Freeview, the U.K.’s subscription-free digital TV service, is being rebranded as Freeview Play “in preparation for a new product launch that will introduce a mass market connected TV offer,” said DTV Services, the consortium of BBC, Sky, Channel 4, ITV and Arqiva that runs the service. “The Freeview logo and visual identity have been refreshed to reflect the platform’s evolving service and will be introduced across Freeview’s product portfolio and brand marketing.”
Time Warner Cable expanded smart home offerings to its IntelligentHome customers. In a news release Wednesday, TWC said its menu now offers a connected door lock from Kwikset, smart light bulbs from LG and a General Electric ZigBee in-wall light switch. Citing the explosion of connected devices in the market, Adam Mayer, vice president-Time Warner Cable IntelligentHome, said the provider wants its smart home customers to be able to integrate “the devices they want the most.” The three new products are “just a sampling” of what’s possible in the smart home, he said. TWC customers can buy the products online from Best Buy. IntelligentHome is offered by package: Security -- touch screen, two door/window sensors and one motion or glass break sensor (or an additional door/window sensor) with one-time equipment charge of $99; Security & Energy -- all security package items plus one thermostat, $149; Security & Video View -- security package elements plus one indoor/outdoor camera, $149; and Security, Video View & Energy -- all security package elements plus one thermostat and one indoor/outdoor camera, $199. IntelligentHome service starts at $39 per month and requires TWC Internet service, it said. To connect the devices to a system, consumers follow pairing instructions included with the add-on devices to pair them wirelessly with the system, TWC said. A la carte add-ons include additional sensors, cameras and lights, said the cable operator, which has agreed to be bought by Comcast.
The U.S. mobile handset recycle rate fell 15 percent last year, or by 25 million phones, said a report by Recon Analytics that predicted a downward trend for smartphone sales with far-reaching effects just as more spectrum is opening for new services. Of the 143 million mobile phones sold in the U.S. in 2014, nine in 10 were smartphones, said Recon analyst Roger Entner, which compares with smartphone sales of roughly 50 percent the prior year. With device sales and new subscriber additions declining, the handset replacement rate has “abruptly slowed to the lowest rate since we began calculating the metric,” said Entner. He forecasts device sales will decline 5 percent to 136 million in 2015 and slip again in 2016 to 131 million. Consumers’ phone purchase patterns have changed, said Entner, with a growing number delaying upgrades to fulfill two-year contract obligations for lower monthly service plans. Consumers replacing their phones focused on newer, higher-priced devices, which resulted in device revenue slipping only 5 percent in 2014 despite the 15 percent drop in unit sales, said Entner. Short term, the movement to higher-priced devices bumps up revenue and profitability for mobile carriers, he said. The long-term trend is negative, because it takes longer for new devices to reach the network, exacerbated by the introduction of equipment installment plans (EIP) that have extended the handset replacement cycle by 4.1 months to 26.5 months in 2014, Entner said. The percentage of devices being replaced every year grew from 45 percent in 2013 to 49 percent last year, compared with the percentage of devices that replaced obsolete devices, which jumped from 15 percent in 2013 to 35 percent a year later, said Entner. Devices replaced on the traditional two-year schedule fell from 40 percent in 2013 to 16 percent last year, he said. A wedge, Entner said, is forming in Americans’ purchasing behavior between those who upgrade phones every year and those who upgrade when the phone breaks or becomes obsolete. App capabilities may be “artificially restrained” as developers cater to a consumer less prone to take advantage of new technologies to improve the utility of the device and service, he said. Software developers will have to consider that a large percentage of smartphones in use won’t be able to run cutting-edge apps, said Entner. Some developers won’t build the latest features into their apps, slowing the pace of innovation, he said. Older devices in the market that don’t have the latest electronics won’t be able to access new spectrum bands as they come online, said Entner. A six-year-old iPhone 3GS will achieve download speeds of 2 Mbps with its first-generation WCDMA chipsets, compared with an iPhone 6 that can download the content 25 times faster and access newly licensed spectrum, said Entner. “As fewer people upgrade their devices, the pace with which consumers can use new unused parts of the networks on new spectrum slows down and consumers are stuck on congested legacy spectrum,” Entner said, underscoring that mobile operators spent more than $45 billion on new spectrum in the recent AWS-3 auction. The transition to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) could be slowed by an “embedded base of older devices,” said Entner, and consumers' experience with speed and graphics could suffer, leading to buffering or long waits as content loads. “Longer-term developments could be largely offset in the short term by the slowed innovation and cramped spectrum caused by delayed handset replacement,” the researcher said. While following T-Mobile into the EIP space, AT&T has been able to defend its base against T-Mobile and other operators that offer EIP financial benefits as “device subsidy expenditures have declined significantly,” said Entner. He envisions AT&T encountering the same problems as T-Mobile as “the device universe" of its customers ages. Verizon is holding on to the status quo while offering consumers the option to do EIP, said Entner. Verizon benefits less from the short-term gains of EIP but “will also not suffer as much from a lengthened handset replacement cycle,” Entner said. He called Sprint, which “dabbles” in EIP offers, a “long-term winner.” The carrier's 24-month handset leasing program is a “viable plan” to both retain the device upgrade cycle and “reap the benefits from a customer base with newer devices,” Entner said.
