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Look Ma! No Wires! First Ultra-Wideband-based HDTV, Media Server The first Ultra-Wideband-enabled (UWB), high-definition LCD television, which eliminates the need for a cable to a set-top box - allowing for placement anywhere in the home - comes from the China's largest home appliance maker Haier (pronounced "higher"). It uses UWB chips from Freescale Semiconductor, which are capable of transferring up to 110 Mbps at distances of up to 20 meters (20 yards). Freescale chairman and CEO Michel Mayer and Haier executive VP Shariff Kan broadcast high-definition video and audio streams wirelessly from a Haier digital media server to Haier's 37-inch HDTV located across the stage at the Freescale Technology Forum. It's not home networking in the traditional sense of a PC data network. However, UWB gear is a major step towards a wireless network capable of delivering multiple high-definition video streams around the home. "UWB gives consumers the freedom to place the television anywhere they would like in the room, without requiring a physical connection to a set-top box, digital video recorder or media server," said Haier VP Yu Zi Da. Haier plans to ship the 37-inch TV and accompanying digital media server in China in Q4 and in the US by 2006. Competing Home Networking Technologies "Freescale's Ultra-Wideband solution provides the wireless experience our customers desire," said Da. "UWB gives consumers the freedom to place the television anywhere they would like in the room, without requiring a physical connection to a set-top box, digital video recorder or media server. We have worked closely with Freescale over the past two years on integrating UWB and look forward to continuing this collaboration with a variety of consumer products."
Ultra-Wideband Candidates - Display video from a camcorder on a TV - Transfer video from a camcorder to a PC - Display digital photos on a TV - Connecting printers, external hard disks, scanners, cable modems to a PC - Connecting portable MP3 players to a stereo - Connecting portable video players to a TV - Connecting a flat-panel TV hanging on a wall to its electronics Freescale's UWB technology can transfer multiple high-definition or MPEG2 movie streams up to 110 Mbps at distances up to 20 meters. The major benefit for consumers is that home entertainment gear can be placed anywhere without the need to install any wires to connect devices. Current wireless video solutions such as Wi-Fi do not have the bandwidth to accommodate HD or MPEG2 streams, which require a minimum of 20 Mbps each. Current Wi-Fi solutions, according to Freescale, are only capable of broadcasting standard definition (SD) video streams at 5 Mbps to 7 Mbps. The fastest data rate publicly announced for UWB is 252 Mbps, but it is believed to be capable of up to 480 Mbps. --------------------------------- Ultra-Wideband Candidates Display video from a camcorder on a TV --------------------------------- UWB's biggest obstacles to full deployment are: 1. Intel is developing and promoting an alternative UWB technology. Nature may abhor a vacuum, but consumers abhor incompatible "standards" - see Betamax v VHS or, more recently, Blu-ray v HD DVD. 2. Will there be an open standards interface that, for example, will allow any CE makers to connect to Haier's boxes? Can a camcorder maker develop compatible software that will allow videos to be played on the Haier TV? Competing Home Networking Technologies - HomePlug - Uses existing AC wiring but currently has speed limitations. - Wi-Fi - Ethernet-based wireless - speed and security challenged. - Wired Ethernet - Consumers resist cost and mess of running new cables. - MoCA - Uses existing coax cable. - Ultra-Wideband - No wires, high speed, secure. Proprietary and incompatible user interfaces could be a weakness. Haier says it's currently developing other UWB-enabled products. The TV is a 37-inch, liquid crystal display (LCD) HDTV with 1080i resolution. It supports both SD and HD video and uses a component/DVI interface. The Freescale UWB antenna is embedded inside the television and is not visible to the user. No additional equipment is required and consumers need only a power source for the actual television. The digital media server is the size of a standard digital video device such as a DVD player but includes DVR functions, a DVD player and a tuner. Caroline Gabriel, who publishes Wireless Watch says, "Technically some of the vendors are hugely advanced, especially Freescale and Pulse Link, but the problem - apart from the failure by the industry to agree on a standard - is the highly restrictive FCC regulations in the US, and not being permitted in any other part of the world as yet - with an uncertain timetable for that, and doubts over how far regulations will be harmonized. All of which takes the sting out of the technical advances, for now at least." "This first UWB-enabled consumer product marks the beginning of great wireless experiences for consumers," said Franz Fink, senior VP and general manager for Freescale's wireless and mobile systems group. "UWB is now a proven technology designed to enhance user experiences by providing a wireless connection with the speed and quality they