DELOITTE'S Technology, Media & Telecommunications industry group's 2007 report is a global assessment of the major trends in the technology, media and telecommunications industry. Major highlights of the report include:
Technology
Simplifying the user interface: Over half of all devices returned to retailers are not broken but are returned because their complexity confounds their owners. In 2007, companies that manage to minimise product complexity may achieve greater success than competitors with superior but relatively inaccessible technology.
The rising cost of free technology: Offering services for free has become a mainstay of the technology industry, and a marketing tool of choice for growing market share. However, consumers are soon learning that there are other costs or disadvantages to free services such as Spam and Spim (Spam Instant Messaging), and may consider paying to avoid such nuisances.
Media & Entertainment
User generated content: As the volume of blogs grows and the specification of mobile phones improve, the number of websites supporting user generated content will grow. User generated content may offer more of an opportunity than a threat to incumbent media companies, and audience participation is likely to increase revenue and loyalty.
Media's quest for value: The challenge for media companies in 2007 and beyond is to second-guess the public's perception of value, on a market-by-market basis. For example, because a number of broadband-equipped households have the ability to download music illegally at zero-cost, the perceived value for CDs has plummeted. On the other hand, the price of live performances which are more difficult to pirate, has risen above the cost of inflation.
Telecommunications
Broadband: In 2007, based on current trends, overall Internet penetration in developed economies, where the majority of people already have broadband access, may hardly rise. One of the main reasons is because the PC is the sole means of accessing the Internet. In order to keep Internet expansion growing, we must start thinking outside the PC.
The connectivity chasm deepens: At the start of 2007, there were an estimated 300 million consumer broadband connections in a world of 6.5 billion - less than 5 per cent of the world's population. Of these connections, only 20 million have access to two megabits per second (Mbps) or more, and by 2010 only a quarter of all broadband households are predicted to have two Mbps or faster. This implies the emergence of a connectivity elite while the majority fall behind.
This article first appeared in BT on April 09, 2007
