their mobile phone in the preceding 30 days — now make up 62% of the adult population. The report also found small differences in cell phone and smartphone use among men compared with women, and also among racial groups and younger users compared to older ones.

For additional information, see http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2254/mobile-phone-smartphone-use-report-mobile-habits-sports-score-restaurant-emergency-arrange-meeting-visit-business

According to Infonetics Research, the remaining 12% of operators who do not offer IPTV services via a residential gateway will join the club by 2013. This puts IPTV on a growth path that will only accelerate as operators uncover new ways to entice residential subscribers. Infonetics sees broadband access lines likely becoming conduits for new, revenue-generating services beyond the usual voice, data, and broadcast services. IPTV will thus become the first service to reach 100% saturation, closely followed by Wi-Fi hotspots, which look poised to reach 82% penetration by 2013.

For more, go to http://www.fierceiptv.com/story/survey-iptv-residential-gateway-use-hit-100-2013/2012-05-29?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

A vast majority of Canadians agree with the statement “The Internet allows me to connect to people and information in ways that make my life better.” This comes from a recent study released by Canadian telecommunications company Rogers titled “Innovation Report: 2012 Trend Watch.” The study also found that most Canadians expect the Internet’s role in their lives to increase in the next five years. Much of this enthusiasm for all things web related stems from the continuing popularity of smartphones, which are expected to be owned by over 50% of mobile phone users in Canada by 2013. Among the favorite activities Canadians perform on their mobile devices: communicating with friends and family, accessing social networks, and playing games. Even with this surge, however, more Canadians still prefer to do the aforementioned activities on their computers.

For more coverage, see http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009072&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4

Infonectics Research interviewed 24 competitive mobile operators and found that 2/3 have deployed 20,000 to more than 150,000 Wi-Fi access points in public spaces. Moreover, by 2013, the percentage of service providers planning to deploy Wi-Fi for street coverage rises to 79%. Most respondents said that the main impetus for Wi-Fi installations is to complement mobile data service, followed by the scarcity of licensed spectrum. In the future, mobile operators hope that closer integration of Wi-Fi with mobile networks will result in offloading that is intelligent, automated, and seamless.

For more information, see http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/infonetics-70-operators-will-deploy-wi-fi-street-coverage-2013/2012-05-10?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Cable overbuilders WideOpenWest (WOW) and Verizon were ranked the best triple-play providers of pay TV, high-speed Internet, and telephone service in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports. The magazine gave WOW a score of 81, while Verizon FiOS received a 77. They were followed by Bright House Networks (74), AT&T’s U-verse (72), Cox Communications (71), and Cablevision’s Optimum (69). Major cable MSOs Time Warner Cable (67), Comcast (65), and Charter Communications (63) placed near the bottom of the list. Consumer Reports said its rankings were based on surveys of 69,000 readers, measuring variables such as value, billing, customer support, added services, price after promotion, and users’ likelihood to bundle again.

For more coverage, go to http://www.fiercecable.com/story/consumer-reports-wow-verizon-are-best-triple-play-providers/2012-05-08?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

The May 2012 edition of CrossTalk has been compiled, curated, and now, released out into the wild. This issue contains plenty of breaking industry news, relevant free and for pay market research, and a handy compendium of upcoming events. Stay up to date with all things telco and broadband by getting your May 2012 CrossTalk today.

For more information, go to http://www.actiontec.com/newsletter/may12/

According to Devicescape’s Q1 2012 report on the W-Fi market, 84% of survey respondents who have Wi-Fi connectivity at home are connecting their smartphones to it. Devicescape sees this as a sign of Wi-Fi support by customers trying to avoid slow and overcrowded cellular networks, as well as onerous data caps. After smartphones, laptops are the second-most Wi-Fi-connected device in the home, while tablets came in with 51.1% of respondents, good for third place. The firm’s recent survey of more than 2000 users in its worldwide virtual Wi-Fi network also revealed that plodding cellular networks sometimes drive mobile users to link their devices to potentially unsafe Wi-Fi networks, with 62% admitting that they connect to an unsecure Wi-Fi network to continue working off-site.