demand." Ultra-Wideband is engineered to deliver wire-like performance in an indoor wireless environment. That makes it better suited for CE gear where video, particularly high-definition video, is used. This week, Haier made an offer to buy the US-based venerable-but-financially struggling appliance maker Maytag. It made an offer of $1.28 billion with the US buyout groups Bain Capital Partners and Blackstone Capital Partners IV. Haier no doubt wants to move upscale in its markets (US) and its products (wireless HDTVs and media servers). The average monthly income in China is still only about $100, although there is a burgeoning middle-class. Wal-Mart and other discount chains, to which Haier supplies much of its products, also squeeze Haier on its prices. Back to Headlines Digital Media: It's All About Portability, Copyrights, Usage Habits By Susan Schrank "Downloading in this era is the marijuana of the 1970s - everyone's doing it and they don't think it should be illegal," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) during his keynote address at Digital Media Wire's Digital Media Conference. The conference, held in McLean, Virginia on June 17, brought together executives from all aspects of the digital media industry from technology companies and content providers, to industry associations and law firms. It included panel discussions, "Q&A" sessions and two keynote addresses - one by Shapiro and one by Robert Marshall, president and CEO of WeatherBug. Throughout the day, "mobility," "convergence," "portability" and making digital content more accessible to the consumer were recurring themes. Two other important subject matters discussed on several occasions were the impending Supreme Court decision on the Grokster case as well as legitimate uses for peer-to-peer technology. The Focus is on Mobility During a panel discussion on "Digital Living: Entertainment for the Connected Consumer," when asked what they consider the single innovation that will fuel growth, the panel seemed to agree that interoperability - the ability to share music among a PC, cell phone, MP3 player and other devices - is key. Ted Cohen, senior VP of digital development & distribution for EMI Music, said that the music industry is now "living with the challenge that we have to evolve or die." But, Cohen reminded the crowd, this evolution must still respect intellectual property rights. Cohen said that the industry has finally come to the conclusion that it doesn't "want to sell you the same thing five times anymore." It is apparently ready to give the consumer what he has wanted all along - the ability to purchase a download for a cell phone and be able to play it on the PC or "whatever" without having to buy it again. Perry Solomon, senior director of business development at FAST Search & Transfer, thinks the key application is one that would help consumers find what they like out of all of the content that's out there. Of course, that's what his company does - it works with companies to develop business models to help them do this. Cohen agreed with Solomon, saying that the consumer's goal is to "get me to what I want quicker." Brad Singer, VP of products and markets at PaymentOne, said that it's important to make the payment process as painless as possible. Operators are trying to make it easy for consumers to "put it on my broadband tab." He also believes that it's important to syndicate both content and payment to make things as easy as possible for the consumer. Drew Denbo, director of business developments for music at RealNetworks, believes that portability is most important. He said that the lack of portability was the main reason people left the company's Rhapsody subscription music service. Consumers want to access their music anywhere, without having to sign up for multiple services. This, he said, is why the company came out with the Rhapsody To Go service that lets subscribers transfer their tethered downloads to any of the scores of compatible portable MP3 players. Denbo also talked about the fact that the company is "getting Rhapsody around the home" via media adapters and home networks. Denbo sees the PC as a great tool for navigating through a music collection. "I envision giving people the ability to do the heavy lifting," such as playlist management, from the PC, but "not require the PC to be on to access music from a set-top or other device." According to Cohen, the good thing about subscription services is that "at the core, they let you listen to music." They don't force you to create playlists, but let you listen to whatever you want. Sean Wargo, director of industry analysis for the CEA, said that portability is what is driving consumer interest in digital music services. Consumers want portability, but they still want quality. Denbo added that community is also important, and mentioned that Real is starting to build community features into Rhapsody, such as "Playlist Central" and blogs. When asked what "big things" will drive the digital media industry in the future, the panel answered: Cohen: "Mobile is
huge" Consumer Electronics Change
