Business

Changes to business digitisation brings

‘Naked DSL’ Demanded By Vonage In UK
Research has revealed that two thirds of UK Internet users are deeply unchuffed about having to pay a BT line rental on top of their broadband subscription.
The stating-the-bleeding-obvious revelation was the conclusion of an online survey of more than 1,000 broadband subscribers in the UK who were questioned in June 2005 by online research company, TickBox.
The research, carried out on behalf of the broadband telephony outfit Vonage, also revealed that only 37% of Internet users believe there is a real choice of telephony provider, against 72% for mobile phones.
Vonage has demanded ‘Naked DSL’ in the UK, which would enable consumers to independently subscribe to telephone and broadband services and allow users to subscribe to a VoIP service instead of a traditional fixed-line service,
In a statement, Vonage commented: “In the UK, by the end of this year, broadband subscribers will be paying a surcharge of £672m annually to BT in line rental on top of their broadband bill, no matter who their ISP is.”
“Broadband subscribers deserve the right to choose their broadband and telephone providers independently without being forced to pay for a telephone line they may never use,” clarion-called Vonage UK MD Kerry Ritz.
“The broadband infrastructure will support a variety of services, one of which is telephony. Customers should be able to decide what services they want to ‘plug’ into their broadband network in the same way that they choose their electricity provider,” he added.
BT was quick to scoff at Vonage’s appeal, putting on its best supercilious tone while patting the upstarts on the head, saying that the company had little grasp of the costs involved in supporting its nationwide broadband network.
“We are aware that applications providers that don’t contribute to the cost of building and supporting that ever improving broadband network have little appreciation of the economics involved,” said a BT spokesman. “Our customers, however, do”.
Vonage
14 July, 2005
90% Of DVR Users Skip Ads
TV advertisers and execs could be heard blubbing into their double tall skinny lattes all over Soho as a new survey revealed that around 90 percent of current users fast-forward through ads.
The fine detail of the survey offered little comfort for the industry, with 97 percent of the coveted 18 to 34-year-old demographic saying that they skip ads all or almost all of the time.
With more and more consumers buying digital video recorders (DVRs), this could spell disaster for the advertising industry.
“This has always been advertisers’ biggest fear,” said Sarah Wade, a London-based account manager for the French market research firm Ipsos, whose survey asked about the viewing habits of 4,000 British TV households.
An earlier study by the media buying agency PHD had come up with the slightly less bleak – but still TV exec-depressing figure – of 77 percent of viewers who were armed with hair-trigger remotes, ready to fast forward any advert on sight.
Several companies like BSkyB already offer hard-drive based digital video recorders, with users warming to their ability to pause live TV and fast-forward through advertisements.
Although the technology is still bubbling under the mainstream, BSkyB says about half of new subscribers opt for its Sky+ DVR, and with cable companies selling DVRs that are built into set-top boxes, advertisers are set for a bumpy ride ahead.
According to the Ipsos study, only 6 percent of Britons currently own a DVR, although 35 percent of those without are interested in buying one.
Ipsos.com
13 July, 2005
EU Seeks To Regulate Internet TV
‘The Man’ in the form of the EC wants to introduce regulation to the Internet by bringing in controversial rules to cover television online, according to a report in the Times.
Well, actually it’s ‘The Woman’, as Viviane Reding, the European Information Commissioner is hatching plans in Brussels to regulate areas such as taste and decency, accuracy and impartiality for Internet broadcasters.
Or good old ‘censorship’, as some may like to put it.
The consultation documents also looks set to relax regulations covering the amount of advertising that a TV channel can show, with the current limit of 12 minutes an hour likely to be scrapped. More adverts. Whoppee.
One of five “issue papers” to be released by Reding discusses the impact of technological change and concludes that “non-linear audio-visual content” (‘TV downloads’ in human-speak) need to be subjected to regulation.
Although some of the suggested changes – like the extension of rules governing the protection of children – are unlikely to ruffle any feathers, demands that Internet broadcasters provide a statutory right of reply look set to get the fur flying.
Ofcom’s already in a strop about the proposals, with Tim Suter, Ofcom’s partner for content and standards, snarling: “Whatever happens, it is not appropriate to take the set of rules that apply to television and apply them to other media. Where possible, we should be looking at self-regulation or co-regulation, because that is something that can deliver the goods.”
