According to IDC, factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 5.1% to $14.4 bln in Q4 2004, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of positive growth. Worldwide server unit shipments growth slowed modestly to 15.7% in Q4 2004 when compared with the year-ago period. For the full year 2004, worldwide server revenue grew 6.2% to $49.0 bln, while worldwide unit shipments grew 19.3% to 6.3 mln units. IBM led the overall server market in 2004 with 33.3% revenue share, followed by HP with 26.6% share.

The TV spot, starring former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, asked viewers to visit the site at USAFreedomCorps.gov and donate funds to help the tsunami victims. The site received 1.3 million visitors in January 2005. An average of 44,000 individuals daily visited the site, a sizable increase over its 2004 daily average of 5,700 visitors. Throughout January 2005, 517,666 visitors clicked on the “Donate Now” links on usafreedomcorps.gov’s home page.

According to IDC?s EMEA Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) server market recorded growth of 3.0% in Q4 2004 over Q3 2004, when measured in current dollars. While this was a softer end to the year which started on a very strong note, overall growth for 2004 over 2003 was still positive at close to 8% in current dollars, though in euros revenue growth remained slightly negative. System shipments increased by 15.3% from Q4 2003 to Q4 2004, to just below 605,000 units.

Overall, in Q4 2004, EMEA server shipments continued to benefit from the weakening of the US dollar, renewed spending in large IT infrastructure projects, ongoing demand in the SMB sector, and strong revenue growth in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Increasing competition, lower component costs, and the dollar depreciation encouraged continued aggressive pricing, which also contributed to sustaining market growth. Average end-user prices nudged up sequentially, but were down from Q4 2003 by just over 11% to $8,884 in dollar terms, and by nearly 19% to 6,857 euros.

According to Teenage Research Unlimited, the population of teenagers will reach about 34 mln within the next five years, up from about 30 mln in 1997 and about 33.5 in 2005. About 49% of adolescent boys have bought something online, versus 41% of teenage girls. 54% of 16- and 17-year-olds have shopped online.

According to IDC, revenue in the worldwide unified messaging applications market grew over 4% to $489.7 mln in 2003 as successful vendors supported growth among carrier customers and battled the sentiment that cell phones, PDAs, and services alone provide enough message management and unification for most users. IDC expects revenue from UM applications for both enterprises and service providers to further increase through 2008, with business users ultimately becoming the strongest market segment.

In-Stat expects only 3% of broadband users around the world will use WiMax services by 2009. It could cost about $3 bln to build a nationwide US WiMax network, according to In-Stat. Roughly 85% of US households can now buy broadband services and about 70% have a choice between cable and DSL, according to Yankee Group.

IT spending among automotive parts manufacturers is expected to grow in 2005, particularly among companies that are implementing new enterprise-resource-planning platforms, according to Deloitte and Touche USA LLP and the Original Equipment Suppliers Association. More than 50% of the companies surveyed said they’re consolidating their existing ERP platforms, and 25% of those companies already have selected vendors or are implementing a new ERP platform as their primary IT infrastructure.

Revenues from video, which includes IPTV and video on demand; music downloads, games, gambling and adult entertainment are expected to increase to $36 bln in 2009 from $12.3 bln in 2004, according to RHK. In 2005 online entertainment is expected to reach $15.8 bln. IPTV is expected to be the biggest driver behind the 24% annual growth in online entertainment.

According to an Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) report on January 2005 phishing activity, 32% of scammers’ Web sites were hosted in the United States. China was found to be in second place, hosting 13%, with Korea and Japan in third and fourth places with 10% and 3.1% respectively.

According to Insight Research, worldwide grid spending will grow from $714.9 mln in 2005 to approximately $19.2 bln in 2010. Grid spending was examined in 14 vertical industries, with a majority of near term grid spending in manufacturing and financial service industries. Spending estimates could increase at a faster rate, Insight cautions, if draft specifications being developed as part of the Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF) to foster convergence of the Web service and grid computing communities succeed.

70% of online consumers feel the online merchants are falling short when it comes to protecting their personal information, according to RSA Security. The research found that 25% of online shoppers recognized that persistent security fears were crimping their shopping behavior. Challenging the notion that an informed consumer is a happy consumer, 61% of respondents said they feel more informed about identity theft issues, and 23% noted that they feel more vulnerable than they did a year ago.

Corporate spending on research increased 30% every year in the 90s, but currently is 6% below the 2001 peak, according to Outsell. 20% of corporate buyers buy research in the US, abroad it’s 10%. 35% of Forrester Research business is international, however.

According to In-Stat, more than 30% of firms, even those with less than 100 employees, are interested in and, more importantly, planning to adopt IP telephony solutions in 2005. However, the research shows that businesses needs for IP voice networks vary greatly and that there is a growing need for “small office” solutions, which are hard to come by. This suggests that one size won’t fit all for IP telephony and that meeting customers’ diverse requirements with a rich portfolio of product may be what distinguishes “leading” vendors from those that fail.