the World According to Shapiro, the average American owns 25 consumer electronics products, which should make the CEA's 2,000 member companies very happy. "No other association can say its members' products are literally changing the world we live in," he said. Shapiro also took on the content owners, saying that the "real threats" to the CE industry come from intellectual property (IP) policing. The way he sees it, the copyright holders are doing their best to increase limits on fair use and increase penalties for those who download or share unlicensed copies of copyrighted material. According to the CEA, the following points about digital media are "certain facts" -Digital technology may
threaten distribution by rights holders, but it has spurred a
renaissance in creativity - anyone is now a creator. Although Shapiro discussed the above as if they were facts, other speakers disagreed with his comments. Fair Use Still Going
Strong Attaway said that the basic rights of copyright holders have not changed in the past 29 years, except for the expansion of term length. Even the DMCA, he said, didn't create any new copyrights, but rather, it helped copyright owners protect the rights they already had. When questioned on the 1983 Betamax decision, Attaway said that while he might not believe that it was the right decision, it has worked overall. He said he hopes that the Supreme Court will follow the Betamax decision when formulating its decision on Grokster because the Betamax ruling looked at how the product was being used - mainly for time shifting. The decision was that it fell under fair use and should be allowed to continue. The same process should be applied to Grokster, said Attaway, who said that "in this case, the defendant clearly created it for infringing purposes," it is clearly used for infringing purposes and is clearly costing music and motion picture industries lots of money. "We are not opposed to peer-to-peer technology at all," Attaway responded when asked if there is any file sharing that is OK. Rather, he said, the industry is opposed to the way in which P2P technology is used. He believes that if the industry can find a way to distribute movies via peer-to-peer networks, it would be a good thing - as long as the rights holders get paid, of course. Attaway mentioned a number of things that P2P services can do to encourage the legitimate use of their technology, including better informing consumers about copyrights and putting better restrictions on the service and the files that are swapped. According to Attaway, network license fees do not cover most of the cost of network television production. The producers make money from additional markets, such as foreign markets and the aftermarket (syndication, DVDs and the like. When consumers swap TV show files over P2P networks, these markets are eliminated. Although he believes in digital
rights management, he did admit, "No DRM is going to be
perfect or uncircumventable. There's always going to be
leakage. It's just a matter of keeping the leakage under
control." Respond
to this article EMI's Cohen: Consumer Empowerment over Digital Media is 'Phenomenal' During a Q&A session at Digital Media Wire's 2nd annual Digital Media Conference, Ted Cohen, senior VP of digital development and distribution at EMI, noted that until five years ago, a consumer interested in music would go to a record store and either buy a CD or not. "If you did, we were happy," Cohen said. "If you didn't, we were miserable." Times have certainly changed. Now, there's a plethora of digital services including single downloads, subscription services, ringtones and more. Cohen, whose job includes looking at new technology opportunities and see how they can be used to move the industry forward, believes that "it's a good time for the industry to find what resonates with consumers." He appeared at the conference with his bag of goodies - a slew of cool gadgets, ranging from cell phones to iPods to a PSP, that travel with him everywhere. He sees mobile devices as a good way to distribute music videos, movie trailers and other short-form video, calling it "short attention-span theater." He says that mobile music and video presents providers with an opportunity to get their content in front of people and get quick feedback. Cohen turned to a fairy tale to describe how he ranks multi-function devices: The Sony PSP is the "Papa Bear" The Gizmondo is the "Mama Bear" The Nokia N-Gage is "Baby Bear" And, although he didn't include it in the list, Apple's iPod is king of them all. And Cohen should know - he has seven of them. Perhaps iPod should be called the "King Bear." Cohen expects that there will eventually be one main feature set that "will resonate" with consumers, but the features won't be limited to a single device. They will, however, all offer "personal ways to define your media usage." As a consumer, he sees this "multiplicity of offerings" as exciting. "I don't have to make a choice" of how or where to get content delivered. "The empowerment we have as consumers is phenomenal," he said. As a part of the industry, he believes it is "time to wrap our heads around new business models." He also said that the industry has never had a problem with peer-to-peer technology, just with the way that it is used. Back to Headlines "All phone calls will be free. That's obviously an issue for the phone companies." - Niklas