iPad Effect Continues, as Apple Gains Market Share in Developed Regions

Santa Clara, CA (Vocus) December 6, 2010

Capturing a 12.4% share of global mobile PC shipments in Q310, Apple is benefiting from the iPad Effect, which continues to shake up the mobile PC market. According to preliminary results from the DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report*, Apple took the #3 position worldwide, and ranks #1 in North America as a result of the continued success of the iPad. The iPad accounts for an 8% share of global shipments of all mobile PCs. 95% of iPad shipments were to developed regions, primarily North America.

A lack of competitive tablet PC products from other brands continues to drive Apples market share in the mobile PC segment. As the iPad continues its worldwide rollout, one developed region where the acceptance of the iPad has been weak is Japan, however. Questions of local language content and language-specific apps have slowed acceptance in this tech savvy region, noted Chris Connery, Vice President of Large Format Displays at DisplaySearch. As other players come to market with tablet PCs it will be interesting to see if they can move beyond the Western-centric nature of Apples product and develop an infrastructure to support local needs, especially with the growth of consumer spending in China on personal computing devices.

On a global scale, the adoption of iPad is not without its challenges, noted Hidetoshi Himuro, Director of IT Market Research at DisplaySearch. Localized content in non-English speaking regions is sparse, and iPad owners must have a PC for downloading content from iTunes. As a result, penetration in developing regions will be slow.

HP maintained its position as the global leader in mobile PC shipments with 9.5 million units shipped in Q310, accounting for a 17.3% market share. Acer followed close behind with 9.1 million units shipped and a 16.5% market share. Apples MacBook shipments have also increased, but have not had the impact of the iPad. Without the iPad, Apples mobile PC share would be 4.8%, ranking #8 globally. The top five brands account for 65.2% of the total mobile PC market, as the strength of brand names continues to grow.

In Q310, worldwide mobile PC shipments (which include tablet PCs) reached 55 million, up 9.6% Q/Q and 19% Y/Y, the highest volume since DisplaySearch first began to track this segment in 1999.

Both sequential and yearly growth seemed strong in many regions, but it should be noted that new personal computing devices such as netbooks and tablet PCs, as well as lower-priced notebooks, are driving most of the demand. In high-growth regions such as China, consumers still favor traditional desktop PC and external monitor configurations, typically purchased as a DIY (do-it-yourself) kit, for home use. However, the market is changing quickly in China, so the transition from desktop to mobile PCs is poised to happen much faster in this region than it did in others. Recognizing the evolving definition of a personal computer, especially for consumers, is key to understanding the true demand outlook.

The DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report covers the entire range of mobile PC products shipped worldwide and regionally. Covering global and regional brands, the Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report provides an objective, expert view of the market with insight into historical shipments, revenues, forecasts and more. For more information about the report, please contact Charles Camaroto at 1.888.436.7673 or 1.516.625.2452, e-mail contact (at) displaysearch.com or contact your regional DisplaySearch office in China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan or more information.

About DisplaySearch

Since 1996, DisplaySearch has been recognized as a leading global market research and consulting firm specializing in the display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. DisplaySearch provides trend information, forecasts and analyses developed by a global team of experienced analysts with extensive industry knowledge and resources. In collaboration with the NPD Group, its parent company, DisplaySearch uniquely offers a true end-to-end view of the display supply chain from materials and components to shipments of electronic devices with displays to sales of major consumer and commercial channels. For more information on DisplaySearch analysts, reports and industry events, visit us at http://www.displaysearch.com . Read our blog at http://www.displaysearchblog.com and follow us on Twitter at @DisplaySearch.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit http://www.npd.com and http://www.npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter at @npdtech and @npdgroup.

*Formerly known as the Quarterly Advanced Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report

Media Contact:

Stacey Voorhees-Harmon

SAVVY Public Relations

Phone: 925-336-9592

E-mail: stacey(at)savvypublicrelations(dot)net

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One of the Most Valuable Domain Names on the Internet Hits the Market

Cape Girardeau, Missouri (PRWEB) November 21, 2011

The tablet industry, projected to be a $ 70Billion market in 2014, is growing at a rapid rate. The rate of growth is over $ 40Million per day, as consumers have quickly adopted top devices from Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Sony and other manufacturers. XF.com Investments has decided to put Tablets.com up for offers, due to the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead in this market.