IP Telephony solutions account for a bit more than 10% of the installed base of voice lines in the Enterprise market. However, despite the opportunity for growth for IP telephony, the competitive environment is such that any one vendor will likely grow at the expense of another in the coming years. The small business market is expected to become a key growth segment for IP telephony solutions, as these customers show increasing needs for more advanced voice and data networking capability. A key opportunity for vendors in 2005 and beyond is expected to be the “small IP Network” designed for single sites with 20 or fewer users. With the average enterprise having more than 100 small sites, the opportunity across size of business for solutions such as these is enormous.

According to a Jupiter Research survey 44% of adults using dating sites were looking for a serious relationship, 43% for friendship, 39% for a date, 37% for physical intimacy, 20% for marriage. There are close to 100 mln single adults in the United States alone. Of those, 17 mln looked at online dating sites in 2002, with 2.5 mln paying for site memberships.

Less than 5 percent of Internet users currently employ RSS readers, MediaPost says. That minority consists mainly of media and tech professionals, and bloggers who contend with information overload on a daily basis.

Of those 70% of advertisers who said they used sponsored links in 2004, more than 26% spent $100,000 or more on their campaigns. Over the next 12 months this spending will increase by almost 10%, beating the overall advertising industry, which is expected to grow at 6%, according to Kanoodle. 20% of advertisers surveyed said they will incorporate content-targeted sponsored links into their overall marketing programs, in comparison with other interactive marketing tools including: display ads (14%), e-mail marketing (12%) and sponsored links on search results pages (15%).

DisplaySearch reported plasma TV shipments soaring in Q4 2004, rising 67% QTQ and 173% YTY to a record 1.1 mln TVs. The analysts attribute the remarkable growth to strong holiday demand, supported by lower prices and rising interest in flat panel TVs and HDTVs. For the 2004 year, plasma TV shipments rose 155% to 2.8 mln units.

Blended plasma TV prices were down more than 20% YTY in Q4 2004 to $3,315 from over $4,200 one year earlier. Plasma TV growth surged worldwide with record results earned in all regions. Plasma TV shipments rose at least 48% sequentially in all regions with China growing the fastest, up 146% QTQ and 526% YTY. Europe overtook North America on 238% to 146% YTY growth to enjoy a 35% to 32% share advantage supported by lower penetration of rear and front projection TVs. Japan had the highest HD plasma TV penetration at 93% in Q4 2004, significantly higher than North America at 42% and Europe at 38% with Japanese brands focusing on the higher resolution and higher margin formats.

Panasonic remained the leading plasma TV brand with a 19% share. It led the plasma TV market in Japan and North America and held double-digit shares in Europe, China and rest of world (ROW). It had the highest share at 37″ ED worldwide and was #2 at 37″ HD, 42″-43″ HD, 50″ HD and 60″+. LG Electronics remained #2 growing its share to 14.5%, leading in ROW and earning the #2 position in Europe. It was #1 in the dominant 42″ ED market as well as at 60″+. Samsung overtook Sony to become #3 with a 12% share on strong positions in all regions except Japan. Philips jumped from #6 to #4 on over 100% QTQ growth due to its strong position in Europe where it was the #1 plasma TV brand. Sony, Hitachi and Pioneer rounded out the top 7. Sony led at 37″ HD, Hitachi led at 32″ and 55″ and Pioneer was #1 at 42″-43″ HD and 50″, as reported by Tekrati.

DisplaySearch indicated that global LCD TV shipments jumped 69% QTQ and 134% YTY in Q4 2004 to a record 3.6 mln units. For the year, LCD TV shipments grew 123% to 8.8 mln TVs. Lower street prices supported the rapid Q4 2004 growth with many size categories experiencing double-digit sequential pricing declines. The lower LCD TV prices were achieved through significant panel price reductions resulting from lower panel costs from new capacity optimized for LCD TV production as well as a rising TFT LCD surplus caused by record capital spending and weakness in the Q3 LCD monitor panel market.

LCD TV demand surged worldwide with all regions enjoying at least 41% sequential growth. Europe remained the single largest region for LCD TVs with a 38% share on 86% QTQ and 216% YTY growth. Japan remained the second largest region with a 27% share followed by North America at 26%, China at 4% and rest of world (ROW) at 5%. All size categories enjoyed at least 52% growth with 15″-19″ LCD TVs overtaking 20″-21″ as the leading size category with a 25% to 23% share advantage benefiting from cost conscious holiday buyers. 26″ and larger LCD TVs also gained ground, rising from 34% to 36% of the market as prices fall.

There were significant regional differences with the average LCD TV diagonal at 20″ in North America and at least 22″ - 23′ in other regions due to North America’s acceptance of smaller TVs in kitchens, dens, dorms, additional bedrooms, etc. Sharp remained the dominant LCD TV brand with a 22% share, down from 28% as competition intensifies. Philips remained #2 with its share rising from 11% to 15% on strong growth at 15″ through its Magnavox brand and a strong position in Europe and North America. Sony remained #3 with its share rising from 10% to 11%.