Parks Associates Blog

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Trends We Are Expecting to See in 2011 and Beyond

Connected products:

One popular theme among the products displayed at CES was the ability to be connected, whether to the Internet, other products, or a consumer’s smartphone. There were numerous products at CES that were designed to be part of a network, with the goal of delivering more useful, efficient, and compelling customer experiences. The television is one product that’s undergoing a major transformation, with virtually every TV manufacturer at CES displaying their web-connected televisions. These products have the ability to stream content and access applications such as Netflix, Pandora, and games.

The living room isn’t the only room that’s becoming more connected; the kitchen is also being overhauled to be “smarter” for consumers. Appliances in the near future will be able to take stock of the food in the kitchen, present meal suggestions based on those ingredients, and even guide consumers through the cooking process.

A new meaning of “green”:

Eco-friendly certainly isn’t a new product trend, but manufacturers are shifting the meaning of “green” to focus more on energy-efficiency than in the past.

Appliance manufacturers such as LG and Samsung are offering solutions that help consumers determine the best time to run their appliances. Panasonic’s version goes so far as to include solar panels, home fuel cells, an electric vehicle (EV) charging station and energy storage units.

Continued focus on digital health:

The digital health movement continues to move forward with products that marry cutting edge technologies with the growing need for medical devices that help consumers manage their health more actively and dynamically. Medical devices are becoming more and more like consumer electronics devices, with many wearable, mobile medical products already or soon to be on the market. Examples include smartphones that double as heart rate monitors and watches that have GPS locators to help keep track of elderly loved ones. There were also numerous therapeutic and diagnostic devices, medication monitoring equipment, and robotic prosthetics on display.

-- Content submitted by Home Toys

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Color comes to E Ink, LG electronic-paper displays

The first commercial electronic paper displays that can show color were unveiled Wednesday at the Flat Panel Display International show in Japan. The screens open the way for electronic book readers like Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader to add color, but so far only a single Chinese device maker has committed to the technology.

Two companies were showing the screens: E Ink, which dominates the e-paper market, and LG Display, which is one of the world's largest display makers. Compared to the monochrome displays used in current electronic book readers, the new displays offer a dash of color, but users shouldn't expect the same sort of color depth and vibrancy that's seen in laptop computers and flat-panel TVs.

Mass production of the 9.7-inch screen, which has an 800 pixel by 600 pixel resolution, is already beginning and E Ink's first customer, Chinese device maker Hanwang Technology, was showing an e-book reader that features the screen.

For the complete article, please click here.

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Monday, November 01, 2010

DIVA TV launches its Viewster consumer service

From Digital TV Europe, Diva TV's Viewster service has been launched in beta. I had blogged about DIVA TV in September.

The company has struck partnerships with TV manufacturers including LG, Loewe, Philips, Samsung and Sharp to promote the service. The Viewster service will initially be available in over 30 countries, according to the company. In addition to offering content via connected TVs, the service will be available to mobile users with Android phones, with Apple's iPhone and iPad to follow. Content can be purchased as single shows or as packages, with payment made via credit or debit card, mobile debit of PayPal. A subscription model is set to follow when Viewster is fully launched in the first quarter of next year.

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Monday, July 13, 2009

More Connected CE Devices Doing Netflix Streaming

Now that Sony BRAVIA Internet Video Link TVs can show Netflix streaming content, it's a good opportunity to revisit the connected CE devices playing Netflix content.

Connected TVs
  • LG HDTVs with NetCast Broadband (55LH50, 47LH50, 42LH50, 60PS80, and 50PS80)
  • Sony BRAVIA Internet Video Link

Connected Blu-ray Players

  • LG LG BD370 and LG BD390
  • Samsung BD-P1600, BD-2500, BD-P3600, and BD-P4600

Connected Game Consoles

  • Xbox 360

"Cloud Media" Set-top Boxes

  • Roku Digital Video Player
  • TiVo HD DVR

Connected Home Theater Systems

  • LG Network Blu-ray Home Theater Systems (LHB953, LHB977)
  • Samsung Blu-ray Home Theater Systems (HT-BD1250 or HT-BD7200)

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Friday, July 13, 2007

LG and Samsung Phones Lead in Advanced Mobile Entertainment Features

LG and Samsung are the top mobile-phone brands in the U.S. for advanced entertainment features, leading competitors Motorola and Nokia in adoption of phones with support for mobile TV, music, and games, according to Parks Associates recent research.

Among owners of LG and Samsung phones, 12% and 11% reported having mobile TV features, respectively, compared with 8% of Motorola owners and 0% for Nokia owners. Among the four leading brands, Motorola ranks third overall, and Nokia lags significantly in advanced entertainment features. Only 6% of Nokia phones support purchase of music tracks, compared with 22% and 20% of LG and Samsung phones, respectively.

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