• October 14, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

Given how successful games such as Rovio’s Bad Piggies have been, it’s not shocking that mobile gaming hasn’t peaked yet. According to the NPD Group’s latest Mobile Gaming 2012 report, 23 percent of 5,923 “app gamers” surveyed said they played games exclusively on mobile devices and nearly 50% of them said they played more mobile games this year compared to 2011. The NPD Group cited two reasons for the rapid increase in app gamers: free games and convenience. While many app games do start out free, 30 percent of those surveyed said they had made in-app purchases or upgraded from the free version to the paid one. “Many mobile gaming consumers have grown accustomed to gaming for free, making it essential

• September 28, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

The two largest carriers in the U.S., Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T), have been heavily promoting their shared data plans since they launched this past summer. Now that the days of unlimited data are coming to an end, users are more cautious about what they download. New research from NPD Group revealed that Android smartphone users have begun to prioritize Wi-Fi over cellular networks, Fierce Wireless reports. The research firm found that users downloaded an average of 2.5GB per month on Wi-Fi, compared to roughly 870MB of data on cellular networks. A further breakdown of the numbers revealed that young adults aged 18 to 24 unsurprisingly use the largest amount of cellular data, averaging 1.05GB per month, compared to adults

• September 28, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

Ever wonder how much data you burn through every month on average? If you’re an Android user within the US, odds are that it’s quite a lot. The NPD Group estimates that Americans of the Google persuasion typically consume about 870MB of data on cellu…

• September 28, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

Ever wonder how much data you burn through every month on average? If you’re an Android user within the US, odds are that it’s quite a lot. The NPD Group estimates that Americans of the Google persuasion typically consume about 870MB of data on cellu…

• June 21, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

For the first time ever, shipments of LCD TVs fell year-over-year, declining just over 3% to 43 million units. The decline had a noticeable impact on the market, with total TV shipments falling almost 8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, the steepest decline since the second quarter of 2009. According to the latest report from DisplaySearch, quarterly TV shipments reached only 51 million units. “Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments,” noted Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch Director of North America TV Research. “Key component prices, such as LCD panels, are not expected to decline much in 2012, and many brands are concentrating on

• May 3, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

The NPD Group on Wednesday released the results of its monthly Mobile Phone Track service, and determined Apple was the top-selling smartphone vendor in the United States. The Cupertino-based company’s market share increased by 7% in the first quarter year-over-year and totaled 29% of all U.S. smartphones. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone and overall mobile phone vendor, followed closely on Apple’s heels and saw tremendous growth of 140% to grab a 24% share of the market. During the same period, LG, HTC, Motorola and RIM all saw their shares drop. “Samsung is the only market leader from the feature phone era to transition to market leadership in the smartphone era in the U.S.,” said NPD analyst Ross Rubin. “Its broad

• April 27, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

NPD Group on Thursday released the results of its Apple Ecosystem Study, which suggests that almost 25% of U.S. iPad owners are first-time Apple buyers. The firm’s data, as reported by AppleInsider, indicated that 33% of U.S. households own Apple products, with a majority owning an iPod. That number is growing beyond the 37 million American households the Cupertino-based company’s products are already found in, thanks to Apple’s flagship tablet. “iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. “In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one — nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both

• March 23, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

It’s already chewed up some big names on the retail scene, but the game-downloading trend shows no sign of being sated. Fresh figures from market research firm NPD show that American digital game sales (including rentals and DLC) amounted to $2.04 bil…

• March 14, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

Smartphones with 4G connectivity grew from 6% in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 35% in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a report from The NPD Group. HSPA+ “4G” accounted for 22% sales, however, leaving LTE and WiMAX technologies with a much less impressive share of the smartphone market. Older HSPA+ technology was the only 4G offered by AT&T up until recently, and it is still the only 4G technology offered by T-Mobile. The firm also counts AT&T’s iPhone 4S among the 4G phones sold last quarter, giving the category a significant boost. LTE-enabled handsets, on the other hand, accounted for just 7% of the smartphone market, while WiMAX made up only 6%, dropping from its third-quarter high

• March 10, 2012
• JE Syndicated
• Ameilius

The video game industry continued to struggle in the United States last month as sales slid yet again according to market research firm The NPD Group. After dropping 34% year-over-year to $750.6 million in January, total video game hardware, software and accessory sales in the U.S. dipped to $1.06 billion in February, down 20% from the same period in 2011. Hardware sales dropped 18% to $381.4 million, software sales declined 23% to $464.4 million and accessory sales were down 16% to $215.2 million. ”Outside of new physical retail sales, we estimate that the consumer spend on other methods to acquire content including used games, full game and add-on content downloads, social network games, mobile games, rentals and subscriptions accounted for an