Recently, the FCC laid out its priorities for the wireless industry and the recognition that wireless networks deserve special consideration was very encouraging.

Roger Entner, Senior Vice President, Research and Insights, Telecom Practice
Over the past few months, the government’s interest in the practice of handset exclusivity has intensified. On the heels of Congressional hearings in July, Verizon Wireless agreed to dial back its exclusive deals with cell phone manufacturers to accommodate smaller carriers. This week the FCC, which has already begun a review of handset agreements, has made the issue a focus of its regular monthly meeting. But no matter what the setting or circumstances, whenever U.S. lawmakers and regulators discuss competition in …

Roger Entner, Senior Vice President, Research and Insights, Telecom Practice
While public awareness of Apple’s iPhone has been significant since its summer 2007 launch, its influence on consumer purchasing decisions remains up for debate.
To try to better understand the iPhone phenomenon, I took a look at the most recent data from The Nielsen Company’s Mobile Insights survey, which asks 25,000 wireless users every month (a total of 300,000 per year) about their wireless attitudes and experiences, including why they chose their current wireless service.
When the results of 1st quarter of 2009 …

Value Remapping of the Carriers’ Handset Portfolio
Roger Entner, SVP, Head of Research and Insights, Telecom Practice
As widely expected, Apple announced the new iPhone 3GS at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. This latest iPhone offers incremental improvements over the iPhone 3G at the existing $199/$299 price points. The bigger news that few, if any, expected was that the older iPhone 3G was going to continue to be sold, but at the new $99 price point.  It is self-evident that this price cut will drive sales. According to Nielsen’s Mobile Insights …

Upon Apple’s announcement of a new iPhone – the iPhone 3G S, slated to be available June 19 – Nielsen takes a look at iPhone insights on its users and usage.

As of April 2009, Nielsen estimates that there are 6.4 million active iPhone users in the U.S., up from 2.1 million a year prior. The most impactful iPhone announcement this week may be the price reduction of $99 for the 8 GB version: cost has been one factor (in addition to AT&T exclusivity) that’s kept the …

Sid Gorham, President, Telecom Practice

Pressure has been mounting on U.S. mobile carriers to lower pricing in response to slow growth and the weakened economy. The Big 4 national carriers (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile) each introduced unlimited usage plans in Q1 2008 that offered unlimited calling for approximately $99 per month. While these plans lowered rates for high usage subscribers, they failed to spark a full-on price war in the mass market as many analysts predicted at the time.
Today, the Big 4 national carriers are increasingly challenged by regional carriers …

The NCAA Tournament, March Madness, is one of the most celebrated sporting events in the U.S, providing a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to reach a wide and relatively affluent audience.
Nielsen’s Guide To March Madness, tracks a range of consumer and media information surrounding the event including advertising trends and demographic reach of the multi-week event. Ad buys for CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament have risen steadily over the last five years – from $434 million in 2004 to $580 million in 2008 – a surge of almost 34 percent.  …

Roger Entner, Nielsen Telecom
Nokia: the name is synonymous with mobile phone innovation and leadership everywhere in the world but in the US.  Its handsets comprise about 40 percent of the worldwide marketplace. It has not always been this way.  Once the leading brand of phone in the US, Nokia’s share of the market has dropped to about 10 percent.  Brands such as LG, Samsung, Blackberry, Motorola and Apple’s iPhone tend to lead in market share and mindshare respectively.
But cell phones have evolved a great deal since Nokia was a major …

Last week, Nielsen looked at the history of Daytona 500 viewership. And with the 2009 Daytona 500 in the rearview mirror, it’s clear that the some of those trends are still on track.
 
Greenville, SC and Greensboro, NC maintained their spots as the top DMAs for this year’s race, scoring 21.2 and 19.9 ratings, respectively. Dayton, OH surged to the #3 spot with an 18.0 rating.
 2009 DAYTONA 500: TOP-10 LOCAL DMA RATINGS

RANK
DMA
HH RATING
# OF HOUSEHOLDS (000s)

1
Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville
21.2
182

2
Greensboro
19.9
136

3
Dayton
18.0
87

4
Indianapolis
17.2
192

5
Knoxville
17.0
93

6
Charlotte
15.6
175

7
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn
15.4
226

8
Nashville
15.3
155

9
Tampa-St. Pete, Sarasota
15.3
278

10
Jacksonville
15.1
102

source: The Nielsen Company 2009

At its peak (5:48pm ET), the race scored a …

Third quarter data released Thursday by Nielsen showed a small decline in ad spending from January to September of this year.
Overall ad spending dropped 0.6% in the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same time period in 2007. 
The drop came despite overall growth in TV advertising.  Four of the top-five growing media were TV-based.