Zennstrom, developer, along with Janus Friis, of the Skype Internet telephony network and creator of the Kazaa P2P network, in a BBC article "How Skype and Kazaa Changed the Net." Asked how Skype, one of the so-called VoIP services, could offer free phone service, Zennstrom likened the service to Google, which no one pays to use. He said in the article "When you go and search on Google you don't pay for that. But sometimes you click on an advert and Google makes money on that. It's the same thing with Skype. Some users are paying for services, but not everyone." Zennstrom said he believes the losers will be the telcos who do not understand that there is a change going on. "This is a disruptive technology that shifts the industry," Zennstrom told the BBC. He added that Skype will take away revenue from phone calls, which is where the telcos get the bulk of their money. "On the other hand," he said, "Skype, just like Kazaa and other software, is encouraging people to buy broadband connections. Today, less than half of the population has broadband. This enables the phone companies to sell broadband to the other half." Back to Headlines Letters, We Get Letters (E-Mail, at Least) From an e-mail we received about last week's article "MSN TV Everywhere and On Schedule:" "Reading the article on MSN TV at the trade show - not a very good piece, too much about connected PC - you know that is hardly the core issue for customers - TV is supposed to be for everyone, not just PC owners. "This paragraph is
amazing: To which we reply: We write about the DVR functions and connected PCs and set-top boxes because that is the focus of our newsletter. We do not write about TV except as it relates to digital media. SBC and Swisscom will be in big trouble if Microsoft doesn't come through more or less on time. BellSouth isn't betting its future, at least publicly, on IPTV. Nor is Verizon, which will deliver conventional cable TV-like broadcasting signals over its fiber network, at least initially. Without IPTV, the telcos are just another TV service and that might get them only a 10% to 15% market share - not enough to make it. Frankly, I don't see how the
phone companies can assure their financial future without IPTV
and fiber at least to the neighborhood. Internet telephony and
the cable TV outfits' bundling of phone service will start
cutting into the telcos' revenue big time in 2006. If the
cable TV companies were to cut their broadband rates -
unlikely, they could decimate the phone companies' broadband
revenues. Then the telcos only cash cow would be their
corporate business. Respond
to this article MediaBay To Offer BBC Audiobook Downloads MediaBay inked a deal to offer digital downloads of BBC Audiobooks UK's vast library of audiobooks. The titles are in a wide variety of lifestyle categories and literary genres such as biography, comedy, drama, history, quiz shows and travel. The collection also includes a number of famous series - "Doctor Who," "Sherlock Holmes," "Monty Python" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The digital titles will be available for download to folks in the US via the MSN Music as part of an exclusive deal between MediaBay and MSN. MediaBay also plans to offer the audiobook downloads on Larry King Audio (www.larrykingaudio.com/) as well ad distribute them through its growing network of affiliate sites. Back to Headlines EarthLink Promises NYC $20/Month Broadband Last week we reported on attempts to bring affordable broadband to every New York City residence. Brinton Young, executive VP of strategy for EarthLink told the June 10th NYC broadband hearing that EarthLink would provide wireless broadband for under $20 per month at a speed of 1 Mbps. His complete presentation follows: "Good morning. Thank you for giving me the chance to speak to you today. My name is Brinton Young and I run strategy at EarthLink. I live in Pasadena, California but I'm glad to be back in New York City. My mother is a Brooklyn girl. And I have many happy memories of vacations and Christmas in this city, the city that sets the world standard for excellence in so many of the arts and professions. "EarthLink is an ISP. Our mission is to connect people to the Internet, and to deliver the best possible Internet experience to them. Today EarthLink offers service to over five million subscribers through dialup, cable, DSL and satellite, as well as mobile wireless. We have over a million broadband customers and have won the JD Powers Customer Satisfaction award for three years. But we have a problem and it is a problem we share with America. Broadband is too expensive. Two monopolies control the last mile to the home, EarthLink can buy access to that last mile from them, but at a high price, too high for us to turn it into a retail service, offer it to the public at a great price and make a return. "Finding a cost effective third pipe to the home, to create level playing field for EarthLink to compete in broadband is our number one strategic challenge at EarthLink. For the last three years , we have done a lot of digging into the next generation of broadband technologies, digging in the form of trials, field tests, investments. There are many candidates - WiMAX and other emerging wireless, broadband