For more information, go to http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/survey-sluggish-mobile-networks-data-caps-driving-wi-fi-uptake/2012-05-16?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

AT&T’s LTE network is fast, but data speeds on the company’s mobile networks are not fast enough to dislodge Verizon Wireless from its spot at the top of the charts, according to a new report from RootMetrics. The wireless testing company went on to say that while AT&T’s transition to LTE is turning heads, Verizon continues to dominate, T-Mobile is closer to AT&T than many expect, and Sprint is languishing. These comments referenced results from RootMetrics’ latest quarterly assessment of U.S. operator mobile data performance, which also includes results from tests of the national operators’ networks in 42 total markets.

For more information, see http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/fresh-study-says-verizon-beats-att-overall-data-speed/2012-05-13?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast bested Verizon, AT&T, and other telcos in overall satisfaction from commercial high-speed Internet customers, J.D. Power and Associates announced recently. The marketing research firm also said that cable providers rank higher in performance and reliability because of their advantage in the area of data transfer speeds. The survey is good news for cable MSOs looking to increase revenue by selling high-speed Internet and telephone service to small- and mid-sized businesses. Cable operators generate the vast majority of their revenue from selling triple-play packages to consumers, but are becoming bigger players in the commercial space.

For additional coverage, go to http://www.fiercecable.com/story/cox-cablevision-top-verizon-and-att-jd-power-commercial-high-speed-internet/2012-05-18?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

The latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index has been released. These latest May ACSI rankings offer insight on customer satisfaction with fixed line phone, subscription TV, wireless phone services, as well as cellular phone manufacturers. On the fixed line phone service front, satisfaction with traditional telco phone service continues to drop as companies move away from DSL and landline toward wireless services with higher profit margins and growth. The Wireless rankings see traditionally last-ranked AT&T finally making a promised jump, while Sprint continues to hold the top spot. The Subscription TV services rankings continue to put Verizon’s FiOS TV service at the top of the heap, while Comcast and Charter saw slight improvements, but continued to languish in last place.

For more, see http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/ACSI-Rankings-FiOS-TV-Remains-Top-Ranked-TV-Service-119524

In its first quarter after former COO Tom Rutledge left the company, Cablevision announced it added 7,000 video subscribers during Q1 2012. While its net income dipped by 3 cents per share compared to Q1 2011, the company posted its best quarter in terms of subscriber growth since 2008. Cablevision, which has been waging a marketing war with Verizon in the New York metropolitan area, has been hammered by Wall Street since Rutledge moved on to become Charter Communications’ CEO. Since then, Jim Dolan has taken control of Cablevision’s cable operations, and the decision to step up Cablevision’s marketing efforts and not raise the monthly fees for its Optimum digital cable, high-speed Internet and telephone products appears to be paying off. In addition to picking up 7,000 basic video subscribers, Cablevision gained 41,800 high-speed Internet subscribers and 42,400 voice customers.

For more information, see http://www.fiercecable.com/story/cablevision-adds-7000-basic-video-subscribers-q1-2012-best-performance-2008/2012-05-03?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Actiontec Electronics announced today that three of its products have been named Finalists in the 2012 American Business Awards (“The Stevies”). The honored products are: the SG400 Service Gateway, the Multi-LAN Network Adapter, and the Broadband Home Router (Rev I). The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. More than 3,000 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories.

For additional coverage, see http://www.actiontec.com/products/view_news.php?nid=281

Among the more intriguing trends in the video equipment and set-top box market are the following: pay TV operators continue to increase investments in MPEG-4 encoders to reduce bandwidth requirements; and despite healthy STB unit growth in 2011, flat revenues reflected the growth of lower-cost STBs in emerging markets. This according to excerpts from Infonetics Research’s recently released forecast report, “Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Encoder Equipment and Video Subscribers.” Other highlights:

• $1.9 billion will be spent on standard and high definition (SD and HD) MPEG-4 video encoders over the next 5 years;
• Following declines in 2009 and 2010, the video infrastructure market grew 6% in 2011 to $803 million, as almost all major world regions increased spending;
• The overall market rose 4% from 3Q to 4Q 2011, and is up 6% year-over-year.