Internet-delivered TV is currently unregulated in the UK, so there is no compulsion for Web broadcasters to respect rules governing accuracy and impartiality or taste and decency that apply to all other analogue and digital channels.
The current big boys of UK Internet TV broadcasting, Home Choice, have formed their own self-regulatory body which mirror most of the existing rules, and Ofcom believes that this approach is sufficient for responsible broadcasters.
Ofcom argues that dodgy operators would be likely to operate offshore and thus be completely unhindered by any jurisdictions that the European Union dreams up.
The new rules will be based on the 1989 European directive, Television Without Frontiers, which set the benchmark for television regulation.
The proposals in the issues papers are not firm conclusions and broadcasters will have until 5 September to respond in writing, with a draft directive following by the end of this year.
The Times
Europe’s Information Society
13 July, 2005
Accenture ‘Digital Home’ Study Finds Big Barriers To Convergence
Hefty prices and consumer-baffling technology continues to hold back the development and adoption of space age converged digital home solutions, according to a survey by Accenture.
The survey – which involved 2,600 consumers in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan – asked people their opinions on a converged digital home; i.e. a home system covering entertainment (home theatre, TV and hi-fis), healthcare (remote measure blood pressure sensing, pulse and temperature), home management (controlled security sensors, locks, fire detection and cameras) and the virtual office (voice, email and fax).
In no uncertain terms, cost was flagged up as the biggest barrier to purchasing a digital home solution, with more than three-quarters (80 percent) unhappy with the wallet-draining prices of home systems.
Consumers also wanted things simplified, with more than two-thirds (70 percent) saying that they would prefer to have a single provider for the content, services and digital devices.
“Despite strong consumer desire for a single aggregator for converged or complete digital home packages, many companies in this space provide only a portion of the content or services that comprise the complete digital home,” said Al Delattre, a partner in Accenture’s Communications & High Tech practice.
“In order to truly meet consumer needs, stronger collaboration and partnerships among hardware, content and service companies is imperative,” he added.
The survey respondents were served up four different types of digital home formats – home entertainment, home heathcare, home management and virtual office offerings – and asked for their feedback.
When asked what benefit would most encourage them to wedge out for a converged digital home solution, the greatest number of respondents, 56 percent, said, “save money,” followed by, “make life easier” (46 percent), “improve home energy efficiency” (41 percent), “save time” (40 percent) and “make my life at home more fun” (34 percent).
Although consumers show strong interest in the digital home concept, it’s not just the cost that is making them a tad wary: the survey revealed concerns about data privacy and security (40 percent), complexity of installation (35 percent), equipment becoming outdated quickly (33 percent), and the need to replace current home equipment (32 percent).
The bad news for box-shifting hi tech companies is that a mere 4 percent of all respondents said they could afford a converged digital home service now, although 48 percent believed such a service would be affordable in one to five years.
Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) reckoned they’d never be able to afford such a service.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, with consumers expressing a willingness to pay additional fees each month for services designed to enhance ease of use and convenience.
In the survey, 65 percent of respondents said they’d be happy to shell out for digital home services and content in a subscription or leasing model, and that they’d be willing to pay an additional US$20 (~€16~£11) to US$50 (~€41~£28) per month for automated, value-added services like secured data backup, system support, and specialised content such as medical data collection.
“Consumers will increasingly become more of a development driver for digital home solutions,” said Delattre. “But it is clear that the technology itself is just one piece – business models and customer support are almost as important as the product itself. Without demonstrated and specific consumer preferences to drive adoption of the digital home concept, it will continue to be just that – a concept.”
Accenture
12 July, 2005
.mobi Domain TLD Approved For Mobile Phones
Consumers on the move will soon be able spot websites which have been specifically designed for mobile phones courtesy of the .mobi suffix.
The new suffix, which we originally picked up on back in March 2004 was approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), will join the popular “.com”, “.org” and of course “.info”, and other top-level domain names when it goes live in 2006.
The new domain name was requested by a heavyweight gang of mobile phone operators and handset makers who teamed up to create a joint venture tasked with encouraging companies and Web site designers to create mobile-specific Web pages.
The member companies include Hutchison 3G, GSM., Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
The companies hope that the new mobile-optimised websites will encourage consumers to upgrade their phones and access the web more while on the move – and thus generate lots of lovely lolly for their coffers.
“As .mobi will encourage the usage of advanced functionalities in mobile devices, the market potential for those devices will increase,” the companies said in a joint statement.
