Register

I agree with the Privacy Policy

Forbes

A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain

October 09, 2008

The Dow plummeted below 9,000 points to a five-year low Thursday. Worldwide, economies are slowing and consumers are worried sick about their future.

Indeed, the number of registered and active users of Second Life, a virtual world that simulates real-world experiences, have flattened out, says Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai. But this might not be a reaction to the economy; it could be due to consumers shifting to other virtual worlds. Cai predicts that corporations will start using Second Life or custom 3D virtual worlds to hold meetings and cut travel costs.

From the article, "A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain" by Mary Jane Irwin

Previously In The News

BlackBerry Hopes Ride On Security, Cars -- Even Stores?

Of course, how this lone outpost performs is only one indicator of the consumer appeal that BlackBerry has steadily, yet stunningly, lost over the last few years. Whether Heins and his totally refo...

OTT Continues To Tantalize And Torment TV Execs

Pricing plays a pivotal role in terms of politics with distributors and consumer perception of OTTs. Some content providers privately have groused about the $20 Dish plans to charge for its Sling T...

Is Apple Watch A Threat To Fitbit's IPO?

And the fitness tracker industry is set to almost triple from the $2 billion it reached in 2014 to $5.4 billion by 2019, according to Parks Associates, which sees more people buying these “connecte...

Against All Odds

Those trends will continue, but maybe not fast enough. EarthLink's digitally literate customers are four times as likely to switch to high-speed as AOL's. If the 4 million users go broadband before...

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
›