over electrical power lines, to name a couple of promising categories. "But today I want to focus on a particular approach to the last mile which I believe is ready to meet the need for affordable broadband access. It is Wi-Fi technology deployed in a mesh. The same Wi-Fi used for local networking and hot spots can be used to provide broadband to the home. In this system, Wi-Fi radios are being deployed on light poles in a grid throughout the city, spaced about 1,200 feet apart. Internet traffic passes through this mesh into the home of the consumer. With the right equipment inside the customer's home, it will deliver about 1 Mbps downstream. "The power of this system is its low cost. It leverages the low cost of Wi-Fi chips, of which 50 million units are shipped annually in the US alone. It can be deployed for less than $25 per household passed. It doesn't need outdoor antennae or professional installers. I have seen it working in Chaska, Minnesota, where the service is offered for $15.95 a month and 30% of the town has signed up. "Here's the point. Using this technology, we believe EarthLink can deliver 1 Mbps broadband for a retail price under $20. We are prepared to work with the city to make that happen. "Here's the catch. We need access to the light poles. The economic model does not work with pole rentals of $60 per month, much less $250 per month, when the electricity usage costs less than a $1. In order to enable this low cost technology, the city needs to make its light poles available for a couple of dollars a month. "Does the density of NYC present challenges? Of course. Are there technical issues still to be addressed and tested before we would be confident enough to build out the whole city? Of course, but we, together with our equipment partners, are working on them. Would a phased rollout be prudent? Yes, we think so. "Is it important for kids to have broadband? Of course it is. My 11- and 12-year-old girls use it every night for their homework. Should government care about universal broadband access? Both Presidential candidates in the last election thought it was important. Does that mean the city of New York has to get in the business of building and running networks? No, it does not, but the city can facilitate the deployment of those networks by partnering with the private sector. EarthLink is prepared to be that partner." Back to Headlines Verizon Brings Wireless Broadband to San Antonio Verizon Wireless will offer a high-speed wireless network in San Antonio and surrounding areas that covers more than the usual hotspots at airport terminals and coffee shops. The network will cover everywhere in and around San Antonio and along the Interstate 35 corridor from San Antonio to Austin. Austin, Houston and the Dallas/Fort Worth areas already have access to the Verizon wireless broadband network. "This launch of high-speed wireless broadband surpasses any wireless technology available," said Luis Cruz, regional president for Verizon Wireless. "San Antonio consumers and businesses now have access to the latest mobile wireless data and entertainment, making it possible for them to stay connected, informed and entertained via their wireless phones and computers - anywhere, anytime." The network uses a new technology known as Evolution Data-Optimized, or EV-DO. Customers will need a special $50-$100 PCMCIA card in their laptop. The monthly fee for unlimited use is $79.99. Speed will be in the 400 Kbps to 700 Kbps range, much faster than a dial-up connection and about one-half the rate of most DSL broadband connections. Customers with EV-DO-equipped handsets and willing to pay another $15 a month can get unlimited access to more than 300 two- to five-minute video clips per day plus unlimited browsing on the Verizon Wireless news and information Web service. Sprint PCS and Cingular Wireless both say they plan to launch their own broadband wireless networks in San Antonio later this year. Verizon Wireless is also launching its new V CAST service in San Antonio for its phone customers. V CAST delivers short-form content on-demand such as games, music videos and news to cell phones over the EV-DO network. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon and the UK's Vodafone. Cingular is a joint venture of San Antonio-based SBC and Atlanta-based BellSouth. Back to Headlines 28m New Broadband Lines So Far This Year The number of broadband lines worldwide reached 164 million as of March 31, an increase of 52 million lines since a year earlier, with 28 million lines added in the last six months alone, according to the latest analysis from Point Topic. The US is still the world's largest broadband country, with 36.5 million lines, and China remains in second place with 28.3, the report says. The UK had the most growth of any "G7" country since the end of 2004, with one million new lines, a 16.5% increase. France was the only other G7 country passing 10% growth in the quarter - achieving 13.5% growth and adding 913,000 lines. "Turkey led the rankings in terms of percentage growth," said Haroon Butt, senior analyst at Point Topic, "with a 37% growth in the quarter, adding 179,000 lines." Poland led the Eastern European countries, achieving 24% growth and becoming the first Eastern European country to pass one million lines. Australia had 18% growth to reach 1.8 million lines in the quarter. "In South Korea, the broadband market continues its path to saturation with growth of 1.4% in the quarter," said Butt. "We see slow growth in some other countries, especially the established 'early adopters' such as Taiwan and even Japan, our figures show less than 5% increase in the quarter." DSL operators still dominate the world broadband market with 107 million out of the 164 million broadband subscribers opting for DSL, giving it a 65% market share. Cable modem broadband subscribers are only higher in the North American market, where the US and Canada have cable broadband shares of 59% and 52% respectively. Broadband Market Share Service
