Enders Analysis provides a subscription research service covering the media, entertainment, mobile and fixed telecommunications industries in Europe, with a special focus on new technologies and media. We cover all sides of the market, from consumers and leading companies (e.g. Vodafone, Iliad, ITV, BT, BSkyB, Virgin Media and others), to regulation. A complete list of our research can be found here.
Benedict Evans was quoted in an article rounding up analyst reactions to the announcement of Apple's iOS 7. "I think they maintained the status quo", he commented. In his view it has "not really changed anything fundamental."
Click here to access the articleAn article on the FT's Tech Blog quoted Benedict Evans in its round-up of analyst opinion on Apple's new iOS 7 mobile operating system.
“It takes some getting used to and there are some odd decisions,” said Benedict, “but the functional changes are really good.”
Click here to access the articleDouglas McCabe was quoted in an interview of the chief executive of Time Out, Aksel van der Wal, which examined the company's fortunes.
Commenting on the decision to make Time Out free, he said "by expanding distribution Time Out has created for itself a far larger, and demographically more attractive advertising platform. Its integrated print and digital model is as much service [offering a chance to book restaurants or gig tickets, for example] as editorial, which in turn generates additional opportunities."
Click here to access the articleBenedict Evans was quoted in John Gapper's column, a discussion of Google. “It’s easy for consumers to switch to another search engine, but it is difficult to make anything as good,” he said.
“Google is a massive machine learning project, and it’s been feeding the machine for a decade.”
Click here to access the articleAn article on the Guardian's Technology Blog, trying to understand the real purpose of Google Plus, quoted from Benedict Evans's blog. "Just as Microsoft cross-leveraged Windows and Office, and then Internet Explorer," he said, "Google is cross-leveraging search, Gmail, Maps, Android and everything else, tying them together with Plus."
"The objective is to index not just the web but the users - to drive better understanding of the data by knowing how and where people use it. This is the point of Google Plus - it's not a social network, but a unified Google identity to tie all of your search and indeed internet use together in a Google database just like Pagerank."
Click here to access the articleBenedict Evans was quoted in an article discussing the narrowing gap in app downloads between Android and iOS devices. That narrowing is largely attributable to the greater number of Android devices in use; the gap between the two operating systems in apps downloaded per user is as great as ever, with iOS leading.
"When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, they were five years ahead of anyone else,” said Benedict. “We’ve now reached the point where there is a viable competing product that has more or less matched Apple.”
“There are big holes in Google Now and in Siri, but they are both trying to get beyond typing a search or clicking on an app, to become a more intelligent version of how your phone might help you.”
Click here to access the articleBenedict Evans was quoted in an article reporting on Yahoo's acquisition of the social networking site Tumblr. “Tumblr is a very interesting, very dynamic social-content sharing network that is doing extremely well,” he said.
“It’s not quite clear what the revenue model is. But there’s a lot of use, there’s a lot of information about interests like interiors and handbags. It’s quite easy to see how that could make a good advertising sales model.”
Click here to access the articleAn article on the health of ITV quoted Toby Syfret. Both ITV and the BBC have profited in recent years from the global demand for high-quality English language content.
“We see no let-up as to the possibilities of content opportunities,” he said. “There will be a continued need in developed markets but sales can also improve in developing markets like Brazil and India.”
Click here to access the articleDouglas McCabe was quoted in an article analysing the chances of success for Sun+, The Sun's new paid-for online service. It gives access to the newspaper's content and newly-acquired Premier League football highlights, across desktop, smartphone and tablet platforms.
"There are at present 124,000 daily website users who also read the print edition: put simplistically, what if they reduced their frequency of print purchase as paying digital subscribers?," he said. On the other hand, he saw "no reason to assume the Sun would not become one of the most popular content apps in the market".
