Many long-standing legal rules of engagement between publishers and consumers tilted the playing field in unexpected ways in the first quarter. The period also saw a major expansion in the amount and quality of original productions for web-based video platforms and a major move by chipmaker Intel to stake a claim in the digital living room. Read more »
The console era is over — or so a growing number of game-industry executives would have us believe. While social and mobile gaming have taken a sizable share of the video games market, there is room for growth for hardware, particularly in streaming technology and the emergence of open-source platforms. Read more »
The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. Other developments included the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Nintendo’s Wii U won’t just come with Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant video. It will also tap into your TiVo library and even deliver game stats, tweets and other info to the second screen while watching a sports event on live TV. Read more »
Tablets featured prominently in the connected consumer space, both as a product category and as a component of broader platform strategies by major OS providers Microsoft, Google and Apple. Meanwhile Facebook began laying the groundwork to add payment processing to its platform. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The amount of energy consumed by video game consoles has increased by almost 50 percent between 2007 and 2010 in the U.S., according to a report out from Carnegie Mellon University. Read more »
Most venture capitalists obsess on the latest shiny object for youngish consumers. That’s remarkably shortsighted. The aging U.S. population is a potential gold mine for entrepreneurs that can build technologies to help this huge population remain active and stay in their homes as long as possible. Read more »
Kids can now browse Netflix movies and TV shows without accidentally stumbling across NC-17-rated content, thanks to a new children-friendly interface launched today. The roll-out of Netflix for kids marks the beginning of a wider expansion of a children-friendly interface across connected devices. Read more »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A new report finds that the iPad gaming community is big and getting bigger. IPad gaming shows lots of potential for growth, according to consumer data, but at least one game maker seems firmly committed to ignoring the opportunity inherent in that growth. Read more »
The number of connected devices is steadily on the rise, but it’s not smartphones or computers that will lead us to the 50 billion connected devices expected by the year 2020. Rather, the Internet of Things — numerous smart objects that speak to the web and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Nintendo’s investors think the company is wasting time and energy developing for its own devices. Instead, fund managers think Nintendo should turn its attention to developing for smartphones, especially Apple’s iPhone. Once you put all the facts on the table, it looks like the smart play. Read more »
Is the 3DS the device to lead Nintendo into another decade of growth and profitability? Probably not. With the gaming industry focusing more and more on tablets, smartphones and touchscreens, the company will almost certainly have to rethink its slightly antiquated business model to remain relevant. Read more »
The second quarter of 2011 was a fast-paced one for the connected consumer segment, with every sector of the digital media landscape — music, e-books, online video and gaming — experiencing significant events and changes. Media consumption, purchase and management continued its shift towards the cloud, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Nintendo is making a home console that incorporates a tablet, and the Sony PlayStation Vita borrows liberally from this generation of smartphones. But thanks to OnLive, gamers may not have to go looking for devices similar to their iPads and iPhone for a top-tier gaming experience. Read more »
Video chatting from the couch might no longer be some Jetsons-esque fantasy: New technologies are beginning to appear in game consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect and Nintendo’s new Wii U that could make video chat services available to the wider mass market. Read more »
Nintendo unveiled its next-generation console today, with the Wii U, which features a tablet-like controller. We couldn’t help but think that Nintendo, far from innovating in this instance, borrowed liberally from the iPad and the way people use it for gaming and watching TV. Read more »
Spanish shopkeeper Alejandro Fernandez is on trial amid accusations that he is aiding piracy by selling jailbreak cartridges for Nintendo devices. But he’s trying to fight back by leading a legal action against the Japanese games giant that accuses it of breaking European law. Read more »
Mobile gaming on smartphones is tied for the fifth-most used activity on a handheld. Some thing the handheld gaming market is different from that of smartphones, but that’s old school. Cheaper software that can leverage connectivity for social or multi-player gaming is earning high scores. Read more »
