According to data released by Frank N. Magid Associates, reported on by eMarketer and others, consumers are showing a strong and growing preference for smartphones and tablets. Magid measured the adoption of these devices among a population of mobile phone owners, starting from 2011 and projecting into 2014. The growth of both types of devices has been nothing short of phenomenal. The penetration of smartphones was at 49% in 2011; it's expected to reach 80% in 2014. Tablet growth has been soaring, from 20% in 2011 to a projected 64% in 2014, amazing when you consider that the first iPad appeared in April 2010. Online consumption of entertainment is supplementing and sometimes replacing television as the preferred medium. According to the Magid study, in the 18-34 age bracket, 35% watch content primarily on a smartphone or tablet, 34% on a PC or laptop, and 21% on television. The trend is even stronger within the Hispanic population. Perhaps one explanation for this sea change is that there are infinite content choices online and the lightweight portability of smartphones and tablets make these devices even more personal than are personal computers. Last night, for example, yahoo.com streamed a free Paul McCartney concert that was viewable on the iPhone or iPad, and easy to watch on a larger TV via the wifi connection of an AppleTV device. In essence, you could walk around the house watching the concert or you could enjoy it on a more traditional TV. It's giving the consumers what they want, when they want it, and in the format they prefer.
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9/11/2013 0 Comments Reflecting on a Horrific DayToday, of course, is the twelfth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In many ways, the horrors of the attacks brought the American people together as a single community, and in other ways felt deeply personal as well. It did not matter what your background was, who you voted for, what your beliefs were, the people who were killed or injured cut across the beautiful fabric that makes up the United States, as well as visitors from all corners of the globe. On that horrific day, I remember working in Newark, maybe 10 miles or so west of the World Trade Center. As I was driving east on I-280, I remember hearing the first reports of a plane crash before 9:00 a.m., then seeing the billowing smoke from the top of one of the towers. I remember parking on the upper levels of an office garage and seeing straight across toward lower Manhattan. I remember sitting in my cubicle and contacting my family, realizing that communication might be lost at any moment -- leaving a message for my wife where she was teaching, not being sure how much the schools were aware of the day's events; leaving a message with my in-laws in case my wife got through to them and not to me. I remember calling my mother on Staten Island - the direction in which the smoke was billowing - then realizing that instead of hanging up I should do a conference call with my brothers (one who lived in Manhattan at the time, another who often was in the City, and a third from Boston, from which two of the planes originated). I also remember driving home early that day and avoiding a drawbridge I would usually drive on, not being sure of what other targets there might be. I also remember the weather that Tuesday being particularly nice - beautifully clear and pleasant. We must always remember the sadness and the tragedy of the day - the people who worked there, the tourists who were visiting, the emergency services personnel who gave their lives to rescue others, the countless volunteers who helped regardless of the risks to their own health and safety. In the fall of 2000, I lost my father after a series of health battles. I couldn't help but think that he probably would have organized a blood drive had he been alive on 9-11. The skyline of Manhattan is changing now. From the New Jersey side, you can clearly see the rebirth a bit over a decade later. There are many great vantage points of the New York City skyline from the Garden State side of the Hudson River. Liberty State Park in Jersey City was a key part of rescue efforts in 2001; today you can see the dramatic changes with the new One World Trade Center, sometimes called the Freedom Tower. This past July, the new tower was lit up top to bottom in red, white, and blue, an amazing site. Tonight, beams of light will be visible from lowerManhattan after sundown to honor the memory of the victims of the attacks. Because of the ease of access and proximity to New York City, New Jersey represented a very large number of the casualties. One of the most beautiful tributes to the events of that day can be seen in West Orange at Eagle Rock Reservation, a public park. On a clear day, you get an incredibly panoramic view of New York - seeing all the way from the George Washington Bridge to the Rockaways. The names of the victims are engraved on a wall. There are sculptures honoring the emergency personnel. The people aboard the four airplanes that crashed are each individually recognized. Let us honor all by remembering the tragedy and remembering what makes us strong. Let us remember what a privilege it is to live in this great democracy and to be able to vote for the candidates of our choice. Let us remember that our differences can either pull us apart or make us stronger. The terrorist attacks in 2001 brought together the nation in different ways. That is something worth remembering and upon which to build.
Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park
Since 2000, the way we access the internet has changed dramatically. At the turn of the century, dial-up still ruled the day as far as internet access was concerned. According to a report from the Pew Internet Project, one in three individuals used a dial-up connection, with a mere 3% accessing the web via a fast connection. High-speed broadband access was enjoyed by a mere 3% of respondents. Thirteen years later, we see that the dial-up connection has dropped precipitously to 3%, while broadband access is the preferred method for 70% of respondents. A substantial 10% have smartphones but lack a high-speed connection at home, while 20% lack both a home broadband connection and smartphone. Broadband access correlates to higher income and education levels, while the lower the age the greater the likelihood of the high-speed connection. As more and more content is streamed via the internet (YouTube, movies, etc.), high-speed connections should continue to dominate for the foreseeable future.
