"Growth can be attributed to increased adoption of OLED devices," says Claire McMahon, Market Analyst - Broadcast Equipment, Futuresource Consulting. "OLED devices accounted for 18% of the sales in 2012 in our sample, and moving forward we expect OLED to account for a higher proportion of sales and will continue to cannibalise existing LCD sales."

At present, the high price points of OLED panels are restricting growth to the top end of the market. However, as consumer OLED panels start to be manufactured in smaller sizes, resulting in dramatic reductions in costs, OLED will begin to impact the market mainstream.

The sub 8-inch screen size segment is another key growth area in the market, with demand being fuelled by significant sales of HD-capable DSLRs and digital cinema cameras, with many end-users purchasing a small monitor to act as a secondary view finder. The segment grew 18% in 2012, to achieve 2,700 units.

Futuresource tracks the EMEA Professional Monitor market on a quarterly basis, with full data feeds from the market's key manufacturers. For more information get in touch with Claire McMahon via claire.mcmahon@futuresource-hq.com.

"Although worldwide demand for fixed lens cameras is declining, we're seeing interchangeable lens cameras bucking the trend and posting solid growth in excess of 16% year-on-year," says Arun Gill, Market Analyst, Futuresource Consulting. "In 2012, this translated to an annual average accessories spend per interchangeable lens camera of $307, compared with less than two dollars per fixed lens camera."

Lenses represented the majority of demand, at nearly 80% of the total trade market value, followed by bags and cases, flashes and supports.

Digital camera vendors - including Canon, Nikon and Sony - represented the majority of accessory sales in value terms, mainly due to their strength in lenses. For other accessories, a number of specialist brands play a more significant role, including the likes of Manfrotto, Metz and Sigma.

"In terms of purchase behaviours, many high value users may still prefer to use photo specialists to get expert advice and handle the product before purchase," says Gill. "However, when it comes to the sale, a growing number of these users are buying through pure online players, motivated by savings of up to 25%."

Futuresource Consulting will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 21 February 2013, to present the global consumer electronics market highlights of Q4 2012 and explore the key consumer electronics categories that will drive growth through 2013. To find out more and to claim your free place, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com.

For more information on the Digital Camera Lens and Accessories report from Futuresource Consulting or to make a purchase, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or get in touch with Simon Bryant on +44 (0)1582 500 152 or via simon.bryant@futuresource-hq.com.

This performance hides that there was a strong performance from a number of brands for professional displays which experienced double digit growth QoQ.

Key countries in the Americas experienced a disappointing flat or negative QoQ performance, after having an increase in activity in Q2 and Q3. Moreover, leading countries are unable to find consistent growth and face unpredictable spikes in business.

EMEA

The EMEA region, without Turkey's results had a strong performance with double-digit QoQ growth. The developing MEA region continues to show its potential with good sales in not only more established markets, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, but in the emerging markets within North Africa. There were also positive signs in the Western European markets, with the majority of countries experiencing strong QoQ growth.

APAC

The Asia Pacific region is dominated by the Chinese market, which saw a massive QoQ drop of 28%, following a particularly strong Q2 and Q3 for many domestic vendors. The Korean market on the other hand has recovered well through 2012, after a poor start of 9,100 units in Q1, finishing with full-year sales of over 64,000 units to the benefit of the Korean based vendors.

Product Coverage

Through 2012 the market saw a dramatic increase in the number of LED lit professional displays in the market, with full-year sales reaching 352,000 units, which accounted for 21.3% of LCD sales, up from 4.7% in 2011.

The pure professional display market saw a downturn, dropping 14.4% QoQ which was affected by the first phase of the Turkish education ending. However, the YoY performance of the professional display market at 2.7% still had positive growth.

Larger screen sales (50") experienced a significant increase in 2012, this category accounted for 30.1% as opposed to 24.7% in 2011. Panasonic remains the key vendor in the large screen category, but YoY growth has been aggressive from competing brands. This trend is expected to continue through 2013 as vendors expand their product ranges and verticals moving towards more standardised flat panel solutions.