This week, Cisco restructured its consumer business, which included, shockingly, killing off its Flip video camera. Whether or not it was the best choice in the long run is up for debate, as clearly there were other possible strategies f0r Flip that Cisco could have picked. Read more »
Despite the best efforts of Nintendo and Sony, mobile games are taking a bigger chunk out of the portable gaming market, with one in every three dollars of U.S. portable gaming revenue going to smartphone and tablet games, according to new analysis from Flurry. Read more »
Nintendo has released the 3DS, the next generation of its mobile gaming console and successor to the immensely popular DS, at an interesting time for mobile gaming, adding 3-D capability, better graphics and a 3-D camera to the proven dual-screen format of the Nintendo DS. Read more »
While the Nintendo 3DS didn’t generate the kind of hype Apple product launches normally see did when it debuted in the U.S. on Sunday, by all accounts it’s still doing very well. But can it compete with iOS devices? No, nor should it try. Read more »
An EA executive hinted to reporters that Nintendo is working on the next generation of its Wii game console, which will offer HD video. However, Xbox 360 and PS3 already offer a wide variety of HD content sources. So what can Nintendo do to compete? Read more »
More exciting than examining the previous quarter is looking forward into the next 12 months and using the trends of 2010 to predict the realities that will surface in 2011. Throughout this past December, GigaOM Pro’s curators did just that, making trend predictions, pointing out companies to watch and even telling us what not to expect. Connected Consumer curator Michael Wolf’s thoughts, analyses and predictions are compiled here in a single report. Companies mentioned in this report include Netflix, Hulu, Facebook, Apple and Boxee. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Greenpeace has been a thorn in the side of the consumer electronics industry with its Guide to Greener Electronics for years. The latest edition shows shuffling in the ranks of top companies as they launch new products and sail past deadlines for eliminating hazardous substances. Read more »
Netflix streaming on the Wii now works without a disc> Users simply have to download an application, which can also be stored on an SD card. The new UI also enables search and browsing of the entire catalog. Chck out our video for a first look. Read more »
The UI of Netflix on the Wii is going to get a major revamp: Netflix has started to send out new Wii discs to a limited number of subscribers that feature, amongst other things, search and browse buttons to explore the entire Watch Instantly catalog. Read more »
On Monday, well known gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter released a research note proclaiming the forthcoming Nintendo 3DS would “revolutionize the gaming industry.” But as discussed today at GigaOm Pro, the device is doomed, and it has Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch to blame. Read more »
Netflix is shipping Wii discs required to access Watch Instantly streaming on the game console to all of its members, the company announced on its blog today. Customers can request their own free Wii disc on the company’s web site. The launch of the Wii disc […] Read more »
Netflix has started to send out a first batch of the disks required to access its Watch Instantly service with Nintendo’s Wii gaming console, according to a post published on its corporate blog. There, VP of Marketing Jessie Becker writes that Netflix is shipping an unspecified […] Read more »
Software market research firm Flurry Analytics has posted some interesting information about where Apple’s iPhone stands in regards to the gaming market at large. The report also includes details about how the iPhone is stacking up in the mobile market against its two major rivals, the […] Read more »
Nintendo America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime recently told CNBC that the company isn’t even close to releasing a second-generation Wii console. Consumers don’t want HD as much as they want a compelling experience, he argued, and more than 26 million Wii owners seem to support […] Read more »
I’m not unfamiliar with video game emulators. I’m not endorsing them, mind you, but I’m not unfamiliar. So my curiosity was piqued when I heard tell of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone, one that had managed to gain official sanction and was […] Read more »
Our subscription research service GigaOM Pro just published its list of Connected Consumer winners and losers for 2009, and while some choices may be obvious, there are actually a few surprises on the list. For instance, Hulu is listed as a winner and a loser, due […] Read more »
As the year winds to a close, GigaOM Pro’s crack team of contributors takes a look back at what went right, what went wrong, and for ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Video streaming service PlayOn from Media Mall Technologies recently added support for the Wii, which owners of Nintendo’s phenomenally popular video game console can use to watch Hulu, CNN and other selected channels online. It’s about time: The Wii excels at games, but when it comes […] Read more »