The rolling odometer on the Tablets.com website shows just how rapidly this industry is growing. RBC Capital Markets expects the tablet market to reach 185 million units sold in calendar 2014, up 83 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 17 million units in calendar 2010. XF.com Investments, based in Missouri, has not set an asking price for the asset.

We are going to let the market determine the final sales price, said Aron Meystedt with XF.com Investments. We feel the size and growth of this industry will drive the final sales price of Tablets.com up, however, we havent set a target price yet, he added. Once a bid comes across that we feel is fair for this opportunity, we will accept it and move forward.

Recent sales have shown the true value of a category leading domain name. Toys.com, Clothes.com, Sex.com (and many unreported sales) have traded hands for 7 and 8 figure sums. Recently, Citrix assigned an $ 18Million value to their Cloud.com domain name, which it acquired as part of an overall $ 200Million Cloud.com business purchase earlier this year. This further illustrates the value of a top .com in a growing tech category, Aron added. Additionally, the tablet industry is producing several major investments and buyouts, including this weeks agreement for Rakuten to pay $ 315Million for tablet creator Kobo.

Meystedt adds, XF.com Investments feels this is a tremendous opportunity for a company or investment group to enter a fast growing market with the top domain name to help propel their business forward.

Tablets.com enables a company to:

Convey market dominance.

Increase traffic to brand content.

Receive top search engine placements.

Own the category defining domain asset for this industry projected to be $ 70Billion in 2014.

Establish instant credibility and trust in the marketplace.

About XF.com Investments

XF.com Investments is known for owning the very first .com registered on the Internet: Symbolics.com (dating back to March 15, 1985). XF.com invests in short acronyms such as HY.com and YQ.com as well as one word domains like Copier.com and March.com. XF.com Investments is privately held and based in Missouri.

For Serious Inquiries:

Aron Meystedt, XF.com Investments

Phone: 1 573 803 1120

eMail: admin(at)XF(dot)com

http://www.tablets.com

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Global Biometrics Market to Reach US$16.47 Billion by 2017, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) November 15, 2011

Follow us on LinkedIn - Terrorist attacks, plane hijackings and increasing crime rates have underlined the need for greater security measures around the world. Consequently, biometrics is growing in eminence as an essential security measure taken at airports and other critical access sites. The e-passport projects for the US Visa waiver countries, EURODAC, Visa Information System (VIS), and the new generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) are other major drivers that are expected to encourage biometrics usage. Further, the limitations and incontinences with alternative identification methods through photographs, passwords and PIN codes drive the development as well as growth of biometric technologies. Biometrics usage would further increase in public sector owing to criminal and civil security issues, and in commercial sector for cost savings and convenience factors. The process of technology convergence is slated to become critical and virtually inevitable in future for sustaining growth and profitability.

Despite the popular perception that the Security Industry is one of the most recession resilient industries worldwide, capable of providing a positive rate of return to an economys GDP, the global biometrics market ironically showed signs of weakening during 2007-2009, in the midst of steady deterioration in business climate. A key factor fingered to have triggered the decline included the collapse of the construction industry, especially new office, commercial and residential building projects, which brought down new installations of biometrics based access control equipment in buildings and commercial spaces. Postponement and delays in government infrastructure- projects, and cost cutting among commercial establishments, and companies also played instrumental roles in negatively impacting new equipment order influx rates. High levels of unemployment and pruning down of workforce, during this period, also softened corporate focus on biometrics based time and attendance, labor management and timekeeping solutions. Widespread postponements, cancellation of security projects and delays in scheduled system replacements in existing facilities, as a result of distortions in economic variables, such as, drying up of debt markets, lack of capital investments, deep corporate budgets cuts, resulted in declines in replacement demand.