For more information on Futuresource Consulting's print and imaging services, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or get in touch with Parmjit Bhangal on +44 (0)1582 500 149 or via parmjit.bhangal@futuresource-hq.com

"This growth is significant for the industry, particularly as the traditional photo prints market continues to decline," says Matt Marshall, Head of Print & Imaging, Futuresource Consulting. “Photo merchandise will play a pivotal role in driving revenues for many of the players in this industry.”

Photo cards continue to dominate the US photo merchandise sector overall, accounting for nearly 40% of market value in 2012. Multiple packs of cards, both single sheet and folded are popular for christenings, weddings and seasonal events in the USA, with Shutterfly/Tiny Prints and Snapfish as the key resellers in this area, along with the retailers Walmart and Walgreens.

In terms of growth, the canvas prints (and other substrates) segment, leads the way and experienced over 60% growth in value in 2012.

The single image gift market reached $250 million in 2012, a growth of 20%, with further healthy growth expected throughout the forecast period. During 2012, iPhone and iPad covers were a particular growth sector in this segment of the market.

The photo calendar market in the USA is anticipated to continue to grow, though calendars, by their very nature, remain a seasonal product with the majority of sales occurring between November and January.

Photo poster sales are expected to continue to grow during 2013 according to Futuresource forecasts, experiencing a 13% increase on 2012. Many retailers are able to offer poster production in-store, which has resulted in an average price of less than $10 in 2012, further bolstering this market.

Moving forward, the outlook for the US photo merchandise market is favourable, with positive but diminishing volume growth through to 2016 and the market value peaking in 2015.

For more information on Futuresource Consulting's print and imaging services, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or get in touch with Matt Marshall on +44 (0)1582 500 104 or via matt.marshall@futuresource-hq.com

Managed Print Services continue to evolve into a managed workflow offering at the high end, with suppliers looking to secure soft revenues in the areas of consultancy, support and training while also delivering increased customisation of the existing MPS services including third party support and servicing capabilities.

Mobile Printing morphs into 'just printing' as the user community, empowered by smartphone and tablet technology, becomes more savvy and increasingly used to anywhere anytime print capability. As an example, HP has recently expanded its network of ePrint public print locations, bringing the number of worldwide HP Public Print Locations (PPL) to 30,000 sites. Expect the competition to follow shortly!

Print Consumers will continue to look for cheaper third party alternative consumables for their devices as the economic downturn continues to impact upon disposable incomes - increasing the challenge to printer manufacturers to secure their own aftermarket annuity stream. Dell recently acknowledged that users will on occasion use non-original cartridges in its print devices, and while not supporting this trend they stated that these cartridges will work within the Dell devices. More importantly, use of non-original cartridges will not invalidate the warranty as is the case with some other hardware providers. Is this the beginning of a trend?

Less Paper will continue to become reality. For some time now many industry watchers have predicted the decline and ultimate removal of hardcopy from the office as the drive towards a paperless office gained traction. However, this has not happened. Although users are printing less as increased education of users and the increased capabilities of devices to print duplex and "n" up as a basic function have limited what was (and remains) an uncontrolled cost within the office, we are still seeing strong page volume production across both the SMB and enterprise environments.

Page production growth within the general office has slowed, and in some markets has declined, though we must also consider the number of users within offices has also declined dramatically over the past three years, with unemployment in the UK currently standing at close to 7.5% (2.5 million) and in Spain by contrast a massive 26% compared to an EU27 average of around 10%. Whether an upturn in employment will bring about an increase in printed pages remains to be seen, though for now we seem to be stuck with a scenario of less users equals less paper.

For more information on Futuresource Consulting's print and imaging services, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or get in touch with Matt Marshall on +44 (0)1582 500 104 or via matt.marshall@futuresource-hq.com

Economic difficulties continued to hinder growth in the projector market during CYQ4, which reached a total volume of 678,000 units, a 'YoY' decline of 9.5% on CYQ4 2011.

