White Papers
Is the Semiconductor Industry Slowly Strangling the Little Goose that Lays Golden Eggs?
There is a little-known corner of the semiconductor world that is as important as practically any of the high-flying semiconductor markets. Everyone is aware of microprocessors, memory, cellphone chipsets, and other visible consumer electronics semiconductor products. Most major semiconductor houses chase after these in-the-limelight markets like there was no tomorrow. Competition is fierce, and to be perfectly candid, participants in these segments are so numerous that they are nearly a dime a dozen. This analyst has attended briefing after briefing where the latest consumer-oriented semiconductor product line is touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Every player says that it wants to be a “major” force in these marketplaces and that its particular solution is unique. The truth is that uniqueness – one of a kind – is rare, to the point of being practically non-existent, and it is far from certain that everyone can be a major force. ASPs are nose-diving and most major semiconductor players are having a very rough time of it at present.
Is Open Software the Solution for the Automotive Industry?
The adoption of open development platforms and open source operating systems will be the only way for the automotive industry to address the structural problems related to long design and replacement cycles. It will allow cost reduction by making customization and updates easier. The automotive future will be hybrid, connecting external mobile devices to high-quality embedded systems via standardized interfaces. This paper describes the issues car manufacturers' Tier One suppliers face, and the solutions needed to break the current deadlock.
Navigation and Multimedia
Personal navigation devices are increasingly shipping with multimedia features such as video playback, picture viewing, mobile TV-receivers and digital cameras. While the horizontal integration of these features might be of interest to some users and allow PND vendors to differentiate their product offer, the real relevance of multimedia consists in enriching the navigation experience. The creation and use of geo-tagged pictures to select destinations and the availability of GPS audio tours are just some examples of how this might be accomplished. This white paper explores how navigation and multimedia will coexist and what the impact will be on future hardware form factors.
What’s NOT Going to Happen in 2009
How will technology markets respond to doom, gloom, and the “R-word”? Are “the fundamentals sound”? Or are we about to experience disruption the likes of which haven’t been seen for generations? As usual at this time of year, ABI Research’s intrepid analysts shed their inhibitions and call ’em like they see ’em, presenting their views on . . .
What’s NOT Going to Happen in 2009
Digital Tribes
In early October, 2008, ABI Research conducted an online study among tech-savvy adult US consumers concerning their behaviors on and attitudes about the Internet, mobile phones, and television, as well as their usage and perceptions of a number of different consumer brands. One of the goals of this study was to conduct a segmentation that could be replicated and used in the future to understand these tech-savvy groups’ attitudes and behaviors towards the purchase of new technology products and services. Four distinct groups emerged from this attitudinal and behavioral segmentation: Tech-Savvy/TV Averse, Online/On-a-Budget, Wireless Women on the Web, and On-the-Go Gadgeteers.