Parks Associates releases New White Paper - Consumer Research and Femtocells

Parks Associates recently released a new white paper, U.S. Consumer Attitudes on In-Home Mobile Services and Femtocells.

The consumer research and analysis described in this white paper were commissioned by the Femto Forum on behalf of its members. The Femto Forum is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 2007 to promote femtocell deployment worldwide.

Femtocells are small cellular base stations that improve in-building signal coverage by integrating existing core mobile networks with broadband infrastructure. This white paper addresses highlights from the study that determined consumer perceptions and interest in in-home mobile services and femtocell solutions.

Parks Associates presents new “Global Consumer Research on Femtocells” at Femtocells Americas

Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates, will present key findings from a recently completed global study on femtocells on behalf of Femto Forum at the Femtocells Americas 2010 Conference during the session, “Global Consumer Research on Femtocells” on Tuesday, December 14th at 9:50 AM, in Miami, Florida.

Femtocells can have a major impact on consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Among U.S. consumers likely to change operators in the next 12 months, 44% were very likely to reconsider if their current operator offered a femtocell. The new research from Parks Associates reveals over 50% of U.S. broadband households find femtocells appealing.

The primary driver for femtocell interest is improved in-home coverage. Important secondary drivers include increased mobile handset battery life, faster mobile broadband, advanced femtocell services, and home-zone calling tariffs.

Number of smartphones worldwide exceeded 180 million units in 2009

New research from Parks Associates, host of the upcoming executive summit CONNECTIONS™ Europe, indicates that the number of smartphones shipped in 2009 topped 180 million units worldwide, with Nokia, Research in Motion, and Apple sharing 60% of the market. Annual sales will reach almost 400 million by 2014, and as the number of users approaches one billion, consumer demand will grow for mobile broadband services that can share content, particularly high-quality video, across connected devices and the home network.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe, April 27 at the Mövenpick Hotel in Amsterdam, will feature consumer research and analysis on these new service opportunities in the mobile sector in the session “Mobile Video: The Cloud, The App Store & the Connected Home.”

Session speakers:

-- Klaus Milczewsky, Senior Mgr, Deutsche Telekom AG
-- Peter Percosan, CTO, Cable Europe Labs
-- Andy Tiller, Marketing Vice Chair, Femto Forum

In a recent Parks Associates survey on mobile convergence, over one-third of U.S. smartphone users expressed an interest in streaming multimedia content stored on home CE to their mobile device. Service providers will have to adapt their mobile and video strategies to meet the demands of multiple platforms, and the panelists will discuss these challenges, plus the impact of new devices such as the iPad and the HP Slate.

For information or to register for CONNECTIONS™ Europe, visit www.connectionseurope.com.