World US
Canada "In other major broadband markets, DSL clearly dominates, especially in Western Europe," added Butt. DSL lines in France, Germany, UK and Italy are at least 70% of the total market. In Germany, they form almost 100% of national broadband lines. In terms of broadband penetration, South Korea became the first country to reach 25 lines per 100 residents, with growth having started to saturate over 18 months ago. Elsewhere, Western European countries have moved further up the penetration rankings, with Netherlands and Denmark in third and fourth place having passed 20 lines per 100 residents, and Switzerland in fifth place with almost 19 lines per 100 residents, having passed Canada. Back to Headlines Deutsche Telekom Cuts Monthly Broadband Rate to €14.95 Deutsche Telekom's T-Online unit will reduce the monthly rate for its best-selling DSL package to €14.95 ($18) per month from €29.95 ($36) beginning in July, according to T-Online CEO Rainer Beaujean. Unlike SBC's price cut to $14.95, T-Online's is for both new and existing customers. The company fears the impact on its customer base by competitors such as Vodafone, freenet.de and United Internet. It sees what happened in France with France Telecom's Wanadoo unit losing substantial market share to lower prices from rival free.fr. Free.fr, for example, charges only €30 ($36) for "up to" 7 Mbps DSL, unlimited phone calls in France and 60 TV channels. The big question is why, if broadband is $15 in Texas and $18 in Germany where everything else is priced higher than the States, why is most of the US paying $25 to $50 a month for broadband? T-Online rivals freenet.de, United Internet and Vodafone's Arcor wireline operation ramped up their marketing earlier this month. "If we notice that our competitors would like to end the price war they've started themselves, that's the right moment for us to say, 'Here we are,'" Beaujean told Reuters. "We also know the trends abroad. We have learned in France that broadband market leader France Telecom's Wanadoo unit waited for too long. We learned from that and act faster." United and freenet pay "wholesale" monthly fees to access Deutsche Telekom's DSL infrastructure. The wholesale rate is set by the German government, which tries to make sure there is sufficient margin between T-Online's retail rate and the wholesale rate for third-party ISPs such as freenet and United. Vodafone's Arcor and Telecom Italia's HanseNet have their own networks and do not use Deutsche Telekom's. Beaujean said the rate decreases will cause a €400 million ($481 million) decline in T-Online's expected revenue this year, from €2.5 billion ($3 billion) to €2.1 billion ($2.5 billion). Its 2004 revenues were €2.0 billion ($2.4 billion). Back to Headlines Cox Offers Crippled Triple-Play Bundle Cox Cable is offering an $89.95-a-month triple-play bundle of phone, broadband and TV services. Unfortunately, and unlike Cablevision's $99 triple-play bundle, it has shortcomings: long distance calls aren't included - they're five cents a minute. It's basic cable channels only and broadband speed is limited to 4 Mbps down and 0.5 Mbps up. Back to Headlines Wireless and Mobile Broadband Coming to South Korea South Korea's Korea Telecom (KT) plans to offer mobile wireless broadband service called WiBro that will allow users to access the Internet when traveling at 60 kilometers-per-hour (36 MPH). Access points are being built in Seoul and 19 other cities for a launch next year. Top access speed will be 1 Mbps. KT will offer the WiBro service to mobile phones, which will give users VoIP, high-speed Internet access and digital media broadcasting capabilities. The telco is working with HP and Intel to develop handsets for this. "With WiBro we expect to provide new things such as location-based services, IP services and convergence," said KT CEO Ken Lee. "The goal is to create an environment that enhances life for citizens. The result is an economically vibrant city. This will be a catalyst for growth in the new age of Korea." KT has 55% of the countries broadband market share. The Korean Electronics and Telecomm-unications Research Institute claims that WiBro will boost the countries production by $21 billion (£11.8 billion) and increase exports by $7.25 billion (£4 billion). Back to Headlines China had 30 million broadband subscribers at the end of March, up 5.3 million in five months, according to China's Ministry of Information Industry by way of DSL Prime. Market research outfit