In the EMEA region, Germany posted a return to good business at 97,400 after a disappointing CYQ3 after the close of the European Football championships. However, Germany's full year territory accounted for 367,000 units showing YoY growth of 4.4%. Territories in Southern Europe showed another disappointing quarter with government austerity measures continuing to impact corporate and education spending. Spain, Italy and Greece have year-on-year volume declines of 34.1%, 16.5% and 33.6%, respectively in 2012.

While Eastern Europe has fallen below Futuresource's expectations, Russia remains an area of strong growth with quarterly volumes of 69,000. The full year 2012 showed this territory to have achieved an increase from 198,400 units shipped in CY 2011 to 251,400 units in CY 2012, which equates to an outstanding 26.7% YoY increase. The majority of this growth had been driven by the education market, which saw substantial tendering for both projectors and Interactive Whiteboards throughout 2012.

The MEA territory reached a CY 2012 total of 519,000 units, showing 4.5% growth on the previous CY 2011 total of 496,000 units. The UAE posted another strong quarter at 39,000 and also reports of distributors in the territory continuing to service demand in areas of North Africa. The MEA region therefore is forecast to achieve the greatest growth during 2013 and substantial education business is expected later in the year.

KEY FACTS

Solid State Illumination achieved 1.5% of the 1000 lumen+ projector market in EMEA with a total volume of 9.6k units, down from 1.6% of the market in CYQ4 2011 when volumes reached 11.6k units.

Ultra Short Throw projection achieved 6.7% of the 1000 lumen+ projector market in EMEA with volumes of 43.0k units, up from 6.1% of the market in CYQ4 2011 when volumes reached 43.1k units.

Interactive Projection accounted for 2.7% of the 1000 lumen+ projector market in EMEA with volumes of 17.5k units, up from 2.2% of the market in CYQ4 2011 when volumes reached 15.9k units.

Widescreen formats accounted for 25.4% of the 1000 lumen+ B2B projector market, with volumes of 140.9k units in EMEA, up from 20.5% of the market in CYQ4 2011 when volumes reached 128.8k units.

"The Q4 period accounted for nearly half of all tablet sales last year, culminating in total sales of 136 million units for 2012," says Arun Gill, Market Analyst, Futuresource Consulting. "This clearly demonstrates the impact that tablet devices are having on consumers' spending habits and lifestyle choices, as the category continues to push through the roof."

Competitively, Apple remained the market leader and experienced high demand for the new 7 inch iPad, although limited supply capacity did result in some missed opportunities.

Samsung saw success with a range of new tablets in 2012, particularly the competitively-priced Galaxy Tab 2. The release of the Nexus 10 in collaboration with Google may help to challenge Apple's dominance in sales of larger-screened tablets.

Amazon capitalised on increasing demand for smaller tablets and retained a comfortable market share with the release of its Kindle Fire HD.

Asus' and Google's Nexus 7 also gained from increasing demand for smaller tablets. The high sales volumes reflected the assault that cheaper Android tablets are making on Apple's market share.

Microsoft saw challenging sales following the release of its flagship Surface tablet running Windows 8 RT, though the upcoming release of the Surface Pro is expected to help turn this around.

The heightened demand for smaller and cheaper-priced tablets continues to impact the average retail price. Despite this price erosion, the overall value of the tablet market will continue to climb and prospects for the industry are extremely positive, with strong growth throughout the forecast period to 2016.

The USA leads the way in pester power, with a significant 23% of the parents surveyed saying that their child has asked for a tablet. The UK and France are close behind at 14% and 13% respectively, with Germany lagging the trend at 8%. Of the 4,000 people surveyed, 32% said that they had children living at home.

Beyond children's presents, the general notion of giving tablets as gifts is strong this Christmas, with 15% of all people surveyed across the four countries saying that they are considering purchasing a tablet as a gift for somebody. Again, the USA leads the way at 22%, with the UK, France and Germany coming in at 16%, 15% and 7% respectively. All signs are pointing to a tablet market primed for explosion in Q4 2012.

