Young People In The U.K. Go Online For Advice
March 19, 2010
The majority (86%) of young people in Britain go online to find help with personal problems, instead of seeking advice from a family member or friend.
The findings come from a poll of 1,000 people under 25 commissioned by Get Connected, a national helpline line in the UK, and conducted by Maximiles Surveys.
Online one third of young people would turn to their mother to discuss a problem and just 5 percent would speak to their father. Fifty percent did say they would be likely to talk to a friend.
More than half (53%) of young people who have surfed the Internet to search for help with a problem found the information actually made them more concerned they were before. Only 18 percent said they would double check any information they found online with another source like a friend or parent.
"These results show that there is a need for young people to be able to verify the information that they find online, and in many cases that the vast amount of information available on the Internet seems to exacerbate their personal worries further," said Andrew McKnight, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Get Connected.
"As a society we have become increasingly reliant on the Internet as a first point of reference for a lot of information, and it is crucial that we make Britain's young people aware of exactly where they can turn to for dependable information and support. Get Connected is the safe gateway to these services."
Young people's preference for using the Internet to look for advice is reflected by the continued increase in incoming contacts online to Get Connected over the past year. Since the launch of its Web chat service in 2006, almost one in ten (8%) of all enquiries are now made via instant messaging. More young people (13%) are also choosing to contact the charity for help and support through email.
"Young people in Britain have grown up with the internet and mass communication engrained as a part of their daily lives," said Fiona Clark, Chief Executive, Get Connected.
"Beyond their family and friends they need trusted sources to help them make an informed choice, whatever the problem may be."
More People Going Online To Watch TV Episodes
March 18, 2010
The use of the Internet to watch full television episodes has tripled since 2006 among those aged 13-to-54, according to a new report from Knowledge Networks.
Among Internet users 13-to-54 viewing complete TV show episodes via streaming or downloaded video has grown from 8 percent to 22 percent. For Internet users 18-to-34 viewing of complete TV show episodes via streaming or downloading has climbed from 12 percent to 30 percent.
"The small but notable level of people watching TV programs via the Internet on regular TV sets suggests that the convergence of the two screens for mainstream audiences may finally be on the horizon," said David Tice, Vice President and Group Account Director at Knowledge Networks.
"Growing numbers of 'connected TVs' - those that access the Internet - are making this option increasingly user-friendly. The fact that over one-third of TV homes now have a bundled TV/Internet service package is no doubt accelerating this blurring of boundaries."
Other highlights from the report include:
*7 percent in the 13-to-54 age group, and 11 percent of those 18 to 34, have used a TV to watch streamed or downloaded video
*6 percent of those 13 to 54, and 9 percent of 18-to-34 have cut back or cancelled their TV service in the past year due to their online viewing of network programming, or plan to do so in the next year
PayPal To Add 1,000 New Jobs In Asia Pacific Region
March 17, 2010
Ebay's online payment service PayPal said today it would double the number of employees in Asia Pacific from 1,000 currently to more than 2,000 by the end of the year.
PayPal said it plans to add more than 100 new jobs at its international headquarters in Singapore. New jobs will be located at all seven offices including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. For its Singapore business headquarters, PayPal will be seeking Singapore-based people with background in technology, product development, infrastructure design, risk and engineering.
"While PayPal's growth in Asia Pacific to date has largely been driven by our cross border business, we fully expect the domestic business in many of our Asian markets to explode in the coming years," said Farhad Irani, vice president of PayPal Asia Pacific.
"Our success in the region will continue to rely on partnering with merchants, financial services companies and local governments to deliver the right services for our customers."
PayPal says it processed more than $6 billion of total payment volume in Asia Pacific in 2009, an increase of 38 percent from 2008.
As part of its plans to grow across Asia Pacific, the company also announced the PayPal mobile payment software development kit (SDK) will be available to developers in the region.
Mobile App Market To Soar To $17.5 Billion
March 17, 2010
The worldwide mobile applications market is on track to be worth $17.5 by 2012, according to a new report commissioned by GetJar, the globe's second largest app store.
Mobile app downloads across all handsets are estimated to climb from over 7 billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012, a year-over- year growth rate of 92 percent.
GetJar commissioned consulting firm Chetan Sharma Consulting to examine the rapidly expanding global apps market. The goal of the study was to look at the potential and real value of the mobile apps market worldwide.
Apps markets are evolving differently worldwide, indicating a need for creating different apps business models instead of a "one size fits all" approach. For example, the average app selling price (ASP) in North America was $1.09, significantly higher compared to ASPs in developing markets such as South America ($0.20) and Asia ($0.10).
The revenue potential in Europe is set to soar from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in North America the figure will increase from $2.1 billion to $6.7 billion in 2012. Currently apps are most popular in Asia, with the region accounting for 37% of global downloads in 2009. However, while Asia had the highest number of downloads, users in North America spent the most money on apps, accounting for over 50% of revenue
Other highlights from the report include:
*Advertising based revenue models have become increasingly popular. In 2009, advertising contributed almost 12% of the overall apps revenue. However, this share is expected to more than double to over 28% by 2012 - given the high proportion of prepay users in developing markets.
*The battle of the app stores is well underway - in 2009 the number of app stores leapt from eight to 38 - an increase of 375%. The number of app stores is expected to further increase in 2010.
*The price of mobile applications can vary from $0.99 to $999, however the average selling price in 2009 was approximately $1.9. This is predicted to decrease by 29% over the next three years, although advertising revenue derived from apps is likely to stay relatively flat.
"With the consumer appetite for mobile apps rocketing, the opportunities for developers are huge," said Ilja Laurs, CEO and founder, GetJar.
"This report signifies a battle for survival of the fittest among app stores worldwide - with app revenue and growth opportunities growing significantly. There is no way that this many app stores will survive in the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this revenue."