For additional coverage, go to http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2012/4Q11-Video-Infrastructure-and-STBs-Market-Highlights.asp

In its new report, Infonetics Research finds that global cloud and CPE managed security services grew 12% in 2011, to $11.7 billion. The study, “Cloud and CPE Managed Security Report,” predicts that this market segment will expand to nearly $18 billion by 2016. Infonetics also sees North America remaining the largest market for managed security solutions for at least the next few years, with growth being driven by three factors: market space for installation solutions; lack of manpower and expertise to allow companies to roll out new technology; and IT infrastructure transformations that require integrated security solutions.

For more information, see http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2012/2H11-Cloud-and-CPE-Managed-Security-Services-Market-Highlights.asp

Light Reading’s 2012 Mobile Life Survey was circulated recently. Questions relating to mobile use were asked of more than 500 telecom professionals, including 120 service providers, and important trends about the smartphone habits of successful people working in this fast-moving industry were revealed. Among the highlights:

• Nearly 25% of respondents use AT&T as their wireless operator, followed by Verizon (12.5%) and Sprint (4%)
• More than half of respondents reported having two to three smartphones in the household, while nearly a third reported three to five
• The three biggest priorities in selecting a wireless operator were coverage, reliability, and data pricing
• Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported using Wi-Fi “whenever possible”
• Apple (37%) and Android (33.5%) phones dominated the operating system choices, followed distantly by RIM, Symbian, and Windows Mobile
• More than half of respondents have never made a purchase using their mobile phone

For more coverage, see http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=220041&f_src=lrdailynewsletter

Comcast is expected to launch its X1 digital cable service in a major market within the next few weeks, executives announced during the company’s first-quarter earnings call recently. X1 is a cloud-based video programming service offering personalized TV recommendations, apps for Facebook, Pandora Internet Radio, and other apps, in addition to live TV and video-on-demand programming. While Comcast didn’t specify which market the X1 would debut in, likely targets include Boston and Atlanta. Comcast has been testing X1 on its Augusta, Ga., system, located about 150 miles east of Atlanta. Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit said his company will expand X1 to hundreds of thousands of homes this year, suggesting that the availability of set-tops and cloud servers capable of delivering X1 is impacting the rollout.

For more, go to http://www.fiercecable.com/story/comcast-launch-x1-next-generation-video-service-major-market/2012-05-02?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

“Smart Home Systems and Services Forecast: United States,” a recent release from Smarter Analytics, sees U.S. revenues for smart home systems and services reaching $7.6 billion in 2012. This total includes the over 8% of households who will own at least one smart home product by the end of the year. Of these, the most popular will likely be monitoring systems that include video cameras, motion sensors, and lighting and thermostat controls. By 2017, the smart home market is forecast to reach $24.3 billion, much of it composed of IP-based security systems and services. The report also assesses the opportunity for other emerging smart home services which offer professionally monitored home-based healthcare services, and smart appliances (such as refrigerators) integrated with automatic food monitoring and ordering technologies.

For additional information, go to http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5201

Wireless home networks are now commonplace in many global markets, according to new a new report from Strategy Analytics titled “Broadband and Wi-Fi Households Global Forecast 2012.” The study finds that 439 million households worldwide, or 25%, had installed home Wi-Fi networks in 2011, and by 2016, this number is expected to rise to nearly 800 million (42%). Much of this growth will be propelled by widespread adoption in China, which will add 110 million Wi-Fi households in the next 4 years, and Strategy Analytics sees the bulk of Wi-Fi growth coming from here and other emerging Asia Pacific markets like India, as Wi-Fi worldwide goes from being a luxury to more of a commodity.

For more information, see http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5193

The obstacles presented by mobile operators as they shift from unlimited usage plans for mobile users to tiered data plans are daunting, according to Parks Associates latest, “Mobile Data and Applications: Market Update.” Among the problems they face is that two-thirds of U.S. consumers who plan to purchase a smartphone are unwilling to pay more than $50 per month for their data plans, are extremely price-sensitive, and will complain if they find any hint of their mobile provider engaging in byte-tracking. Education is another hurdle: many mobile users have no idea how much data they use per month, even as they purchase an average of two mobile apps per month. As operators make these and other changes to maintain revenue streams, Parks believes they must make sure not to alienate their customers by recasting their mobile services as “experience-driven,” in order to reduce price-sensitivity and challenge their competitors.