Point Topic puts China's broadband numbers at 28.3 million on March 31. Back to Headlines "Providing broadband connectivity to all, at the most reasonable prices shall be my top most priority." - India's Minister for Communications and Information Techn-ology Dayanidhi Maran Back to Headlines The digital media age is about the Internet delivering music, movies, games, other entertainment and information on-demand. Consumers will gain control over what they get, when they get it and where they get it. 1) Wireless networking. Entertainment will be the driving force for installing wireless networks in millions of homes particularly as network speeds increase to 100 Mbps, permitting movies, TV shows and home videos that are downloaded or stored on a PC to be played on TV sets in other rooms. 2) Built-in digital video recorder functions à la TiVo will be included in entertainment appliances such as TVs and set-top boxes. By connecting them to the home network, consumers will be able to access movies, TV shows and other TV-broadcasted content in any room at any time. 3) A digital media interconnection standard, probably a combination of Windows and UPnP, that will automatically synch up connected multi-vendor digital entertainment products and display a common user interface menu for operating any connected device - a standard that could lead to (gasp!) a universal remote control. 4) Handheld personal video players such as those from Archos and HandHeld Entertainment. Millions will use them to watch downloaded and pre-recorded video. 5) Digital Media-enabled cell phones that let you talk, play games, take pictures, personalize ringtones, surf the Web, listen to music, watch news and sports and preview movie trailers. 6) Streaming media for accessing Web-based radio, news and sports highlights, plus dedicated music genre channels. Streaming will one day deliver full-length movies, music videos, TV programs and information videos to millions of Internet-connected homes around the globe. 7) Smaller, less expensive storage products with larger capacities such as DVDs, tiny hard disks and memory products that will drive down costs and increase both capacity and fidelity - in other words: "More, better, cheaper." Back to Headlines Coding Nabs Another Mobile Music Service Coding Technologies, which says it's the leading provider of audio compression technology for mobile, broadcasting and Internet music services, has been one of the big (although somewhat silent) winners in digital media. The company is convinced that the future of downloaded music services are those that download directly to portable devices such as cell phones rather than those, like Apple's iTunes, that download to a PC and then copy to a portable device. The company this week announced it's signed up a deal for Japan's mobile carrier KDDI to use Coding's compression technology in its "EZ Chaku-Uta Full" download music service. "KDDI has shown that music players tethered to PCs shall be replaced by multimedia phones," said David Frerichs, VP and US general manager of Coding Technologies. "EZ 'Chaku-Uta Full' brings the future now." KDDI passed the 10 million milestone of complete song downloads sold by the EZ Chaku-Uta Full service. Started on November 19, 2004 EZ "Chaku-Uta Full" uses Coding Technologies' MPEG-4-based aacPlus format. With 30,000 tracks available, the service is now selling songs at a rate of approximately two million tracks per month at a very profitable 300 Yen ($2.75) per track. By way of comparison, iTunes has sold 400 million downloads. Listeners can preview songs for free and then purchase them for direct download to their mobile handset. Tracks can also be copied to removable memory cards on enabled cell phone handsets to increase the size of the listener's library. Users can set the downloaded tracks as ringtones in addition to listening to them. Nine handsets currently are compatible with the EZ Chaku-Uta Full service, including units from Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo, Casio, Kyocera and Sony Ericsson. The service is now a standard feature on all new CDMA 1x WIN handsets. "We have a top market share in 3G because of advanced services like EZ 'Chaku-Uta Full'," said Makoto Takahashi, VP and general manager of KDDI's content division. "aacPlus is a key part of the economic engine that allows us to deliver quality services to our customers," he said. Coding's Trophy Room Nokia has a broad license to aacPlus and is incorporating it in various products including the cooperative venture between Nokia, Microsoft and Loudeye. SK Telecom uses aacPlus in its 3G content service offerings. It currently provides music-on-demand and video-on-demand to over one million 3G subscribers in Korea. With the addition of MPEG-4 aacPlus, download costs for subscribers and operating costs for SK Telecom go down significantly because of its better compression. Vodafone Germany has based its Vodafone Live Music download service on aacPlus. The following mobile phone manufacturers are shipping or have announced phones with aacPlus: Samsung, Nokia, LG, Motorola, Hitachi, Sanyo, Toshiba, Casio, Sendo, Curitel and Siemens. Mobile platform vendors Ericsson Mobile Platform, Qualcomm and TTPcom have all integrated