Place-shifted Content Market Spurred by Shared Photos and Games

For Immediate Release
Contact: Elizabeth Parks
Parks Associates
972-490-1113
Email: sales@parksassociates.com

“Place-shifted” Content Market Spurred by Shared Photos and Games
Stored personal and commercial content will drive consumer demand to access multimedia services from multiple locations in, outside of the home

Dallas, Texas February 3, 2005 — Digital photography and multiplayer gaming are the key applications motivating consumer interest in “place-shifting” solutions, according to Parks Associates. The market research firm has found these applications, which generate high interest among consumers, hold the greatest potential for success in developing portable content and services for the mass market.

“Content owners, networking component manufacturers, and mobile applications players all stand to benefit from this high consumer interest in ‘place-shifted’ content,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst for Parks Associates.

Parks Associates’ consumer surveys have found that consumer place a higher premium on content personalization, storage, and sharing services that offer more in terms of flexibility and ease-of-use. Scherf indicated that content owners, developers, and providers should begin to build business models that take these preferences into account.

“Approximately one-quarter of U.S. households serve as crucial leading adopters of residential and mobile solutions,” Scherf said. “When questioned about new means of access to personal and stored content, they expressed the highest interest in sharing photographs with friends and loved ones. That is the application with the highest potential for success in this budding market for mobile ‘place-shifting’ solutions.”

In early 2005, Parks Associates is launching two new primary consumer research studies, Digital Entertainment: Changing Consumer Habits and Mobile Entertainment Platforms & Services, which will focus on how consumers interact with and use digital media, including recorded television programming, digital music, gaming, and personal and self-created content. The studies will focus on the ways in which consumers will seek to “play-shift” their content in both home and mobile ecosystems. For more information about Digital Entertainment: Changing Consumer Habits and Mobile Entertainment Platforms & Services, please contact Parks Associates at 972-490-1113 or sales@parksassociates.com or visit http://www.parksassociates.com.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is a market research and consulting firm focused on all product and service segments that are “digital” or provide connectivity within the home. The company’s expertise includes home networks, digital entertainment, consumer electronics, broadband and Internet services, and home systems.

Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, multiclient studies, consumer research, workshops, and custom-tailored client solutions. Parks Associates also hosts Fall Focus and co-hosts CONNECTIONS (in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association) each year. www.parksassociates.com