International research firm Parks Associates wrapped up the fifth annual CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES yesterday, the first day of 2011 International CES, by addressing the key issues facing CE manufacturers and solutions developers in 2011. The first session, "Analyst Roundtable: The Connected Home Is Here," which broke all previous attendee records, examined key trends and areas of concern, including how Internet-connectable TV devices can avoid the same underwhelming reception that plagued 3DTV after its big splash at CES 2010.

"Our predictions for 3DTV in early 2010 were cautious due to the lack of content, and our recent Consumer Decision Process: Holiday Intentions survey confirmed this, finding only 1.3% of U.S. households have a 3D-capable television," said Kurt Scherf, VP, principal analyst, Parks Associates. "Manufacturers were up against significant headwind, including consumer reluctance to purchase at this early stage, the high cost of glasses, and a low quantity of compelling content. On the other hand, Internet-connectable devices such as TVs, Blu-ray players, and game consoles are getting a strong tailwind from ever-increasing broadband speeds, a proliferation of home networks, and many choices of online content from which to access.”

Parks Associates’ recent research finds that – the apps vs. open-browser debate notwithstanding – connected TV manufacturers will find market success with specific content application offerings, particularly premium video-on-demand (movies and TV shows), photo-viewing, social network feeds, streaming music service, customizable widgets, and gaming applications.

With sales of Microsoft Kinects exceeding the company's expectations, and multiple gesture-recognition products debuting at CES, how consumers interact with the television will also be radically changing starting in 2011, according to Scherf.

Although online video and applications are major drivers for the rise of connected devices, other areas of focus for CE and service providers in 2011 will be backup, content protection and redundancy, and a greater emphasis on device security. This sets the stage for appliance- and cloud-based storage as well as device security and related features:

According to Parks Associates, about one-third of U.S. broadband households (32%) are backing up content on at least a monthly basis.

The firm's recent survey Consumer Demand for Technical Support Services found 20% of consumers are “highly concerned” about losing documents and other digital content because of technical issues, theft, or other catastrophic issues.

Security concerns are moving into the mobile realm, where U.S. consumers are showing increasing demand for remote protection services for mobile and portable devices. This finding indicates 2011 will be a good year for companies such as Lookout, which provides location and lockdown services for smartphones.

"Security services, particularly solutions for mobile devices, will be an area of significant development in 2011," Scherf said. "As consumers use smartphones and tablet computers for a growing number of transactional services – banking, e-commerce, and others – protecting privacy and implementing appropriate security solutions will be an important element.”

Throughout CES, Parks Associates will be at Booth #20554 in South Hall 1.

For information about CONNECTIONS™ Conferences, visit www.connectionsconference.com. Press can contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720-987-6614, to arrange on-site interviews.

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES includes support from CONNECTIONS™ Europe sponsors Accedo Broadband, ActiveVideo Networks, ADB, Gigle Networks, Latens, PacketVideo, ProVision Communications, Radialpoint, Ralink Technology Corporation, Virgin Media, and Zeitera. CONNECTIONS™ 2011 sponsors include Association Sponsor CEA and Affinegy, Allegro, HCL, iTOK.NET, Rovi, and Roxio.

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