People want vehicle technology that lets them be productive. In fact, their desire for connectivity and productivity technology is -- with safety -- a leading motivator of extra-cost features on new vehicles. That bodes well for autonomous driving technology, which might be the ultimate productivity tool, as it promises, ultimately, to control a vehicle while the driver -- heaven forbid -- texts. Google this week pitched its autonomous-car technology at the yearly SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) World Congress in Detroit, saying that cars that drive themselves are in the horizon. The company has been testing Toyota Prius vehicles fit with Google technology that lets the vehicles drive autonomously, and is hoping that automakers pick up on the technology. Just out from J.D. Power and Associates, the 2012 U.S. Automotive Emerging Technologies Study suggests that while safety is still -- as it has historically been -- a dominant theme in what consumers want in a vehicle, the desire for technology that lets people be connected and productive is growing. Said Mike VanNieuwkuyk, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power, in a release: “While vehicle owners remain very interested in technologies that make their vehicle safer, they are turning their attention more and more toward features and technologies that allow them to be productive, connected and entertained while in their vehicles.” The study -- a poll of some 17,400 vehicle owners in March -- included, among other things, a look at 23 primary technologies, each with related secondary technologies, and an analyses on device connectivity, navigation, safety and premium sound systems. While safety technology still dominates, 70% of respondents said they would pay extra for HD radio, and nearly as many said they would pay for wireless connectivity in the vehicle. Sixty-nine percent said they would pay $750 for enhanced collision mitigation technology. The study also looks at technologies that fall under the autonomous driving umbrella, including functions that control acceleration, braking and steering, without human interaction all the way up to Google car-like full autonomy. Consumers are still a bit wary. The firm's study found that 20% of all vehicle owners say they “definitely would” or “probably would” purchase it in their next vehicle after learning the estimated market price of $3,000. Prior to learning the price, interest for this technology was at 37%. The study finds that vehicle owners are nearly as likely to select fully autonomous driving mode as they are to select semi-autonomous driving technologies such as emergency stop assist ($800), traffic jam assist ($800) or speed limit assist ($800). But VanNieuwkuyk points out that there's a psychology barrier to consumer acceptance that may supersede price premium: “Many owners are skeptical about releasing control of their vehicle and would like to see the technology proved out before they adopt it." The study found that vehicle owners with the highest interest in fully autonomous driving at market price are males (25%), those between the ages of 18 and 37 (30%), and those living in urban areas (30%). The study also finds a high degree of interest (41%) in fully autonomous driving among vehicle owners who expressed interest in the automatic parallel parking feature. But the firm's Consumer Insight and Strategy Group, which tracked social media activity regarding autonomous driving, found that sentiment is generally positive for the technology's ability to enhance both safety and productivity.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire now accounts for more than half of Android-powered tablets in the U.S., according to new data from comScore. Between December and February, the device nearly doubled its share among Android tablets from 29.4% to 54.4%. That’s more than three times the share of its nearest rival using the Google platform, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, with 15.4%. Rounding out the top five Android tablets as of February: Motorola Xoom (7%), the Asus Transformer (6.3%) and the Toshiba AT 100 (5.7%). comScore released the findings in relation to rolling out the latest version of its Device Esstentials service, offering measurement across computers, smartphones, tablets, e-readers and gaming devices. The data underscores how quickly the $199 Amazon tablet has gained traction since its November launch. While the online retail giant hasn’t specified how many units have been sold so far, analysts have estimated the company moved about 5 million in the fourth quarter. IDC estimated the device claimed almost 17% of the tablet market at the end of 2012, second only to the iPad. The 7-inch Kindle Fire’s low price has proven an advantage against Android competitors like the 7- to 12-inch Galaxy Tab, retailing for $500 and up. In the latest tablet ratings from Consumer Reports, the Galaxy Tab models scored higher than the Kindle Fire, but the magazine dubbed it a “Best Buy,” pointing out its convenient online access to digital content through Amazon. Even so, the comScore research released Thursday indicated that larger-screen tablets deliver increased levels of media use. For example, 10″ tablets in February on average generated 125 views per device, translating into a 39% higher consumption rate than 7″ tablets, and a 58% higher rate than 5″ models. “Although many factors -- such as demographics, content availability, connection speed and ease of portability -- may influence consumption levels, the results of this analysis highlight important questions for the industry as the tablet space develops,” stated the comScore study. The firm also broke out the four major wireless carrier’s share of the smartphone market across the five largest states--California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas -- to highlight geographic differences. AT&T accounted for the largest share of unique smartphones in Texas (46.2%), California (42.9%) and Illinois (42.1%), while Verizon claimed the top spot in New York (43.6%) and Florida (36.5%). Sprint ranked third in each of the five top markets, and T-Mobile -- the only carrier among the four biggest that doesn’t sell the iPhone -- was last in each state.
According to app acquisition platform Fiksu and its ongoing index of download activity, app downloads of the top 200 free apps to iPhones dropped 30% in March. The number of apps that users were installing on their devices was off by two million downloads a day (4.45 million) from its February rate of 6.35 million. Daily download activity had peaked in January at 6.7 million. And the decline was expected, Fiksu says. Download activity had been on the rise for iPhones since the announcement of the 4S model late in 2011, and the holiday gifting season pumped new owners into the market who tend to go app-happy for the first few weeks they own a device. Fiksu also speculates that tighter controls at Apple around apps that auto-install other apps have affected the number of overall downloads from the store. The cost of acquiring new app customers leveled off after the volatility of the holiday. According to Fiksu’s Cost per Loyal User Index, the cost of acquiring a user who opens that app at least three times was $1.30, down negligibly from the previous month’s $1.31 and down significantly from the peak in December 2011 of $1.81. App makers market heavily during December to get their apps high on the Apple App Store rankings right before the holiday and get maximum visibility to new device owners. Fiksu is a marketing company that sells app customer acquisition programs, and so its metrics are restricted to its own customers. It claims to track app download behavior and user loyalty from 21 billion app actions across 280 million downloads among the apps it markets.
The mobile video ad market will surpass the online video ad market later this year. That’s a bold prediction, but it’s one Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of ad network BrightRoll is making based on ad requests he’s seen. “It’s happening fast and people are not quite comprehending the speed. By the end of this year we are pretty confident that more than half of all digital video ads will be mobile,” he said. In March alone, more than 40% of the global video exchange requests at BrightRoll were for mobile. A year ago that figure was less than 5%, underscoring the rapid trajectory for mobile video, especially in the last few months. Sacerdoti said the number of global mobile ad requests BrightRoll handles has grown 4000% in the last year. Web requests are still rising too, at about 645% year over year. One of the benefits of mobile video ads is they are often brand safe from the get-go, and are served to us in popular apps like Angry Birds, Draw Something, and Pandora, Sacerdoti said. As such, he expects the growth in mobile video advertising will spread well beyond the premium big name publishers. “You have an enormous influx of supply and this is almost universally good for marketers. For publishers this may be a different group though, and publishers who have a strong business online might not be as meaningful on mobile.”