Global shipments of tablets, including stand-alone devices and tablets built into 2-in-1 convertible laptops, will reach 221.8 million units this year, a 3.8 percent decline from 2014, IDC said Thursday in its quarterly “tablet tracker” report. IDC’s new downgraded outlook follows two consecutive quarters of declining sales and is a "modest" downward revision from the previous forecast of 234.5 million units and 2.1 percent year-over-year growth in 2015, IDC said. “While IDC expects overall sales to decline in 2015, some segments of the product category are poised to experience strong growth,” it said. For example, “cellular-capable” tablets and 2-in-1 devices are “a huge opportunity for the entire tablet ecosystem," it said. Although still a small portion of the entire market, this segment is expected to grow this year and beyond, it said. IDC forecasts that this segment will see a five-year compound annual growth rate of 5.6 percent compared with Wi-Fi-only devices, which will experience a 0.4 percent five-year CAGR decline, it said.
Smartphones will become the majority type of cellphone globally by 2018, driving continued growth in smart device technology that's predicted to account for 97 percent of global mobile data usage by 2019, Cisco said Tuesday in its annual mobile data forecast. Smart devices like smartphones and tablets currently account for 88 percent of mobile data usage, Cisco said. The number of smartphones is expected to be 4.6 billion by 2019, at which point there will be 3.1 billion feature phones, the company said. Cisco forecasts that mobile data usage will grow to 292 exabytes -- 292 billion gigabytes -- annually by 2019, up from the 30 exabytes of data transmitted during 2014.
Net neutrality rules by themselves wouldn't slow AT&T’s investment in its network, but reclassifying broadband as a Title II common carrier service likely would, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. The FCC must stay away from “strident, heavy-handed regulations,” he said. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to circulate an order Feb. 5 on reclassifying mobile and fixed broadband under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1501270043).
The rise in lobbying spending from tech companies and related trade associations continued in Q4, according to federal lobbying disclosure forms filed this week. Google spent more on lobbying than any other tech or communications company in 2014, while Amazon, Apple and Facebook set company lobbying expenditure records (see 1501210035). Google’s $16.83 million in 2014 was also a company record. MPAA and RIAA spent less on lobbying in 2014 overall than in 2013. Telecom companies also reported Q4 spending (see 1501220051).
Telecom giants often cut lobbying spending in Q4 despite myriad priorities ahead, currently ranging from net neutrality to a broader telecom law rewrite. Forms for last quarter were due this week. Observers told us not to let any dips in spending create the impression that industry is not deeply engaged in lobbying at a high level and likely to spend more this coming year. High-technology lobbying spending has been on the rise (see 1501220060).
Google, at $16.83 million, spent more on its federal lobbying efforts than any other tech or communications company in 2014, Consumer Watchdog said in a news release Wednesday. Google’s 2014 lobbying spending was a company record, it said. Amazon ($4.74 million), Apple ($4.11 million), Comcast ($16.8 million) and Facebook ($9.34 million) each set company lobbying expenditure records in 2014, said CW. “It’s important to understand just how much money these companies are throwing around in Washington,” said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project director, in the release. “Policymaking is now all about big bucks, not big ideas.” AT&T’s $14.56 million in 2014 was a 9 percent decrease from the previous year, said the release. Verizon’s $11.22 million in 2014 was a 17 percent decrease from 2013. Sprint’s lobbying spending jumped by 9 percent in 2014, to $2.99 million. Cisco’s lobbying total of $2.35 million in 2014 was a 25 percent decrease from 2013. IBM 2014 spending dipped by 30 percent to $4.95 million compared with 2013. Intel spent $3.8 million in 2014, a 13 percent decrease from the previous year. Oracle’s $5.83 million in 2014 was 3 percent less than 2013. Yahoo’s spending increased by 6 percent in 2014 to $2.94 million.
A five-year program dedicated to paying for internal E-rate connect requests from schools should enable coverage of 10.5 million students in funding year 2015, compared with 3.8 million students without the multiyear program, said an FCC staff report released Tuesday. The FCC approved its E-rate modernization at its July open meeting (CD July 14 p1). The order will provide $1 billion annually for the next five years for Wi-Fi connections within schools and libraries. The report was authored by staff of the Wireline Bureau and the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis (http://bit.ly/1uoRcod). The FCC asked interested parties to comment on the data in the report as part of broader comments in docket 13-184 on a Further NPRM on the E-rate program (http://bit.ly/1kcJUAy).
