Correspondence: Michael Wolf, PO Box 452, 69 Hamilton Avenue, Oyster Bay, NY 11771 USA. Tel: +1 516 624 2500; Fax: +1 516 624 2501; E-mail: wolf@abiresearch.com

¹worked at In-Stat, prior to joining ABI, where he pioneered the company's home networking and digital consumer media and content research. He has also served as the Director of Consumer Digital Imaging at InfoTrends, and in strategic planning for Avnet, a Fortune 500 semiconductor distributor. He has been quoted in such publications as The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and Business Week about consumer technology trends, and has served as commentator for such outlets as MSNBC to discuss the communications technology market. He has been a columnist for Network World and has published a book on home networking technology. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and received an MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management.

²was Vice President, Wireless, at the NPD Group, prior to joining ABI Research, where he established and expanded the company's wireless research practice focused on mobile devices, multimedia content and voice and data services. He also served as Director of Wireless Research at In-Stat, where he managed analyst coverage of worldwide wireless technology and end-user markets. His previous industry experience includes senior product management, new product development and marketing strategy positions focused on mobile wireless, broadband and consumer video services at Qwest Communications and Verizon Communications (then GTE).

Abstract

The world in which consumers use a variety of isolated devices to enjoy pre-packaged entertainment delivered over isolated networks and legacy retail channels is beginning to fade away. In the world that is emerging, consumers are empowered to choose the way they purchase, use and manage their media. Increasingly, they are taking advantage of these opportunities. While the convergence of different networks, the enabling of networked and broadband consumer electronics devices and the vast array of content available to buyers are all creating a new generation of empowered consumers, however, ABI Research finds that many are having a difficult time accessing and managing this content in any cohesive way. Some major players have worked to create solutions to help consumers access and manage the wide variety of content at their disposal through tightly integrated hardware, software and service packages. The best example is Apple with its iPod/iTunes pairing. While the iPod/iTunes ecosystem is perhaps the closest thing to an organized approach to digital media, as more users look to connect to content anywhere at anytime, they will find technology barriers, old frameworks and business interests of incumbents' appearing to prevent this. These barriers essentially create friction in the entertainment experience, slowing the consumer's anytime-anywhere experience and possibly preventing it all together. This white paper examines consumer behavior today in terms of pay media, online content, digital media storage and management. We will look at how new enabling technologies will drive adoption of new use-cases among an increasingly large number of users, and how this will create a need for more centralized management of their digital media. Finally, we make some predictions for 2012 and assess the possibilities of achieving a friction-free media world that will ultimately benefit consumers, content creators, distributors and end-user system manufacturers.