View from Staten Island Ferry on nice summer day
The rapid pace of technological change can be mind-boggling at times. Millions in the Baby Boomer and older generations may have experienced transistor radios and bulky black-and-white televisions in their younger days, and smartphones and tablets today. The common perception is that social networking and texting are the preferred method of communication of today's younger generations, and for the most part, that is correct. What is fascinating, particularly as it relates to social networking, is that it has made major inroads into the older populations as well. According to a report from the Pew Research Center, almost three-quarters of adults use social networking sites today, up from 8% in February 2005 to 72% in May 2013. Undoubtedly, this growth has been fueled in large part by the success of Facebook, which launched a year earlier in February 2004. While sites such as MySpace are now a distant memory, others such as LinkedIn have moved in. Women (74%) are slightly more likely than men (70%) to use social networking sites. The Hispanic population (80%) is the most highly represented racial/ethnic group using social media, compared to 75% for the Black/non-Hispanic and 70% for the White/non-Hispanic groups. Usage was consistent among all income levels, ranging from 71% for those earning $75,000+ to 75% for those earning less than $35,000 annually. As would be expected, the 18-29 age bracket uses social networking the most, at 89%. The 30-49 segment also has embraced it to a very high level (78%). For the 50-64 group, affinity for social networking is still very substantial (60%), but also has substantial room for continued growth. While the 65+ group might be presumed to be the most resistant to social networking, a very substantial 43% were reported to use it. One explanation might be that as families have become more spread out, social networking with friends and family is a very practical way to stay in touch - at least as long as they don't "unfriend" you.
Transformations - butterflies and research
Once upon a time, students used a variety of books when tackling a research project. Those days are long gone. You cannot even say that books are playing second fiddle to the internet as a research tool. Books are not even in the orchestra, they are more of an afterthought. Google, a company that has been around for only fifteen years, very often is thought of as a verb. How do I know? I Googled it, of course! How does this resonate in the educational community? The reaction is mixed, not surprisingly, according to an online and focus group study conducted last year by the Pew Research Center along with the College Board and the National Writing Project. The 2,000+ educators who were surveyed teach middle school or high school. Focus groups were conducted both online and offline. Some of the more interesting findings include:
Recognizing that there is a challenge is a great first step in enabling the future workforce to become more critical thinkers. Schools and public libraries have taken the lead in reinventing themselves to reflect the digital age. The volume of information has grown exponentially. Libraries focus just as much on their electronic tools as their book collections. School systems have embraced the new technologies, as we recently saw when Los Angeles announced that it was initially purchasing 35,000 iPads for its schools, with a goal of providing all 640,000 students with iPads by the end of 2014. For those of us who love research, it bodes well if the quantity and quality of information move in the same direction. Understanding the challenge undoubtedly helps get us to the right solutions. 7/11/2013 0 Comments Five Years of Apps
NYC coming into view along Route 3 in NJ.
It's hard to believe that those omnipresent little programs called apps have been around for only five years. Just this week, Apple celebrated the fifth anniversary of this society-changing product. The impetus for this phenomenal growth has been the success of smartphones and tablets. Led by the iPhone and iPad, it is no longer necessary to carry around a cumbersome laptop. On July 10, 2008, Apple started the App Store with 500 of these tiny programs. Five years later, there are over 900,000 apps available. The early success of apps for the iPhone was accelerated with the launch of the iPad in 2010. When we think of the personal computer (PC), we typically have a laptop or desktop machine in mind. In many ways, the mobile devices are the truly personal computers. The traditional PC's might have a few dozen programs on it. A typical mobile user may very well have hundreds of apps. Each iPhone and iPad is customized to the end-user's preferences. Surfing the web, reading e-mail, and talking with others are just the tip of the iceberg. 6/28/2013 0 Comments Pilot Use of iPads Soaring
iPad use by airline pilots continues to take off.
For a device that has been on the market for only three years, it is nothing short of phenomenal how quickly the iPad has taken hold. The Los Angeles public school system just this month announced that it was purchasing over 30,000 iPads for its students. The Mayo Clinic has over 15,000 iPhones and iPads on its network. Hyatt Hotels is rolling out thousands of iPads to its employees. General Electric, founded by Thomas Edison, is connecting thousands of employees with in-house apps. For years, commercial airline pilots have carried flight bags with reams of paper - estimated at 45 pounds - on board. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad is saving an incredible amount of fuel, not to mention trees. United Airlines estimates the annual savings at 16 million sheets of paper and 326,000 gallons of fuel, not to mention much faster access to information. American Airlines says it will save 400,000 gallons per year. JetBlue is expanding a pilot program (pun intended) to provide all 2,500 of its pilots with iPads. Alaska Airlines is requiring its new pilots to go the paperless route - in fact, noting that lugging around and digging through heavy flight bags at times would lead to pilot injuries. American Airlines estimates that iPads will eliminate the need for 3,000 pages of paper per pilot. Many airline passengers are waiting to see how the FAA's review of on-board passenger use of electronics will fare. Some suggest that many of the current restrictions are archaic, while others prefer to err on the side of caution. It's amazing to realize that just over a decade ago, the iPod was primarily a music player. Today, you might see anyone from infants to pilots using iPads on aircraft. 6/14/2013 0 Comments TABLETS CONTINUE RAPID GROWTH
Thinking of the residents of Colorado Springs
In ancient times, the writing was on the wall (often literally) or wood or papyrus. People communicated via hieroglyphics. Charlton Heston famously played Moses over half a century ago in the Hollywood version of The Ten Commandments. So we see that the concept of delivering information via a tablet is not particularly new. What is new is that the electronic version of the tablet has grown from a "nice-to-have" item to an integral part of many people's connected lives - for general news and during emergencies, for social networking, and for thousands of apps. More and more people are purchasing an iPad, Galaxy Tab, Nexus, or Kindle Fire. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, in just three years, from May 2010 to May 2013, adult tablet ownership has soared from 3% to 34%, with no letup in sight. Other highlights include:
This writer believes that the main reason for the success of the tablet can simply be attributed to its portability and reader-friendliness. Tablets are much more compact and lighter in weight than laptops, but the reading experience is much easier than on smartphones. Tablets hit a sweet spot.
