ABI Research Talks About What ISN'T Going to Happen in 2009?

This is the time of year when prognosticators step forward to predict what the coming year has in store for us. In fact, the practice has become so ubiquitous you are likely to hear numerous opinions on the same subject that are just plain antithetical to each other.

 

So New York-based ABI Research (News - Alert) decided to take it all in a different direction again this year with its white paper: "What’s Isn’t Going to Happen in 2009."

 

Of course you might be saying, isn’t that just another way of saying what is going to happen this year? Yes it is. But, hey, they made the effort, so will we.

 

According to ABI Research lots of things won't happen in 2009 because of the global recession, which left lots of work for its team of analyst who focus on the company's core areas of expertise, including mobile marketing and mobile banking, near-field communication, digital media, IPTV, transportation, navigation and location based services, mobile phones and mobile telecoms, intellectual property, Wi-Fi, WiMAX (News - Alert) and other networks, with a special look at Asia.

 

While the analysts said, for starters, that mobile marketing will not “hit the big time” in 2009, they did note that mobile Internet is expected to power ahead and create a foundation for the future.

 

This seems plausible given carriers have consistently been lowering mobile Internet rates, as well as introducing flat rates, as increased awareness of the capabilities continues to expand.

 

The white paper also addresses a once seemingly outlandish, but now a much less so, question of whether IPTV (News - Alert) will replace traditional broadcast TV. Drum roll please…. “Absolutely not” says the team at ABI. However, they did note that some markets are robust and some providers are prospering.

 

In fact, one study shows that at least in Europe, the technology is making significant headway with approximately 8.7 million locals expected to be watching television over the Internet by 2009. That is a 9.4 percent increase of a market currently dominated by cable and satellite operators.

 

The big question is over the “location industry” and its viability next year. Will it get lost? asks ABI. The answer is a negative citing a climate in 2009 that may have a bracing effect in the longer term.

 

"The location industry remains largely undecided on preferred device form factors, acceptable business models for connected services, addressable user segments, positioning technologies and most importantly which services and content offer most value to the end user," said ABI Research director Dominique Bonte. "The industry is still characterized by too much experimentation, with navigation vendors moving from PNDs to handset-based navigation and vice versa, diluting their market and brand positions in the process.

 

To download the white paper in Adobe PDF format, go to www.abiresearch.com and click on the “What Isn’t Going to Happen in 2009” ad button.