In the UK alone, Futuresource forecasts indicate that around five million tablets will be shipped in Q4 2012. As part of its suite of product tracking services, Futuresource also provides quarterly reports on the actual volumes of tablet devices shipped on a country, region and global basis. Once the Q4 shipment figures are available early in 2013, the full extent of the market activity will become apparent.

Notes
The current wave of Living With Digital research is captured in a 100+ page report, which will be available in early January 2013. For more information about this report or to make a purchase get in touch with Andy Watson via andy.watson@futuresource-hq.com. Questions asked include:

- What Consumer Electronics products does your household own?
- Which computer products does your household own?
- Which games consoles / handheld gaming devices does your household own?
- Do you personally own / use a tablet or smartphone?
- Do you use your smartphone for work or personal use?
- Do you have a TV package that you pay for?
- Do you have access to Freeview or Freesat?
- Do you subscribe to a movie or sports package as part of your pay-TV package?
- What is your household's usage of TV services?
- Do you ever pay to watch a pay-per-view programme or movie?
- Is your Pay-TV box connected to the Internet (either wirelessly or via an Ethernet cable)?
- Do you watch on-demand programmes (either free or paid for) through your Pay-TV service?
- Is the Connected TV / Smart TV you recently bought actually set up and connected to the Internet?
- Would you consider using your tablet or smartphone as a remote control for your TV?
- Which particular aspect of having a TV connected to the Internet do you use?
- How often do you access services on your Connected / Smart TV?
- Do you stream or download video or TV content through your games console or other connected device?
- Do you buy or rent DVDs or Blu-rays?
-What brand of smartphone do you own?
- What operating system does your smartphone use?
- Which mobile phone operator do you use?
- What brand of smartphone are you likely to buy next?
- Are you planning to purchase any of the following devices in the next 12 months?
- Which would be your preference?
- Are you considering a tablet as a gift for someone else?
- What do you use your smartphone for, aside from making and receiving calls and text messages?
- Do you listen to streamed music services?
- Which devices do you connect to?
- How do you find out about new apps for your smartphone?
- Where do you use your tablet?
- What do you use your tablet for?
- How often do you use your tablet?
- How do you find out about new apps?
- Do you have an Apple iTunes account?
- Do you browse or buy anything via the iTunes Store at least once a month?
- Do you have an Amazon account?
- Do you browse or buy on Amazon at least once a month?
- Do you subscribe to Lovefilm?
- What content are you mainly watching?
- Do you subscribe to Netflix?
- What content are you mainly watching?
- Which device(s) do you use to view on or stream via?
- Which device do you use most often?
- Are you still in a free trail for Netflix?
- Do you watch videos on YouTube?
- Do you watch videos on YouTube more than once a month?
- Which device(s) do you use to view on or stream via?
- Which device do you use most often?
- Do you listen to music streaming services, either free or paid for?
- Do you currently pay for a music streaming service?
- Which device(s) do you use to listen to or to stream these music streaming services through?
- Which device do you use most often?
- Did you purchase a consumer electronic device because of the Olympics this year?
- Have your children asked for an electronic device for Christmas?
- Which devices have they asked for?

• Solid State technology achieved 1.47% of the 1000 lumen plus projector market globally with a total volume of 28.9K units, up from 1.43% of the market in CYQ3 2011 when volumes reached 28.3K units
• Ultra Short Throw projection achieved 7.0% of the 1000 lumen plus projector market globally with volumes of 137K units, up from 4.9% of the market in CYQ3 2011 when volumes reached 97K units
• Interactive Projection accounted for 2.6% of the 1000 lumen plus projector market globally with volumes of 51K units, up from 1.8% of the market in CYQ3 2011 when volumes reached 35K units
• Wide screen formats accounted for 21% of the B2B projector market, with volumes of 383K units globally, up from 18% of the market in CYQ3 2011 when volumes reached 328K units.

"These technological advancements have created a huge amount of industry buzz, dominating trade show floors and commanding the interest of industry press, and now we're seeing all this potential start to convert into real sustainable revenues. Last year, the SNB category posted year-on-year sales growth in excess of 100% and accounted for over 80% of the total video wall market."

