Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

The Market For Hearable Devices 2016-2020 – And Then There Were Airpods…

The hearables market goes back to the first Bluetooth headsets which were launched in 2001, followed by wireless stereo headphones, which arrived a few years later. Neither made great waves in the market – headsets were associated with cabbies rather than celebrities and Bluetooth stereo headphones took almost a decade to attain any market share. In 2013, that started to change. Major brands were taken by surprise as consumers started to purchase wireless headphones. The most credible reason I’ve heard for the change is that it was driven by the growth of mobile video on larger handsets, with users preferring to dispense with the annoyance of cables when holding the phone screen horizontally. That’s supported by research from Parks Associates showing the average US smartphone user stream music or video for 90 minutes each day. Whatever the reason for the sudden popularity, there is no question that they are now fashionable.

From the article "The Market For Hearable Devices 2016-2020 – And Then There Were Airpods…" by Nick Hunn.

Previously In The News

Why Steve Jobs' Grand Vision for a Breakthrough Apple Product Remains Unfulfilled

While the HomePod is new and the actual speaker appears to be of a much higher fidelity than its rivals, it's not a game-changer. "Apple is in a position that they haven't often been in over the pa...

‘Subscription Fatigue’ Not Slowing OTT Proliferation After All: Research Firm

The popular “subscription fatigue” narrative is that consumers have topped out on the number of over-the-top services they’re willing to pay for and are now in pruning mode. But Parks Associates—wh...

Netflix Leads the Top-10 Subscription OTT Video Services

HBO Now leaped into the top-five for the first time, YouTube Red solidified itself into the top-10 for the first time, and both Showtime and Starz moved up or entered the list compared to 2016. "Wh...

Most Broadband Homes Have Pay TV and OTT Subscriptions

More than half of all U.S. homes with broadband subscribe to both a pay TV service and at least one over-the-top video service, according to a new study by Parks Associates. In its OTT Video & TV E...