"We believe the Sun's content is eminently well suited for mobile device delivery. [It is] short, witty, attractive for sharing, and relatively easy to package on a rapid publishing cycle to optimise breakfast, commute, coffee break and lunch usage, as well as exploiting the key weekend and evening competitive advantages."
Click here to access the articleAlice Enders was quoted in an article on the launch of Google's new music streaming service, Music All Access. She discussed the service's lack of a free-to-listen option, explaining why it might be a wise move.
"One of the things that has really slowed Spotify down is its freemium tier," she said. "It helps familiarise people with a streaming music service, but it immediately means you are selling online advertising and that means in a fragmented market that you have to have local sales teams...Let's face it, a freemium tier is a very expensive marketing device."
Click here to access the articleFrancois Godard was quoted in a profile of the French internet entrepreneur Xavier Niel, the creator of Free Mobile - a mobile network operator.
Francois said he thought that Free Mobile would eventually be forced to raise prices, which could undermine its low-cost image.
Click here to access the articleAn article on the fortunes of Silvio Berlusconi's media empire quoted Francois Godard. Mediaset, one of his companies, owns TV networks in Italy and Spain but is burdened by expensive sports deals.
“The football rights are costing the company a fortune, so there’s little money left to spend on big American films,” said Francois.
Click here to access the articleIan Maude discussed the challenges ahead for Facebook.
Ian Maude was quoted in an article on the future of Facebook. In recent months, the site has seen users decline in the US and UK.
"The problem is that, in the US and UK, most people who want to sign up for Facebook have already done it," he explained. "There is a boredom factor where people like to try something new. Is Facebook going to go the way of Myspace? The risk is relatively small, but that is not to say it isn't there."
Click here to access the articleAn Enders Analysis report, Facebook Home and mobile [2013-034], was quoted in an article discussing the challenge for mobile operators created by the rise of free chat apps.
Users are increasingly replacing paid for SMS messages and voice calls with free services. "As an operator would see it, arbitraging between the price charged for data and that charged for SMS or voice, or indeed using Wi-Fi," the report said. "This is especially an issue in prepay and emerging markets, which tend not to have existing big SMS and data bundles."
Click here to access the articleBenedict Evans was quoted in an article on the tenth anniversary of the iTunes music store's launch. "You can look at the iTunes music store as a measure of customer satisfaction," he said.
It's not a big part of Apple's business, "but the fact that the number of users and downloads keeps going up, and revenue per iOS device [iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch] doesn't fall, is a metric of how much people like it. What's happening is that the popularity of the services that Apple provides, such as iTunes and apps and iMessage [its text messaging system], make it more difficult for people to leave the platform."
Click here to access the articleMore coverage of Apple and its recent results quoted Benedict Evans. Commentating on the company's results, he said "There’s clearly a law of large numbers...If you’ve been growing at over 50% every quarter for the last two years, you reach a point where you can’t do this any more."
He also highlighted the reason for its uneven quarterly earnings: "In the short term, there is a big cyclical-timing-product clash going on here."
Click here to access the articleAnother article on the future of Apple quoted Benedict Evans. He explained why there is so much pessimistic speculation about the company.
"Nobody seriously thinks there is going to be some collapse in Apple's business; the concern is how much bigger it will get," he said. "The company grew at over 50% a year for almost three years and, on a purely mathematical basis, the growth rate was going to slow."
Click here to access the articleClaire Enders was quoted in an article on News Corp's $139 million settlement with investors over phone hacking. “The company’s very busy trying to get all the lawsuits behind them,” she said.
But she maintained that "the issues on phone hacking will continue to be with us for some time".
Click here to access the articleBenedict Evans was quoted in an article discussing the future of Apple. The recent fall in the company's share price has precipitated another round of speculation over whether the company's best years are behind it.
“Tim Cook in particular and Apple in general have never given the impression of being a company that puts a lot of effort into smoothing out the quarters,” he said. “I don’t think they are going to manage the product cycle in order to deliver a nice flow of financials to Wall Street.”
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