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Results 1-20 of 72 for Kurt Scherf
ANALYSIS

Broadband Boom: Changing Entertainment, Changing Behaviors

In the U.S. market, the percentage of broadband households owning and connecting at least one product besides PCs to the Internet has increased 45 percent between 2010 and 2011. Today, approximately 40 percent of all U.S. broadband households own at least one Internet-connected device, with game consoles accounting for 75 percent of these products. The increase in the adoption of these technologies offers manufacturers, pay-TV providers, advertisers and content owners new revenue and growth opportunities.

Ikea Builds Electronics Into Furniture With Uppleva Line

If Uppleva products appeal to anyone, it will be the first-time home entertainment center buyer, posited Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates "It's more of a starter kit for someone," he told TechNewsWorld. "Older, more established consumers ...

Xbox Lassos More Content to Wrangle More Eyeballs

"There's a recognition in the service provider space that they need to be making their content more accessible outside the traditional set-top box to appeal to younger viewers," Kurt Scherfvice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times Th...

Microsoft’s Avatar Kinect: I Chat the Body Electric

"I'm not sure that Microsoft would position it as game-centric, but might instead use things like set-top boxes and business videoconferencing and add elements of Kinect within those," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld Mi...

Time for Video Chat’s Big Close-up?

"Video chat is not a niche application," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld Twenty percent of respondents to a 2010 Parks Associates survey said they conduct video chats at least monthly, and 12 percent said they do so wee...

Data Caps and Web TV: Heading for a Clash?

The average AT&T customer consumes about 18 GB of bandwidth per month, Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. That makes the 250 GB cap for U-Verse subscribers "pretty robust," he remarked Comcast's limit is also 250 GB a month. However, it doe...

If iPad Chops Kindle’s Market Share, Does Amazon Feel the Pain?

"You're looking at a single-purpose device in the Kindle versus a multi-purpose one in the iPad," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, pointed out. "There's very little question that some people went ahead and bought the iPad when they were l...

Android May Paddle Samsung Canoe Into Turbulent Web TV Waters

"I think the major TV manufacturers are hedging their bets across the board on all the different technologies," Kurt Scherf, a vice president at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "This market is so unsettled right now, and the major manufacturers are looking at developing their own operating systems," he added...

People of Lava Want to Put a Big Android in Your Living Room

People of Lava's Scandinavia will compete head-on with Yahoo's Connected TV, Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates, told LinuxInsider "This says to me that there will certainly be very significant other players besides Yahoo" in the space, he...

Is the Chatroulette Sleazefest Giving Video Chat a Bad Name?

Don't expect the webcam screens to go dark anytime soon. A 2009 Parks Associates survey asked webcam buyers if they were using their cameras for video chat. More than 70 percent answered yes. "I think that the use of webcams is really going to transform personal communications to the point where I think that a generation or so from now, video communications will be the rule rather than the exception," Parks Associates analyst Kurt Scherf told TechNewsWorld...

Court Sees DVR Case TiVo’s Way

Indeed, service providers are "struggling to develop a solution that's quite as intuitive as TiVo has turned out to be," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times 'Lots of Room' for IP Licensing...

Microsoft vs. the Zombie Hordes

It's not the first major retailer to try this: Best Buy and Blockbuster have also attempted their own movie-streaming services, to varying degrees of success. Parks Associates Kurt Scherf says he wouldn't be surprised if Target is the next one to try something similar However,...

Walmart Buys Vudu to Take Another Stab at Online Movie Distribution

"It will be a defining service for Walmart," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times. "Walmart wants to go beyond selling products, like DVDs, and start providing incremental revenue." Target Next?...

YouTube Slowly Sundances Into New Rental Territory

"I think it may be a smart approach, actually -- acknowledgment that in order to make money but to keep the risks relatively low, they're targeting distinct niches of consumers that may be smaller in number but more willing to pay money," Parks Associates Digital Media Analyst Kurt Scherf told the E-Commerce Times. "The producers of the independent stuff may be much more anxious to find high-quality distribution partners. So I think that's first, and then you build out your catalog for the Hollywood blockbuster stuff."

Amazon Fattens E-Book Royalty Checks in Preemptive Strike

Amazon is trying to "make sure it's ahead of the curve before Apple gets involved," agreed Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates This move "brings them more smaller publishers" and is likely an attempt to "lock in the 'long tail' of the conten...

ANALYSIS

The Wide-Open Gateway to the Connected Home

"The connected home" is a term used frequently but often defined ambiguously. For Parks Associates, the connected home is comprised of the following elements: ...

ANALYSIS

How Internet TV Gear Can Stay in the Picture

Blockbuster and Samsung recently announced that Blockbuster OnDemand will be available on select connected HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems starting in the fall of 2009. Samsung will offer connected Blu-ray players and home theater systems with both the Netflix and Blockbuster online services; however, announcements from Blockbuster indicate that Blockbuster OnDemand will have "preferred positioning" on the Blu-ray devices...

Crushing Sales Figures Don’t Signal ‘Game Over’ for Industry

Indeed, there is a sense that game developers have pulled back on releases this year, with few if any delivering the blockbusters that are so important to goosing sales, Kurt Scherf, principal analyst with Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times Improving the 2009 Environm...

June Not Much Fun for Video Game Makers

Games did very well during the holiday season last year, Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times. "Games as a gifting purchase ranked very highly among electronic products," he said The industry needs a miracle to match or exceed last year...

SUCCESS STORY

FixYa.com Brings Social Networking to Consumer Electronics Help

Despite its innovative approach to tech support, FixYa.com runs a bigrisk that it will not be able to maintain a paid user base, according to Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst forParks Associates. That isthe challenge faced today by many sites, including very large outfits like Google's YouTube...

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