Though in 2013 there were more consumer electronics devices in the average home than there were three years earlier, those devices accounted for less energy use than in 2010, said a Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems study produced for CEA and released Monday. It’s pure coincidence that CEA released the study two months to the day after Department of Energy TV test procedure took effect, said Doug Johnson, CEA vice president-technology policy, in an email. “Long-standing programs like Energy Star and new-model approaches such as the recent set top box voluntary agreement prove that energy efficiency is best achieved when the public and private sectors work together,” Johnson was quoted as saying in a CEA news release, though the release didn’t mention the DOE program by name (http://bit.ly/1lLB7Fk). CEA has vehemently opposed the DOE TV test procedure on grounds that federal regulation can’t keep pace with rapid technological advancement on TV energy efficiency and that the DOE program blunts the value of well-run voluntary programs like Energy Star. “In the rapidly changing world of electronics devices and high-tech products, these voluntary and market-driven approaches are the only methods that can keep pace with technology, protect innovation and competition, and still achieve efficiency goals,” Johnson said in the release. “If older data is used to analyze potential energy policy decisions, such as voluntary or mandatory regulatory programs, it can lead to less effective policy decisions that may not achieve the end goals.” In the study, Fraunhofer said CE devices accounted for 12 percent of residential electricity consumption in the U.S. last year, vs. 13.2 percent in 2010. While TVs continue to be the most widely owned CE device in the U.S. with 97 percent household penetration in 2013, their per-unit energy consumption “is declining due to innovations in display technologies,” CEA said. Total power consumption of TVs dropped 23 percent from 2010 to 2013, as efficiency levels increased and ownership of CRT TVs declined, CEA said. The overall study found U.S. homes actively used 3.8 billion CE devices in 2013, consuming 169 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, CEA said. The 2010 study said the 2.9 billion devices in active use consumed a 193 TWh of power, it said. Last week, NCTA said set-top boxes, part of a deal on energy use reached between the cable and CE industries and energy efficiency advocates, use little of a typical household’s power (CD June 20 p10).
More than 22 million British consumers bought a video on DVD or Blu-ray in 2013, compared with just 3.3 million who subscribe to a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant, “proving the overwhelming popularity of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs for watching video entertainment,” the British Video Association said in its annual “yearbook” report Wednesday. The BVA values the 2013 British video market at just under $3.8 billion and estimates 73 percent of that was spent on physical media rather than digital delivery.
Liberty Global’s Virgin Media TiVo-based DVR service edged up slightly to 2.1 million subscribers in Q1 due to new subscription options designed to underscore quad-play packages, Liberty executives said Wednesday on an earnings call. The TiVo service in the U.K., which came as part of Liberty Global’s $24 billion acquisition of Virgin Media in 2013, accounted for 2.1 million of the cable operator’s 3.8 million video subscribers, and was up from 2 million in the previous quarter and 1.8 million in Q3, company executives said. Virgin, which imposed a 6.7 percent increase in subscription fees effective Feb. 1, launched a quad-play Big Kahuna package this month to existing customers that combines the 240-channel TiVo service with a broadband service with 152 Mbps download speeds and mobile that includes 250 MB of data and unlimited texts. Big Kahuna carries a $76.35 monthly fee with the mobile option available for an extra $8.50, company executives said. The Big Bang package carries a $50.89 monthly fee in pairing TiVo and 100 Mbps download broadband service and the mobile option, they said. Virgin’s new programming options, which are being promoted in ads featuring Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, have so far given “early indications that they are pretty attractive” with existing Virgin subscribers, Virgin Media CEO Thomas Mockridge said. Virgin’s quad play has 16 percent penetration with subscribers, analysts have said. The new packages will be available to new Virgin customers late this month, Mockridge said. Virgin is moving to “integrate and make mobile part of the cable business,” Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said. Virgin ended Q1 with about 3 million mobile subscribers, including 1.9 million postpaid and 1.1 million prepaid customers. Meanwhile, Horizon TV, Liberty’s answer to TV Everywhere in allowing subscribers to share content across devices with a common interface and recommendation engine, will launch the Reference Design Kit (RDK) with UPC Polska’s cable service in Poland later this year, Fries said. Liberty jointly developed RDK with Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which will replace NDS’s middleware in the Samsung-made Horizon TV set-top/DVR. In building out its cable networks, Liberty also will consider investing in programming content, but largely through partnerships, not acquisitions, Fries said. The European Commission also completed the first phase of reviewing Liberty’s proposed $13.9 billion acquisition of the Netherlands-based cable operator Ziggo, which will be combined with Liberty’s NPC Netherlands, Fries said. The sale is expected to close in the second half, he said.