For some old timer designers it’ll feel like being back in the mid 1990s with the new mobile sites having to take into account the small screens, limited memory and frugal bandwidth available on mobile phones.
Although the new suffix makes perfect sense for British babblers (who call their phones ‘mobiles’), it’s a little more confusing for the Finns, where mobile phones going under the curious name of “kannyka,” which sounds like something that Ali G may have come out with. Aye!
ICANN
12 July, 2005
EU Raids Intel Offices
European Commission heavies made an unscheduled visit to Intel offices in Europe today as the chip maker’s offices were raided in connection with suspected anti-trust violations.
The European antitrust regulators started booting in doors two weeks after rival U.S. chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices filed a lawsuit claiming Intel used its market dominance to coerce computer makers away from using their AMD chips.
European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd explained, ‘Directorate General Competition officials, accompanied by officials from national competition authorities, are conducting inspections of several premises of Intel in Europe as well as a number of IT firms manufacturing or selling computers.”
A statement from the European Union head office added, “Investigations are being carried out in the framework of an ongoing competition case.”
Intel spokesman Chuck Malloy confirmed that the raids took place, adding that his company was cooperating fully while insisting that it was “all a stitch up and society’s to blame” (or words to that effect).
The EU has been investigating claims about Intel using unfair business practices to persuade clients to buy its chips to the exclusion of rivals’ chips for some time.
An initial investigation was demanded by Advanced Micro Devices several years ago, but in 2002 EU antitrust regulators reached a preliminary conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges.
AMD kept up the pressure, nagging regulators into looking into Intel’s business practices again, with the commission sending out formal notices to France, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Germany last year.
These requested information on government procurement tenders for computers containing requirements that they specify Intel chips or request a chip speed exclusive to Intel.
Late last month, AMD sued Intel for billions of dollars in a Delaware federal court, insisting that Intel bullied 38 computer companies into buying Intel chips.
Intel told them to stick their allegations when their chips don’t shine, suggesting that they were just whining away like a big girl because of their secondary market position (we’re paraphrasing slightly here).
Much as we enjoy corporate fisticuffs, we reckon that the issue would be best resolved without assisting zillions of smarmy lawyers to get even richer.
We reckon a playground fight would be far more fun.
Fight Fight!
Intel
AMD
12 July, 2005
Legal UK Music Downloads Top Ten Million, Up 743%
The UK record industry trade association the BPI has revealed that download sales in 2005 have raced past the ten-million mark – almost twice the amount for the whole of 2004.
Sales are racing ahead of last year’s 5.7 million legal download total, with 5,562,638 single track downloads registered between April-June 2005 compared to just 659,377 for the same period last year – up a thumping great 743.6% for the quarter.
Purring wildly, BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said: “The record industry has enthusiastically embraced the new legal download services since their emergence in the mainstream little more than a year ago and now we’re beginning to reap the rewards.”
Illegal music downloads remain a thorn in the side of the industry, but the growth in legal downloads now outstrips the growth in dodgy file sharing with Jamieson adding, “The battle against illegal files-haring will continue, but we are delighted to have hit this milestone so soon”.
Big gains in DVD single sales have compensated for the continuing decline in CD single sales (down 23% to 5,721,873) with an overall 52.4% improvement in single sales being recorded (including downloads).
Once again, the death of trusty old vinyl has been exaggerated, with quarterly sales for seven inch vinyl up by 87.3% on last year, although figures are comparatively small (288,780 between April-June 2005 against 154,216 for the same period last year).
Data compiled by the BPI shows annual sales of seven-inch vinyl singles climbing up to 1.4 million units, representing a huge 64% improvement year-on-year – the best 12 months for the format since 1998.
The resurgence of vinyl has been attributed to British indie and rock acts love affair with their near ancient format, with bands like Iron Maiden’s, Libertines, Babyshambles, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand all releasing songs on vinyl.
BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson added: “Despite the incredible growth in download sales, there is still a huge demand for the collectible physical formats. It would be wrong to write-off physical formats just yet. Record companies are committed to meeting consumer demand in whatever format people want their music”.
BPI report
11 July, 2005
Half Of UK Children Have Shopped Online
New research from UK High Street bank Halifax reveals that over half of children between the ages of seven to sixteen years old have bought something over the Internet.
Boys are particularly keen on Web shopping with over 60% saying that they’ve bought items over the Internet.