Yet despite the competition from SNB displays, the rear projection category continues to exhibit steady growth, with Futuresource forecasts showing that growth will continue out to 2015 and beyond. The introduction of solid state technology has been key, with LED accounting for nearly 40% of sales in 2011, though this figure would be far higher if China - a huge lamp-based market - was excluded from the analysis.

There are four key markets for video walls: control room; retail and public display; corporate and exhibition; and broadcast.

* Control room is a key market for rear projection displays, accounting for more than 85% of global sales last year and also seeing growing demand for SNB. The choice of technology depends upon the sub-vertical, with mission-critical applications - like utilities and command and control - tending to favour rear projection, whereas the more video-based applications of surveillance and traffic management favour SNB.

* Retail and public display are both dominated by SNB and accounted for the majority of SNB sales last year. Digital signage is a key driver for growth in this category as network owners look to create high impact displays to inform, communicate and advertise to customers. Retail and Transport sub-verticals are both key adoption areas.

* Corporate and exhibition verticals both provide growth for rear projection, though SNB is clearly the dominant technology. Reception areas, lobbies, boardrooms, exhibition and equipment rental are all important drivers.

* The broadcast space still demands both rear projection and SNB products. Rear projection is heavily skewed towards the Asia Pacific region, though still has relevance in developed markets.

"Market dynamics differ significantly from country to country, with investment in infrastructure often a key driver for both display technologies," says Bhangal. "Moving forward, we're going to see strong double digit growth over the next three years, reaching sales of close to one million units in 2015. However, as major CE and pro AV display heavyweights enter the market and focus on volume business, value will be driven out of SNB displays putting pressure on the entire video wall category.

"China and the United States will continue to lead the market, but India, Russia and Brazil will be the ones to watch, becoming increasingly important over the next three years."

For more information on the new 120+ page Video Wall Market Report from Futuresource Consulting or to make a purchase, visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or get in touch with Parmjit Bhangal on +44 (0)1582 500 100 or via parmjit.bhangal@futuresource-consulting.com.

While the market for traditional dedicated docks is now reaching maturity, the arrival of networked devices is expected to reinvigorate this sector, both in terms of volume and trade. These new devices have the power to replace physical docking, though it is likely that this feature will remain for the purpose of battery charging.

The adoption of networking features in dedicated speaker docks will revive this segment right up until 2016 following a slight drop in shipments since 2010. Demand is expected to reach almost 40 million units in 2012 and nearly 48 million units in 2016 to hit $3.8 billion in trade value.

As the market transitions to dedicated digital audio products, demand for integrated audio systems (micro, midi and mini systems featuring CD playback capability) will fall. However, trade value will be maintained at $2.4 billion in 2012 due to the inclusion of networking features and integrated docks, retaining the relevance of CD playback devices in the digital music world.

The global soundbar (a single unit that contains two or more speakers for use with the TV) market more than doubled in size to reach 2.2 million units in 2011. Demand in 2012 is expected to grow by 54% to reach 3.4 million units. This period of healthy growth is expected to continue through to 2016 to hit 7 million units. North America accounts for the largest share of the global soundbar market and by 2016, more than 50% of global shipments will be in this region. The European market is smaller in comparison as consumer interest in home cinema is lower than in North America.

A new report tracking the global home audio market is now available from Futuresource Consulting, providing an annual round-up of critical information for any company seeking to understand the market opportunities for home audio.

This comprehensive report provides an outlook to 2016 and focuses on the five key product areas: speakerbars, dedicated speaker docks and networked docks, integrated audio systems, AV receivers and home theatre in a box, delivering a breakout by feature development, device type and region.

To find out more or to make a purchase visit www.futuresource-consulting.com or contact Simon Bryant on 01582 500152 or via simon.bryant@futuresource-hq.com.

Combining pro displays with consumer displays sold into the professional market, the combined market grew by nearly 7% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 and 25% year-on-year.