Networks - not just railroads, traffic lights, utility wires
With the continuing growth of mobile devices, led by smartphones and tablets, social media access is easier than ever. This is reflected in usage statistics. According to data from Experian, Facebook leads the way by a wide margin. For the week ending June 1, 2013, Facebook had over 2 billion visits, representing a 58% share. The next closest was YouTube, a distant second at 24%. The remainder of the top 10 is comprised of (3) Twitter, (4) Pinterest, (5) LinkedIn, (6) Yahoo! Answers, (7) Google+, (8) Tagged, (9) Tumblr, and (10) Reddit. Even though all of these sites have less than 2% of total social media visits, over the course of a year, that translates to hundreds of millions to several billion visits each. The growth of social media has transformed business (Kodak was a top brand for many decades, until digital photography replaced film photography), weather (Twitter feeds and comments often were the quickest way to get updated information during Hurricane Sandy), news (real-time updates during the Boston Marathon and the days that followed led to thousands of leads as well as inaccurate reporting at times), nations (the change in Egypt is just one of many examples), and communications (text messages and video chat have supplanted "snail mail" to a great extent). Despite some challenges, the use of social media is now an integral part of our daily lives,and will be so for the foreseeable future.
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - Atlantic entrance to New York Harbor
Growing up in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s, I got to watch Apollo 11 landing on the moon on a black-and-white television. By the time the Yankees won the World Series in 1977 and 1978, we were watching on the family's first color TV. When my wife and I got married almost 20 years ago, one of our first purchases was a Macintosh LC III desktop computer, with an 80MB hard drive. That is, well under 1GB, not the several hundred or more GB models of today. Some consumer external drives are now measured in terabytes (1TB = 1,000GB). The iPod has only been around since 2001, followed a few years later by the iPhone and then the iPad. Some competitor tablet and smartphone products also are doing very well. One of the big innovations brought about by the iPhone and iPad is the App Store, essentially mini programs in countless categories. Traditionally, when one thought of television, the major networks would pop to mind (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.) Cable or satellite TV in many cases would be a supplement to the major networks. Consumers might have access to hundreds of channels, but behavioral research would suggest that most viewers would watch perhaps a handful of channels regularly. This would mean that most people are paying for content that they are not viewing. Living in northern New Jersey, we did not suffer the catastrophic damage that our friends, family, and neighbors down the shore did last fall as a result of Hurricane Sandy. We did, however, lose power for nearly a week. Although we had no TV access at home due to the lack of electrical power, we were able to watch live coverage of the storm on our iPhones and iPad by charging them at nearby hotels that did have power. Cable service providers and the major networks have released apps to increase the channels available for their customers to view content. Many consumers are forgoing expensive cable bills and instead opting for Netflix and other programming options. Netflix started in 1997 as an online movie rental company. Today, it boasts 30 million subscribers worldwide. Blockbuster, which once dominated the landscape, is now a much different company and part of Dish Network. Hulu Plus reports over four million subscribers, with a rapidly growing base of those who view content on mobile devices, something they could not do a couple of years ago. HBO is available on the go and the major networks have released apps of their own. Devices like the Roku and AppleTV, as well as video game consoles, are acting as hubs for viewing content. |
Blog Author - Ken FelsherWith over 25 years of writing, editing, and research experience. I enjoy sharing with my readers my love of working with content on a variety of subjects. CategoriesAll 9-11 Airline Apollo 11 Apple Baseball Black Friday Boston Cable Cambridge Ceo Cooperstown Cyber Monday Cyber-Monday Delta Derek Football Freedom Tower Hall Of Fame Harvard Hawaiian HBO Hulu Hurricane Sandy Ipad IPhone IWatch Jeter Marissa Mayer Megatrend MIT Mobile Netflix New-jersey One World Trade Center Personal Computer Qantas Schlep Factor September 11 Smartphone Social Media Tablet Twin Towers United World Trade Center Yahoo Yankees Archives
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