The bank’s survey found that some 53% of young people are Internet shoppers (up 10% from 43% in 2004) with Scottish lads and lassies coming out as the keenest Web shoppers, with 80% buying items over the internet.
The East Midlands region came bottom of the Internet shopping league with only 36% of young people in the area shopping online.
Boys continue to buy more goods over the Internet than girls, with this year’s figures – 60% boys compared to just 46% of girls – continuing last year’s trend where the figures were 50% and 37% respectively.
Not surprisingly, age plays a big part in who gets to shop online with less than a third of seven to eleven year olds (29%) clicking and buying compared to almost three quarters of twelve to sixteen year olds (73%).
More than half of all kids interviewed believed that Internet shopping is, like, waaaaaay better to shopping on the high street with 61% finding it easier to buy online rather than in shops for certain items.
Music, DVDs and electronic equipment are the biggest attractions online with kids spending their hard-earned ~~extortion racket earnings~~, ~~petty theft cash~~, pocket money on CDs (45%), computer games/equipment (45%) and DVDs/videos (43%).
Halifax
11 July, 2005
BBC To Premiere Programmes Over Broadband
The BBC has announced a pilot scheme to premiere some new TV programmes before they are broadcast on over traditional channels.
The trial starts with the new BBC3 comedy series ‘The Mighty Boosh’, which will be made available for web streaming from July 19th, one week before its scheduled TV transmission.
Jana Bennett, The BBC’s Director of Television, said: “The broadband premiere of The Mighty Boosh is a significant step forward in offering our audiences even greater value in a changing television world.
“It is one of a number of pilots that BBC Television will be undertaking over the next few months, exploiting the opportunities that new technologies offer to look at how programmes might be delivered beyond the traditional linear broadcast.”
There’s something of a stampede starting up of companies ready and willing to experiment with video over broadband, with BT announcing that it planned to begin trials of video-on-demand (VoD) via broadband early next year, ready for a full commercial roll out scheduled for summer 2006.
Telewest also recently launched its own web-based TV service, initially offering four channels as part of a trial of 26,000 consumrs in the Cheltenham and Gloucester area.
BBC Broadband
8 July, 2005
EU Hope Pan-Euro Copyright Will Open Online Music Market
The European Commission announced yesterday that it wants to give a boot up the backside of the European market for online music services by making it easier for new providers to get licences to flog songs over the Internet.
If all goes to plan, it will get rid of pesky restrictions which prevent bargain-hunting Belgium’s and hussling Hungarians from buying cheapo downloads elsewhere due to current laws stopping companies offering EU-wide services.
Clipboard-toting investigators from the EC identified the hassle that companies face in getting licences to offer music across the whole of Europe, as the main obstacle to the growth of legal online music services.
Presently, online music providers have to laboriously apply for licences in each and every one of the 25 member EU states, and then deal individually with collecting societies charged with securing royalties for artists and music firms.
We’ve covered this before back in May and November last year, originally when the EU challenge EU-wide music royalty structure and latterly when the European Music Rights hearings were on.
Internal market commissioner Charlie MacCreevy said: “The absence of pan-European copyright licences made it difficult for the new European-based services to take off. This is why we are proposing the creation of Europe-wide copyright clearance.”
The European Commission’s study argues that entirely new structures for cross-border management of copyrights were needed, concluding that this could be best achieved by letting artists and content providers to choose a collecting society to manage their copyrighted work across the whole of the EU.
With the Commission cheesed off with collecting societies basking in actual or effective monopolies in many EU member states, the new measures would increase earnings for copyright holders by lowering administrative costs and allowing the most efficient societies to compete for artists.
A proposal from the Commission aimed at abolishing the current situation where copyright holders are compelled to register with their national collecting society is expected in the third quarter.
Lucy Cronin, executive director of the European Digital Media Association (EDIMA) was as pleased as Punch with the initiative: “After years of toil, we’re pleased that the Commission has recognised the problem in the online music licensing regime.”
“The current system, based on national licensing and collecting societies, is no longer appropriate for digital services” she added.
Cronin felt that this new legislation could also benefit consumers, with an increase in pan-European licences increasing the amount of downloadable music available, as copyright holders look to exploit larger markets.
With the IT industry arguing that sales have been held back by the lack of a simple, one-stop online licensing system, online music sales in Europe remain miserably small compared to our American cousins – €28m (~£19,1m, $33.3m compared to the whopping great €207m (~£142m, ~$246m) US trade.
European Union
8 July, 2005