After a difficult Q2 for the Japanese market - when professional display sales fell 55% - the country began its recovery in Q3, posting sales of 26,000 units, equivalent to quarter-on-quarter growth of 68%. It was also a strong quarter for Japanese vendors, who all experienced good growth in their professional display line-ups, ahead of the market curve.

China continues to lead the market for professional display, with the transport sector in particular driving growth. Domestic players still dominate the competitive landscape, though international brands are beginning to enjoy some traction after a long period of investment.

Selected Q3 highlights from the Futuresource report:

• Q3 has been a relatively slow period for super-narrow bezel products, with growth of less than 1% quarter-on-quarter. The 46" to 49" higher brightness segment has suffered the most, with a fall in sales of 21%, though this has been offset by the growth of higher value, larger screen sizes, such as 55" and 60" models.
  
  
• The transition from CCFL backlighting to LED continues apace, as the number of professional displays sold with LED backlighting doubled quarter-on-quarter, to reach more than 15,000. The lower energy consumption and thinner form factor are key drivers for this technology as end users look for savings where they can.
  
  
• The market for screen sizes over 45" continues to grow, with 10% quarter-on-quarter growth, and more than 50% year-on-year. As the prices for these larger displays continue to fall, the demand will continue to increase. Aggressive pricing - such as the recently announced Sharp 80" interactive LCD display for under US$6,000 - will continue to drive the larger screen size segment and subsequently put pressure on the current pricing structure of smaller sizes.

Moving forward, the outlook for 2012 looks relatively mixed, with economic uncertainty continuing to surround the US and European territories. The Euro 2012 Football tournament should help to stimulate entry-level demand in Europe in 2012 - and also affect market cycles. However, overall market activity is expected to remain relatively flat, with market growth expected to continue to come from emerging markets with Latin America, China, India, Russia and Indonesia the ones to watch.

Key Q3 highlights from the Futuresource report:

• Short Throw (UST and ST) currently accounts for more than 14% of all global projector sales, up from 12.7% in Q3 2010
  
• Projectors with built-in interactivity accounted for nearly 2% of all sales
  
• XGA accounted for over 50% of overall sales as SVGA sales dropped off slightly
  
• WXGA again gained a small amount of share. However, in the US market, WXGA reached almost 30% as adoption gains pace.
• The new 500 lumen category (LED based) reached just over 4,000 units with five brands now bringing product to market
• Year-to-date home display sales are significantly down, as projectors continue to struggle for shelf space within retail

"Within Western Europe, Germany dominates most photo-merchandise segments. Accounting for €127 million of market value in 2010, it's the largest in the region" says Joanna Wright, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource. "Photo-cards are the exception, where the UK continues to lead the charge. The UK follows Germany as the second largest photo-merchandise market overall, witnessing 35% growth and reaching nearly €70 million in 2010."

Market growth has varied significantly across all segments and countries, with wall décor - in particular canvas print and photo-cards - pushing through with growth of 80% and 50% respectively in some European countries.

“This growth has been fuelled by increased services offered to consumers and a number of highly effective marketing activities, including promotional offers and prominent TV campaigns,” says Wright. “In 2010 the canvas print market grew 44% in Western Europe, reaching €85 million.”

“While demand for some segments remains constant throughout the year, specific market segments like calendars and photo-cards remain purely seasonal products, with more than 90% of calendar sales and nearly 60% of photo-card sales experienced in the lead up to Christmas.”

Competitively, the photo-merchandise market remains highly fragmented with a mixture of traditional photo brands, commercial print houses and photo-merchandise specialists. In terms of the position of photo-merchandise producers in Western Europe, CeWe Color led each segment in 2010, except posters where Fujifilm was the most dominant player.

Online was the leading sales channel in 2010, accounting for more than 86% of sales in Western Europe. However, across Western Europe this figure varies significantly by both country and product. Moving forward we can expect to see new roll-outs of in-store merchandise equipment in some of the leading retailers in the UK & Germany which could help drive growth for in-store channels this year and into 2012.

The outlook for the photo-merchandise market is positive, with value expected to rise at a steady rate through to 2014. There are many opportunities for key players to contribute to future market growth, and to do this they must focus on the innovation of new products, fresh content designs and strong and targeted marketing activity.