However, given the length, breath and duration of the 2007-2009 recession, the cumulative 12.1% decline in growth during the period, in fact highlights the relative resilience of the biometrics market in comparison with other industries, which witnessed acute and prolonged erosion in growth. In other words, despite the aforementioned deceleration in growth momentum, average annual growth when viewed in isolation, was still a healthy, indicating that the slowdown actually doled out its fair share of opportunities in this space in the form of increased crime rates and thereby increased incentive for investments in these technologies. For instance, recession induced consumer loss of confidence in financial institutions, surging crime rates in most urban and private residential areas, shattered confidence in public safety agencies and law enforcement departments, have all necessitated high-level security arrangements.

The trend towards securing valuable physical assets such as printed business records and documents, cash, data storage devices and jewelry at home, as a result of loss of confidence in financial institutions also generated demand for security systems in the residential sector. The complete collapse in public confidence can be thrown into sharp relief by the fact that bank deposits declined at astounding rates, and the stock market shed trillions of dollars in value. The scenario in general created opportunities for security equipment and biometrics solutions like non-AFIS/finger scan, and iris/retinal scan. Barring instances of withdrawals, postponements and delays of privately funded security projects, large-scale public sector projects were relatively stable and the continued investments in the same, helped support the biometrics industry. The market has also largely benefited from the growing frequency of terrorist attacks and the resulting increases in government expenditures on public safety.

With global economy recovering in 2010, Biometrics market also staged a smart recovery proving that a transient disruption in the economic climate like the recession is unlikely to leave an indelible mark on the market as prevention of authorized access and detection of perpetrators will always remain vital in the overall security arrangements. Going further, growth in the biometrics market will be driven by increasing opportunities from emerging niche market segments. For instance, consumer-based wireless applications such as cellular phones, PDAs and portable computers, and laptops are expected to bolster sales in the silicon fingerprint sensors market.

Applications with the potential of short-term, quantifiable returns on investment such as biometrics enabled time and attendance tools will also experience increased demand in the upcoming years, thereby driving market growth further. Government mandates and regulations have and will continue to boost market prospects for biometrics. Security compulsions of government and law enforcement services will continue to encourage governments to enhance their spending on biometric technologies and adopt the same for government projects such as employee and national ID cards. Incremental technology development induced rise in product sophistication and fall in prices will also help expand demand further. With businesses prioritizing safety and security of physical assets, its opportunities galore in the biometrics market in the upcoming years.

As stated by the new market research report on Biometrics, the US continues to remain the largest regional market for biometrics. Asia-Pacific represents one of the fastest growing regional markets for biometrics, with dollar sales from the region waxing at a CAGR of about 23.8% over the analysis period. Characterized by burgeoning economies, increase in foreign investments, rise in business formation activities, presence of large relatively untapped private security markets and increase in crime rates, Asia-Pacific and Latin America have been witnessing increased adoption of security systems, particularly latest biometric technologies like iris scans, facial recognition. Iris/Retinal Scan market is the fastest growing segment, by technology, with dollar sales waxing at a CAGR of about 25.9% over the analysis period.

Major players in the marketplace include 3M Corporation, AcSys Biometrics Corp., AuthenTec, Inc., BIO-key International, Inc., SecureTouch Retail Systems, Biometric Security Limited, Communication Intelligence Corporation, Ivrnet, DigitalPersona, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, i2 Inc., Imprivata, RCG Holdings Limited, SAFRAN Group, Morpho, SecuGen Corporation, NEC Corporation of America, Precise Biometrics AB, Sensory Inc., Atos Origin S.A., TSSI Systems Ltd., ZK Software, among others.

The research report titled Biometrics: A Global Strategic Business Report announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, growth opportunities, technology overview, challenges, new product introductions, recent industry activity, and profiles of market players worldwide. Market estimates and projections are presented for technology segments AFIS, Non-AFIS/Finger Scan, Hand Geometry, Iris/Retinal Scan, Facial Recognition, Voice Recognition, Signature Verification, and Keystroke Dynamics/Typing Rhythms across all major geographic markets including the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe (France, Germany, UK and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East. End-use analysis for global Biometrics (excluding AFIS) market is provided for segments Government/Civil; Financial; Computer & Network Securit