aacPlus. Mobile tools vendors Emuzed, McubeWorks, Nero, Nextreaming OnTimeTek, Orban, Packet Video and RealNetworks all support aacPlus. Some Background The aac format is based on the industry standard MPEG-4 compression scheme so it's viewed by many as an industry standard as opposed to Microsoft's proprietary WMA format. Coding Technologies offers an enhanced aac that's called aacPlus. Its "Spectral Band Replication" technology is a backward and forward compatible method to enhance the efficiency of any audio codec. The company says its products are fundamental enablers of open standards such as MPEG, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio and the DVD Forum. Coding Technologies is a spinout of the joint effort of Fraunhofer Institute (creator of MP3), Dolby, AT&T and Sony that developed the aac technology. By-the-way: Sony owns the name "Chaku-Uta Full" but we could not find out whether it owns any of the service, which includes content from several labels, including Sony. Back to Headlines DVD Recorder Sales to Surpass DVD Players Worldwide revenues for DVD players (as opposed to DVD recorders) will have their first ever decline this year with sales projected to fall 1% to $19.8 billion, according to Strategy Analytics. DVD recorders are becoming more popular than DVD players, the market researcher said. Worldwide sales of DVD recorders reached 8.9 million units in 2004 and are expected to overtake play-only machines in 2008, with annual sales of 90.9 million units in 2010. Higher-value DVD recorders are beginning to replace players, but this trend will not prevent a continued fall in overall revenues, according to the company. "High prices and product complexity have held back demand for DVD recorders, but these factors are now diminishing," said Peter King, director of the Strategy Analytics Connected Home service. Currently, Japan and Europe lead in DVD recorder adoption. In the US, consumers are more likely to own DVR gear, either as a separate set-top box, such as a TiVo unit, that all the US cable and satellite pay-TV services offer. Outside the US, DVD recorders with a built-in hard disk are more popular as replacements for VCRs for recording TV shows. With a DVR, consumers record a TV show on the hard disk and then copy it to a DVD. Back to Headlines UK Internet Ad Spending Increases 51.5% Internet ad spending in the UK in the year's first quarter again surpassed the rest of the advertising market with an increase of 51.5%. This compares with a 5.3% increase for ads in all media, according to the Advertising Association in conjunction with the World Advertising Research Center. Internet advertising accounted for £210 million during the quarter. Back to Headlines 8.5m P2P File Sharers on Average at Any Time There are an average of 8.5 million people using peer-to-peer networks for downloads at any given time, said BigChampagne, which monitors online traffic. They love their music - with three out of four files downloaded through peer-to-peer networks being music tracks, according to BigChampagne's Online Media Measurement. Movies only make up about 2% of downloads, the company said. However, the number of movie files available has increased to 50 million from last year's 30 million. Other videos such as TV shows and adult stuff accounted for almost 9% of downloads. Despite the best efforts of the record labels and movie studios - both legal and educational - the average number of people connected to P2P networks has grown from 5.5 million in 2003 to 8.5 million through the first five-and-a-half months of this year. Two dips occurred. One was when the first wave of publicity hit about the RIAA's intent to sue individual US residents it believed were violating copyrights. The other was when it actually started filing the suits. Average Simultaneous P2P Users Period
Worldwide
US
US as % of World Total June,
2003
4,362,489
3,113,631
71.4% July,
2003
3,484,100
2,418,593
69.4% August,
2003
3,847,567
2,630,960
68.4% September,
2003
4,319,181
2,891,645
66.9% October,
2003
6,142,506
3,764,032
61.3% November,
2003
4,392,814
2,498,431
56.9% December,
2003
5,602,384
3,239,298
57.8% January,
2004
6,046,998
3,528,419
58.4% February,
2004
6,831,368
4,039,989
59.1% March,
2004
7,370,644
4,603,571
62.5% April,
2004
7,639,481
4,688,988
61.4% May,
2004
7,286,378
4,589,255
62.9% June,
2004
7,401,432
4,583,920
61.9% July,
2004
7,116,270
4,584,111
64.4% August,
2004
6,822,692
4,549,801
66.7% September,
2004
6,771,548
4,687,536
69.2% October,
2004
6,255,986
4,435,395
70.9% November,
2004
7,452,184
5,445,275
73.1% December,
2004
7,582,248
5,500,314
72.5% January,
2005
8,385,612
6,129,512
73.1% February,
2005
8,524,938
6,183,636
72.5% March,
2005
8,282,986
6,016,247
72.6% April,
2005
8,629,307
6,297,457
73.0% May,
2005
8,665,319
6,290,327
72.6% June,
2005 *
8,722,793
6,422,725
73.6% Period
Annual Average
Users
Annual Average Users
Year
2003
5,518,899
2,936,656
53.2% Year
2004
7,048,102
4,603,048
65.3% 2005
to Date *
8,535,159
6,223,317
72.9% The sudden jump in the average file size from May 2004 to May 2005 reflects some slight increase in the number of video files. The typical music track is about 3MB. Average File Size on the P2P network FastTrack Period
Average File Size (in MB) |