Notes
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing organisations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT. With a heritage stretching back to the 1980s, the company delivers in-depth analysis and forecasts on a global scale, advising on strategic positioning, market trends, competitive forces and technological developments.

Authorised use of information
All information provided by Futuresource in any form is proprietary information that belongs to Futuresource and is protected by UK and international copyright law. Except as outlined below, direct or indirect reproduction of information, in whole or in part and by any means, is prohibited without the express written consent of Futuresource.

Members of the press may use a press release in its entirety or take segments from it as necessary; they may also use a graph, a slide, or a section of a supplied research report less than fifty words long, provided all text is identified as "Source: Futuresource Consulting" and all graphics are credited with "Futuresource Consulting, copyright 2011".

Microsoft Extending Windows to ARM Chips
During CES 2011, paving the way for the Nokia announcement, Microsoft stated that the next generation of Windows will run on ARM architectures. ARM does not make chips, but its low power designs are used in the majority of the world's mobile devices and increasingly appear in a wide range of other products such as games, cameras and STBs. Over the last 30 years, Microsoft has partnered with Intel in a 'Wintel' dominance of the computing market, but this new shift will enable Microsoft to offer Windows mobile to OEMs using ARM architectures, hence intensifying its push into the burgeoning market for PC/mobile converged devices, not least with Nokia.

Intel Steps Up Drive into Converged Devices and Mobile
Intel is pushing forward. As well as powering all PCs and Macs, Intel's chips reside in the majority of netbooks and many of the new non-Apple tablets currently being launched. Many of these products will run Android as well as Windows.

At Mobile World Congress last week, Intel announced Medfield, a low cost 32nM Atom chip designed to take on ARM in the mobile space.

During CES, Intel announced it is acquiring Infineon's Wireless Solutions Business, WLS, to provide a link between baseband processors and Intel CPUs and - more recently - Silicon Hive, to enable an integrated graphics solution. These moves allow Intel to offer a more competitive solution to mobile device OEMs running ARM chipsets.

Android Extends its Footprint into Computing
Google's Linux-based Android has become a major force in the mobile market through support by Samsung, the global number two in cellphones, and other major mobile brands such as LG, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and HTC.

The combined share of Android devices overtook iPhone and BlackBerry sales in Q4 2010 globally, and with over 150,000 apps now available in Android Market, the platform has become a standard requirement for developers, alongside iOS.

Significantly, Android is running on an increasing range of devices and pushing into the computing space. Mobile PC market leader Acer's new netbooks are Dual OS, running Windows and Android, RIMs new Playbook will run Android apps and Motorola's new Atrix Android-powered phone docks with a keyboard and display to become a fully-fledged computer.

Android, with the resources of Google behind it, is emerging as a competitor to both Windows and Mac OS in the mainstream computing space, as well as lower level mobile apps.

Flash 10.1: A New Competitive Factor
Shipments of Apple's devices continue to skyrocket - iPhone reached 47m in 2010, and this year iPad will almost double its 2010 shipments volumes. Mac is also significantly outgrowing the PC market.

With such growth, Apple is unlikely to feel seriously threatened by Android or the Nokia-Microsoft alliance. However, Flash may be an issue, as it dominates video distribution on the web (over 90%) and is supported by all of Apple's competitors.

Flash will run on Apple Macs, but was barred from running native on iPhone in 2007, and, in 2010, a more forceful move stopped developers converting Flash script into native iOS applications. iPad users were greeted with a frustrating blank when they clicked on a Flash video link on a website. In September 2010, Apple reversed the decision, allowing developers to convert Flash into iOS apps, including Adobe's AIR run-time environment, although the Flash Player still cannot run native in the iOS browser.

In version 10.1, Adobe has optimised Flash Player for mobiles. The company expects it to be supported by at least 130m tablets and smartphones by the end of 2011.

