Strategy Analytics reinforces the changes required in segmentation of consumer target markets to cater to connected digital life behavior. Thinking differently is more important than ever. The value of major age categories like baby boomers and the like has been low even before, but when assessing what to offer and to whom and how in the digitized life category of offerings, it is clear that there are segments but they do not align with our age.

Strategy Analytics has come up with segments like Prudent Nesters, who are late adopters but view the Internet as a vital communications tool, or Connected Aspirers, who have the strongest interest in technology but only adopt products at an average rate. Affluent Technostyles, who make up about 10% of households (developed world - 8 countries in Europe and the US), have twice the ownership and usage rates for many digital products compared with the average consumer.  See the full story.

As 4G begins to gain momentum, pushed by companies like Intel, Samsung and NTT DoCoMo of Japan, optimists as well as skeptics abound.  Ubiquitous 1 gigabit speeds are the new promised land of the Internet, where an entire movie can be downloaded in 6 seconds!  WSJ’s summary covers the general state of affairs as 4G standards are scheduled to begin coming out at a Geneva conference in 2007.  The LEF Connected World offers a graphical snapshot of this evolutionary process on page 30 of the report.

Samsung’s conference prototype on a bus ride offers an initial glimpse of things to come.  Your public transportation commute to work might become even more productive in the years to come.

Sony’s mylo (“my life online”) is another new gadget that blurs the lines between phone, computer and entertainment center.  The trick with mylo is it uses VoIP (Skype) and a Wi-Fi connection rather than a cellular connection.  So no monthly access fees, but you have to be near an 802.11b hotspot for it to work.  Key features are voice, IM and Web e-mail.  The device, announced in August, reminds us of the impending meeting (clash?) between Wi-Fi and cellular.  Will they co-exist, compete or converge?  (See “Fixed-Mobile Convergence” in the Connected World report, p.31.)  Good mylo review here.

In a $4 billion deal Motorola has just expanded its technology portfolio for the enterprise market. Symbol is well know for its ruggedized devices but also has other elements for a mobile infrastructure, like RFID and mobility management. Motorola Chairman and CEO Ed Zander commented, “Everything is going digital, and everything digital is going mobile” in describing the importance of this purchase to Motorola. See the full story.

Interesting cover story in the August 31, 2006 issue of Network Computing about the wireless landscape (cellular, Wi-Fi, WiMAX).  Article is directed to IT chiefs making wireless networking decisions for the enterprise.  Dovetails well with our Connected World report.  Lots of good sidebars including choosing a wireless network, justifying wireless data, and impact assessment of mobile broadband data.  From the article:

What we’re now witnessing is nothing short of a
global wireless battle to achieve a dominant position as
we move from 3G services to 4G. Never mind that 4G is
still completely undefined … this is the opportunity
WiMAX proponents are reaching for, but they’ll be competing
with IEEE 802.20, evolved 3G systems, and the cellular
community’s own aggressive evolution path to nextgeneration
systems such as 3GPP LTE (Third Generation
Partnership Project Long Term Evolution).

In reality, it will be the end of the decade before any
entirely new wireless technologies could be widely available,
and which one will prevail is hard to predict. For
now, what IT managers need to know is that CDMA2000
and GSM/UMTS/HSDPA networks dominate in the wide
area. For an evolution time line of the major technologies,
see “Mobile Data Evolution,” at nwcreports.com.

Download the full issue here.  Article is on pages 12-19 of the file.