Cinedigm, partnering with TV4 Entertainment, will offer niche over-the-top channels that TV4 Entertainment will distribute through its online video distribution platform, the company said in a news release Monday. The companies will focus the channels on preschoolers, kids and tweens, it said. The first channel from the partnership will launch later this year, it said.
“You’re toast” has taken on a new meaning with a new gadget from Hammacher Schlemmer that bills itself as “the appliance that indelibly brands its owner’s image onto a slice of bread.” The $69 “Selfie Toaster” uses custom heating inserts, sporting “full facial details,” that are created from a headshot submitted to the manufacturer by the toaster owner after purchase. The inserts are said to brand light or dark likenesses of the subject onto a slice of toast. Instructions for uploading a high-res digital image are included with the toaster, and customers receive their two selfie inserts within two weeks of uploading the image, the catalog company said.
Mothers’ ownership of smartphones in the U.S. passed that of laptop and desktop computers for the first time, said a fall study on the “lives of moms" by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. IAB's report, released Tuesday, compares technology habits and media behaviors of online moms aged 18-32 in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, China and the U.K. U.S. moms also are spending 35 percent more time online via their smartphones than via computers, it said. Elsewhere, 76 percent of millennial moms in Brazil own smartphones, up from 25 percent in 2012, and 93 percent of U.K. moms own smartphones, up from 73 percent two years ago. China leads the five countries in smartphone penetration among moms at 95 percent (up from 62 percent in 2012), followed closely by Canada at 94 percent, up from 59 percent two years ago, IAB said. Tablet ownership is on the rise, too, with China making the biggest gains, from 15 percent penetration in 2012 to 50 percent, while the U.K. penetration jumped from 18 percent to 66 percent. U.S. millennial moms spend more time with media overall at 8.9 hours daily, up from 8.3 hours in 2012, far more than the 2.8 hours they spend watching TV, IAB said, and more than the 1.7 hours spent on PCs. “With millennials making up the majority of new moms, brands and agencies need to think of this valuable demographic as tech-savvy and mobile-first, if they want to earn their interest and loyalty,” said Anna Bager, IAB senior vice president-mobile and video. The report is based on multiple sources, including an in-depth survey conducted by BabyCenter with 10,533 moms Nov. 3-Dec. 21, with U.S. qualitative research gathered via in-person friendship groups, and a longitudinal six-month online discussion group, IAB said. The U.S. portion of the survey included 2,742 participants, of whom 1,672 were millennial moms.
Crestron launched a proximity detection beacon called PinPoint that identifies a users’ location in a home and automatically displays controls for that space on their iOS devices, the company said Monday. The beacon solves what Crestron called the “room default problem” created by controlling smart home technology with mobile devices, which requires homeowners to navigate to different room menus on an app when they change rooms. The PinPoint beacon knows which room a user is in and automatically displays controls for the room on an iOS smartphone or tablet, Crestron said. Sean Goldstein, vice president-marketing, described in a news release a scenario where a user walks into a room with an iPad and control for lighting scenes, music and volume are available at the touch of a button. “Move to the kitchen, and as you do the lighting scenes for the kitchen appear,” he said. Using PinPoint, integrators can more precisely customize Crestron system features for family members based room location, it said. An Internet radio station can follow a person around the house, automatically turning on in each room the person walks into, for instance. Beacons can be configured in up to 100 rooms, and once devices are paired with the PinPoint app, they'll automatically communicate via Bluetooth with beacons throughout the home, Crestron said. The company also said Panasonic TH-98LQ70 and TH-84LQ70 4K UltraHD TVs are Crestron-certified, ensuring that the TVs will deliver true 10 Gbps data rates, interface with Crestron's DigitalMedia technology to handle cable lengths found in integrated AV systems and work with other 4K products in a DigitalMedia system.
Sling TV, the live, over-the-top Internet TV service announced at CES (see 1501050037), is available nationwide, the company said in a news release Monday. Customers can watch live TV on computers, smartphones, tablets and TVs, it said. The company's $20 core package includes ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, the Food Network, HGTV, TBS and TNT, and additional sports channels can be added for a $5-per-month Sports Extra package, it said. Customers can watch ESPN and ESPN2 on the WatchESPN app with Internet-connected devices, it said. Sling TV also offers Kids Extra and News & Info Extra packages for $5 a month, it said.
Correction: The draft net neutrality order would ban paid prioritization outright as one of its bright line rules, said Gigi Sohn, an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1502060056).
Russound completed implementation of Spotify, which is now available to users of the DMS-3.1 digital media streamer and the upcoming MCA-88X streaming multizone controller/amplifier, it said Friday. The company also released an updated version of the MyRussound App to enable full Spotify control from a smartphone or tablet.