Predictably, since Apple's ban on Flash, its competitors have increased support for the format. In addition to its Chrome browser, Google's Android platform supports Flash, including the new Honeycomb tablet version. RIM will support Flash in its new Playbook tablet, and HP in their webOS tablet born from the Palm acquisition: the HP TouchPad.

Apple has maintained that there are many alternatives to Flash, in particular HTML5, which can support the VP8 codec. However, progress towards finalisation of HTML5 is slow, and in the meantime Apple is facing many competitive converged mobile devices able to run native Flash Internet video. The company may have to reconsider this if growth in iPad and iPhone shows any sign of slowing.

This is just a small insight into Futuresource Consulting's studies into the convergence of mobile and PC. For more information or to subscribe to this service, get in touch with David Sidebottom at Futuresource Consulting on +44 (0) 1582 500 127.

Futuresource will be hosting the Futuresource Entertainment Summit in London again this year, taking place on 16 and 17 June. Topics will include the rise of digital content delivery, convergent devices vs. dedicated devices and the business opportunities presented by new home entertainment technologies, platforms and delivery systems. For more information visit www.fes2011.com.

Notes
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing organisations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT. With a heritage stretching back to the 1980s, the company delivers in-depth analysis and forecasts on a global scale, advising on strategic positioning, market trends, competitive forces and technological developments.

Authorised use of information
All information provided by Futuresource in any form is proprietary information that belongs to Futuresource and is protected by UK and international copyright law. Except as outlined below, direct or indirect reproduction of information, in whole or in part and by any means, is prohibited without the express written consent of Futuresource.

Members of the press may use a press release in its entirety or take segments from it as necessary; they may also use a graph, a slide, or a section of a supplied research report less than fifty words long, provided all text is identified as "Source: Futuresource Consulting" and all graphics are credited with "Futuresource Consulting, copyright 2011".

“Moving forward we expect to see continued expansion in BD video production volumes, with our forecasts indicating that annual global output will reach two billion discs by 2014,” says Michael Boreham, Senior Consultant Disc Manufacturing & Storage Media at Futuresource.

The BD replication industry has seen capacity utilisation improve markedly during 2010.

“As a result of this output expansion, BD capacity utilisation will hit nearly 80% in the US during Q4 of this year and 75% in Europe,” says Boreham. “This is about as high as it can comfortably get, and given the continued market expansion expected over the next few years, which is being driven by growing player ownership and falling disc prices, the industry will need to invest further in 2011 to prevent peak quarter disc shortages.

“Production quantities are boosted by the continued pipeline fill and infrastructure requirements. Studios remain committed to maintaining inventory levels to ensure demand can be met in a growing market and retailers are keen to maintain a good level of copy depth in store, to strongly promote BD and eliminate out-of-stocks and lost sales."

Fiona Hoy, Market Analyst at Futuresource, adds, “Bundling discs with hardware is also a factor, and the launch of 3D BD titles has added extra importance to this. As 3D is ideally suited to the BD delivery platform, this is clearly a long-term opportunity for the industry to further sustain consumer interest in packaged entertainment media. From 2012 we’re going to see very strong demand for 3D content, which will fuel additional growth. A number of bundled exclusives are already boosting demand from this sector, such as ‘Avatar’ with Panasonic displays or ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ with Samsung displays.”

Futuresource Consulting’s Blu-ray Disc Replication Report was released in November 2010 and explores the current and future developments within the Blu-ray Disc industry across the USA, Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia, Australia and South America.

Notes
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing organisations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT. With a heritage stretching back to the 1980s, the company delivers in-depth analysis and forecasts on a global scale, advising on strategic positioning, market trends, competitive forces and technological developments.

Authorised use of information
All information provided by Futuresource in any form is proprietary information that belongs to Futuresource and is protected by UK and international copyright law. Except as outlined below, direct or indirect reproduction of information, in whole or in part and by any means, is prohibited without the express written consent of Futuresource.

Members of the press may use a press release in its entirety or take segments from it as necessary; they may also use a graph, a slide, or a section of a supplied research report less than fifty words long, provided all text is identified as “Source: Futuresource” and all graphics are credited with “Futuresource, copyright 2010”.