Online Content Use Up, Across All Age Groups

Online content is getting more attention from users in every age category, says Burst Media.

Overall, 59.6 percent of respondents to a recent survey report they are visiting more Web sites in a typical week than they were one year ago, say researchers at Burst Media. And the trend holds in all age segments.

In fact, 62.8 percent of respondents 55 years and older say they are visiting more sites today in a typical week of web surfing than they were one year ago.

Local and national news is the most popular content consumed online with half of respondents regularly seeking it out. Still, there are differences in the types of content consumed by age segments.

Among respondents 18 to 34 years of age, entertainment information (44.7 percent) is the most regularly sought online content, followed by: local or national news (40.1percent), online games (38.1 percent), shopping or product information (36.1 percent) information for work (35.0 percent), and online communities such as social networks, forums and blogs (31.4 percent).

Local or national news (54.2 percent) is the most popular online content for respondents 35 to 54 years of age. Other types of online content sought by respondents 35 to 54 years of age include shopping or product information (44.8%), information for work (42.7 percent), health information (37.1 percent), entertainment information (37 percent), and travel information (33.7 percent).

Local or national news is by far the most popular online content for respondents 55 years and older. About 56 percent of respondents in this segment saying they regularly seek such information online.

Shopping and product information (44 percent) is the second most popular type of content sought and is closely followed by health information (42.5 percent).

Other types of content sought include: international news (38.9 percent), travel information (38.2 percent), and food information/recipes (34.1 percent).

Two-thirds (67.7 percent) of respondents say their daily routine would be disrupted if their Internet access was taken away and not available for one week.

About 43 percent say such a loss would be "significantly" disruptive.

And Web access is disruptive for every age group. In fact, among respondents 55 years and older, 44 percent say their daily life would be significantly disrupted if they were unable to access the Internet.

Internet access now has become an essential service, it appears, like voice, text and video entertainment.

Opera Mini for Helio Ocean

Opera's Opera Mini mobile browser now is available for the first time in the U.S.market as a mobile service provider on-deck option. Helio users can surf the Web with Opera Mini on their Ocean devices using Opera Mini that has been specially-tailored for the Ocean handset.

Available as a downloadable application from Helio's Web portal, Opera Mini is touted as providing a desktop-like experience with fast response.

Apple Seeks "Free Access to iTunes"

Apple is in discussions with leading music companies about giving customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for premium pricing of its iPod and iPhone devices, reports Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson of the Financial Times.

The “all you can eat” model, a replica of Nokia’s “comes with music” deal with Universal Music last December. Nokia reportedly will offer $80 or so to music industry partners, in exchange for the use of music assets.

Apple is said to have offered $20 per device, and also is said to be examining a subscription plan for iPhone users, as that device obviously comes with a billing arrangement.

The subscription model might allow users to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, even if they later cancelled a subscription or changed devices.

As the old adage goes: "With all this ---- lying around, there has to be a horse here somewhere." In other words, there are new business models to be discovered that provide direct benefits to content owners, device manufacturers and access providers.

Over the long term, the only way viable business models will be constructed that support the building of fiber-to-home and mobile broadband networks, is when all the key value chain members also participate in the revenue chain. An uneasy relationship it will remain. But the relationships and models have to be created.

Otherwise, we won't get ubiquitous and capacious broadband upon which services and applications can be run.

U.S. 700 MHz Auction Now is Ended

No further details at the moment.

Consumer Electronics Spending Decelerates

The ChangeWave Alliance's latest survey shows a" sudden huge" pullback in consumer retail purchasing on electronics by U.S. consumers, the largest one since ChangeWave began measuring spending trends back in 2002.

The February 18-25 survey of 4,427 consumers looked at a range of popular gadgets in the consumer electronics industry, including digital cameras, iPods and video game consoles.

Only 19 percent of survey respondents say they'll spend more on electronics over the next 90 days compared to 33 percent who will spend less, an unprecedented sign of weakness in the consumer electronics space.

Broadband Users Generally Satisfied

U.S. consumers generally seem to be aware of the importance of bandwidth as a determinant of their Internet experiences, says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. For the most part, they also seem satisfied with their current access speeds.

Anecdotal evidence suggests many consumers are aware there is a difference between theoretical bandwidth and the actual bandwidth they get when lots of other users are on the network at the same time.

For that reason, consumers increasingly are receptive to higher-bandwidth offers, In-Stat argues. Most consumers probably are not aware that, at peak load, the average bandwidth they may be able to use is as much as an order of magnitude less than the theoretical bandwidth.

That said, more than 83 percent of respondents to a recent In-Stat consumer survey, which included a speed measurement, said they either were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their current connection.

In large part, that finding is testament to generally enhanced access speed offerings by virtually all suppliers.

The survey of 700 users found an average downstream speed of 3.8 Mbps, while the average upstream speed is 980 kbps.

The average downstream fiber-to-home speed was 8.8 Mbps, while cable modem connections averaged 4.9 Mbps and DSL averaged 2.1 Mbps, In-Stat says. Those findings are generally congruent with research published by the Communications Workers of America in 2007.

The average monthly price for broadband service is a bit over $38.

High Latent Mobile Web Demand?

If iPhone users, and a recent study of smart phone users, are any indication, there is clear and vast potential for mobile Web applications, devices and services.

And that is despite the relatively low usage of mobile Web services at the moment. "It is amazing how unaware consumers are of what is, and what is not available" in mobile, Web and other forms of communications, says Elaine Warner, Compete.com analyst.

On the other hand, there is clear potential. “We asked smart phone users what was important to them and 68 percent said Web access was really important,” says Warner. Considering that just seven percent of respondents to the Pew study say they do so on a typical day, Compete’s findings suggest there is vast untapped potential.

One of the biggest struggles the mobile industry has is getting the user experience right, though Warner says the iPhone was a breakthrough.

“We did a study about iPhone and found the two things people want is surfing the Web and checking their personal email,” says Warner. “They still feel they can't do that easily.”

Along the way, application and service providers will have to adapt the context of mobile Web use. “You don't search for the same things you do on a PC as you do from a mobile handset,” says Warner.

“You don't want a Wikipedia page to be the top listing when you enter a search term, she says. “That’s not likely to be what you want.

More typically a user will want to find a place to get to, or something to buy.

Though “voice in your pocket or purse” was the initial “killer app,” sizable demand now exists in the “email in your pocket or purse, “music in your pocket or purse” and to a lesser extent “Web in your pocket or purse” user segments.

That few people have used the mobile Web up to this point is understandable. It has been a difficult experience, for the most part. And it may turn out that early iPhone users are particularly avid users of the Web.

But if Compete’s survey findings are any indication, there is pent-up demand for mobile Web access.