For more coverage, see http://www.parksassociates.com/blog/article/parks-pr2012-mobiledata

ABI Research released a new study recently. “Connected Home Devices Market Data” finds that 21% of U.S. homes have either an Internet-ready television, gaming console, Blu-ray player, and/or set-top box connected to their home network. The most connected device is the gaming console, which is integrated into more than 80% of the aforementioned households, followed by Internet televisions (27%), Blu-ray players (24%), and set-top boxes (13%). Sony and Microsoft spearheaded console adoption rate with their popular Playstation3 and Xbox 360 models, respectively, and almost half of domestic homes contain at least one current generation gaming console. On the other hand, while Internet televisions have clearly made inroads in the market, many of them remain unconnected to home networks. This finding squares with ABI’s assertion that despite these alternative methods of accessing content over the Internet, in the near future, there will be no mass exodus away from traditional pay-TV services.

For more information, see http://www.abiresearch.com/press/3891-More+than+One+in+Five+US+Households+Have+a+TV+Connected+to+the+Internet

2012 is shaping up to be the year in which 4G subscriber adoption takes off, according to ABI Research. The firm’s new report, “4G Subscriber, Device, and Networks Market Data,” claims that the push will come from the mass of new 4G-enabled devices, which range from USB dongles to smartphones, tablets, and portable hotspots. ABI expects up to 87 million 4G devices to sell in 2012, a year-over-year increase of 294%, as LTE becomes the de facto standard at the expense of WiMAX. The road is not without potholes, though; some operators in Western Europe report that while 4G is recognized as the faster protocol when compared to 3G, there is some consumer pushback when it comes to paying for new handsets and additional tariffs. The lure of high definition video streaming and immersive gaming experiences, however, is expected to coax customers from 3G to 4G, while lower device prices (by as much as 10% to 20%) will further fuel the migration.

For additional coverage, go to http://www.abiresearch.com/press/3881-87+Million+4G+Devices+to+Ship+in+2012

In Pew Internet’s new study, “The Future of Money in a Mobile Age,” a majority of technology experts report that they believe most people will embrace and eagerly adopt the use of smart-device swiping for purchases, making cash and credit cards nearly obsolete. The dramatic growth of smartphones and other mobile devices, in tandem with the perceived convenience, security and other advantages of mobile payments, make this transition an almost foregone result. Those who dissent cite security and privacy concerns about purchasing habits as the main reasons they believe cash and credit cards will continue their dominance in the transaction arena.

For more, go to http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2242/smartphone-money-consumer-purchases-credit-cards-consumers

Cox Communications recently announced they are offering a readable voice mail feature to subscribers who purchase its digital phone product. The feature will allow customers to have home voice mails read to them from any device with email access.

For additional coverage, see http://www.fiercecable.com/story/cox-adds-readable-voice-mail-digital-phone-service/2012-04-27?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

New research from the Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 38% of all households have at least one television set connected to the Internet via a video game system, a Blu-ray player, an Apple TV or Roku set-top box, and/or the TV set itself. This figure compares favorably to results from the last couple of years, which totaled 30% last year, and 24% two years ago. Video game systems are the key connected devices, with 28% of homes having a video game system connected to the Internet. Meanwhile, 4% of households are connected solely via an Internet-enabled TV set, and Apple TV or Roku set-tops are the only connected devices in 1% of all households. Other related findings include:

• 50% of Netflix subscribers are satisfied with the service, while 11% are likely to stop subscribing to Netflix in the next six months
• 16% of all adults watch full length TV shows online at least weekly, compared to 12% last year, and 10% three years ago
• Among all mobile phone owners, 19% watch video on their phones weekly, compared to 15% last year, and 6% three years ago
• 9% of all adults watch video on an iPad/tablet computer weekly, compared to 2% last year

For more information, go to http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/040912release.html