20% of AMericans Have Reduced Spending on Cable?

In a short piece on how Americans are economizing during the recession, sponsored by the Harris Poll, brief mention was made of the fact that 20 percent of Americans have cut back someplace on their "cable" spending. If so, that would presumably include cutting back on HBO subscriptions, disconnecting an outlet and therefore saving a monthly cable decoder rental, or other actions that keep the basic cable subscription in place.

If true, though, such data would show the important role the economy, housing crisis and joblessness are having on fixed-line service providers. Significant percentages of people also claim they cut off a mobile phone subscription or fixed-line voice subscription as well.

What Americans say they gave up in 2009

Google Android OS Has Momentum

Among consumers planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days, 37 percent say they prefer to have the Android OS on their new phone. That is a seven percentage point jump since the previous survey and a new all-time high for the Google operating system.

Over a year, preference for Android has grown about 600 percent.

While the Apple iOS remains the number one OS preference for future buyers, it dropped as expected in the aftermath of the huge spike we saw during June’s iPhone 4 release.

ChangeWave Consumer Smartphone Survey - Google Android OS Momentum

Sprint Board Members Depart Clearwire

Sprint Nextel Corp. executives serving on the Clearwire Corp. board of directors have left the board, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse and fellow executives Keith Cowan and Steven Elfman have resigned from the Clearwire board. A spokeswoman for Sprint said the company plans to appoint independent successor directors in the next few months. In the meantime, Sprint has named its general counsel, Charles Wunsch, as an independent observer to the Clearwire board.

Clearwire said that the resignations were prompted by recent changes in antitrust laws, but the move could also could provide Clearwire added flexibility to pursue a deal of some sort that might bring T-Mobile USA into Clearwire as an equity owner, for example.

On the other hand, some speculate that Sprint might also have an opportunity to increase its stake, as other shareholders such as Comcast Corp. have signaled they are unwilling to provide additional funding Clearwire requires. A move of that sort might not require a greater arms length relationship with Clearwire, though.

Clearwire said the move came "out of an abundance of caution to address questions raised by Clearwire

Clearwire's board structure allows for 13 members, seven of which Sprint has the right to appoint. The remaining four independent Sprint appointees to the Clearwire board remain.

Since Clearwire and Sprint compete at the retail level, the current board membership has proven awkward, observers note.

In some ways, it is hard to see any long-term solution that does not have Sprint acquiring a larger stake in Clearwire. Whether a firm the size of Sprint can live, long term, with buying its crucial 4G services from a firm it also competes with is open to question.

Sprint Nextel also faces the complexity of operating several different air interface networks (iDEN, CDMA and WiMAX). Those problems are not directly related to the size or control of the Clearwire network, but could become even more complicated if Sprint adds Long Term Evolution services at some point.

Weak Economy, Not Cord-Cutting, Drives US Pay-TV Subscriber Decline by 167,000 in the Second Quarter

The number of U.S. households buying multichannel video entertainment services fell in the second quarter for the first time (down 167,000 subscribers across all platforms). What remains unclear is whether the unusual decline is just an anomoly, or the beginning of a pattern. And even if some sort of pattern develops, does it portend some change in demand for the product, or simply financial stress which is causing consumers to temporarily suspend their purchases?

Though nobody can be sure, analysts at In-Stat argue that the decline is caused by the poor economy.

"There are several reasons behind the quarterly subscriber loss," says Mike Paxton, Principal Analyst. "While growing availability of over-the-top Internet video is spurring talk of mass 'cord-cutting,' this decline is not about cancelling pay TV in favor of Internet video."

"The main driver of these subscriber declines is the struggling U.S. economy and high unemployment," Paxton argues. If that is the case, some forecasters might ultimately project a return to growth. If high unemployment is causing the defections, a return to normal levels of employment should bring customers back.

There are a couple of issues, though. If forecasts of a return to "normal" employment (defined as pre-2008 levels) are correct, we might not see a full restoration of underlying job conditions until 2012 or later. That will mean a period of some years until anybody can really assess what is happening.

The other issue is that the attractiveness of alternatives will increase over time, though most observers probably do not believe alternate channels will make sense for another three to five years.

The point is that we might be in for a few, or several years where subscriber growth in the multichannel video business will be quite constrained, then face a period where demand might well be shaped by adoption of alternatives.

Either way, it now appears that multichannel video entertainment is at the point fixed-voice services reached in 2000 or 2001, depending on which data source one wishes to use: namely a historic high-water mark. After 2001, all data suggests, the number of fixed-line voice subscribers has steadily fallen.

Whether we have reached such a clear turning point for video is not yet clear, and will be difficult to assess because overall economic conditions will keep pressure on the business for a few to several years. The other unknown is the suitability of alternate consumption modes.

Weak Economy, Not Cord-Cutting, Drives US Pay-TV Subscriber Decline by 167,000 in the Second Quarter of 2010, Says In-Stat:

Apple, as Usual, Provides the Exception to the "Openness" Rule

There is little question but that the "Internet" is not as "open" as it used to be, with countries putting up the equivalent of firewalls, with the growth of opt-in communities and use of mobile and other apps that are not actually "open" in the old sense of the term.

Whether the end user value obtained from the variety of different Web experiences is better or worse is a matter of interpretation. Apple has been a salient exception to the "open" trend. But Apple's achievements also illustrate the fact that "closed" approaches to user experience sometimes are embraced by end users.

Power Users Prefer "Customization," Others Prefer "Personalization" of News

There is a difference between "power users" and "typical" users when it comes to the ability to tailor news to their own interests. Power users want the ability to active shape and control delivered news items, while typical users want the software to do that for them, without requiring effort on the user's part.


There is a major push toward customization in the marketplace because designers assume that more customization is better, but our research shows that only some users prefer customization," said S. Shyam Sundar, distinguished professor of communications, whose research with Sampada S. Marathe of the Media Effects Laboratory in the University's College of Communications appears in the July issue of "Human Communication Research."

For purposes of the study, researchers defined "customization" as a more proactive, highly user-driven practice, and "personalization" as having the system tailor content for users without active user input.

In the first study, the researchers discovered that power users -- those having higher levels of comfort with technology and interest in controlling their experiences -- found their visits to an online news site more enjoyable when they could customize the search process by defining search parameters or making changes to a website's settings themselves.

Conversely, "non-power users" -- those less comfortable with technology -- enjoyed personalized experiences the most. Under those parameters, the site shaped the news it provided without any overt control by the users themselves. It offered news based on user behaviors while browsing and searching during a previous visit.

"Power users like to control their information universe," Sundar said. "So they like news when they customize it themselves. But regular or ordinary users of the Internet like it better when the system configures the news for them.

The follow-up study indicated that power users might prefer customization out of a concern for their privacy. As part of that second study, users were notified that the news site they visited either "may use" or "will not use" their browsing information to provide services they requested. This subtle difference in notification resulted in dramatic changes in user behaviors.

Specifically, in the high privacy environment, power users were more willing to cede control and have information tailored for them because they trusted the site and appreciated the convenience. In a lower privacy setting, those same users wanted more control.

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Most Users Don't Like Ads, but iPad Owners are More Receptive

A new study by Nielsen suggests iPad users, who tend to skew younger and male, are the most receptive to advertising, compared to other smartphone users. Keep in mind the findings are relative. By inference, 65 percent of iPad owners do not enjoy ads on their iPads. Some 82 percent of iPhone users do not enjoy ads, while 83 percent of all connected device owners do not like ads.