The ranks of households with a net worth of at least $1 mln grew 5% to an all-time high of 9.3 mln, according to TNS. 40% of the top 10 counties with the greatest number of mlnaire households are in California.

Vacation-home sales went up 4.7% to a record 1.07 mln homes in 2006 from 1.02 mln in 2005, driven largely by demographic trends. Meanwhile, investment-home sales dropped 28.9%, falling to 1.65 mln homes in 2006 from 2.32 mln in 2005, National Association of Realtors says.

In 2006, global shipment volume of large area TFT-LCD panels reached 270 mln units, with shipment value reaching $49.5 bln, posting respective growth rates of 29.4% and 13.9% in comparison with 2005. Shipment volume in 2007 is expected to hit 320 mln units, bumping up the shipment value to over US$55.3 bln. Annual growth rate for both, however, is projected to slow down slightly, mainly because the industry is now at the end of the growth stage in its lifecycle. Several trends are playing a key role in the industry. The abundance of production lines and further capacity increases may lead to price pressure and price competition, Research and Markets says.

According to Strategy Analytics, global mobile phone shipments grew a sluggish 12% YTY, to reach 252 mln units in Q1 2007. This was the Q1 in almost 2 years that annual growth has been below the 20% mark.

The world market for mobile marketing and advertising is expected to be worth about $3 bln by the end of 2007, according to ABI Research. By 2011, the value of this market will reach $19 bln, including mobile search and video advertising. ABI Research also expects some of the highest levels of spending to come in the broadcast mobile video space. By 2011, it will surpass SMS as a source of mobile marketing spending, due in part to mobile broadcast networks’ presence in all major markets. In 2011, ABI Research expects spending for broadcast mobile video advertising alone to reach $9 bln.

The mania for Sudoku has led to more than $250 mln in revenue for the global Sudoku business over the past two years, Slate says.

The computer segment will account for 42% of the worldwide semiconductor market through 2011. Higher-than-average growth is expected in the automotive and consumer markets, reaching 8.7% and 18.4% of total semiconductor revenue by 2011, respectively. The communications segment is expected to grow at above-average rates and maintain its second place ranking, In-Stat says.

The average US household owns 25 consumer electronics (CE) products and the average adult spends $1,200 annually on these product, according to Consumer Electronics Association. The top five growth sectors were digital video recorders (DVRs), network routers or hubs, MP3 players, cable modems and digital cameras. DVR ownership and network/routers in US households grew 8% points since 2006 to 25 and 30% respectively. 32% of households now own an MP3 player, up seven%age points since in 2006. Cable modem ownership grew 6% points and digital camera ownership rose to 62% of all US households. Other categories with significant growth include HDTV with penetration reaching 25% of US homes. More than 75% of UShomes have at least one cell phone; CEA estimates 178.5 mln wireless phones are in use. DVD players have reached 84% household penetration and have surpassed VCRs, partially because of the availability of portable DVD players. In addition to identifying top growth categories, the study reveals the five most owned products beginning with the television (92%), DVD player or recorder, VCR (82%), cordless phone (82%) and the cellular phone (76%).

Gartner published the data on US PC market in Q1 2007.

PC shipments in EMEA totaled 21.6 mln units in Q1 2006, a 13.7% increase from the same period in 2006. Strong demand in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions bolstered the overall PC growth in EMEA. The EMEA PC market was again driven by strong consumer mobile PC demand. Growth in the professional market was soft with deskbased growth that was particularly weak. In Asia/Pacific PC shipments reached 15.7 mln units, a 10.3% increase from Q1 2006. The overall market performance was slightly weaker than projected due to weaker deskbased PC growth. In China, Q1 is traditionally the weakest shipment quarter of the year due to the Lunar New Year celebrations. However, the PC market in China grew 15.2% in Q1 2007 with deskbased PC growth of 10.1% and mobile PC growth of 38.3%.

Nielsen//NetRatings published its findings on top search engines in March 2007.

Chinese WiMAX market will reach 8.39 mln users in 2011, almost 7 times the 1.25 mln users we forecast for 2009 (the first year of significant WiMAX development in China). Of the 8.39 mln users in 2011, nomadic and portable broadband access users will lead the Chinese market, accounting for 46% of the market in 2011. Mobile broadband and low-cost fixed wireless access services will come in second and third, accounting for 43% and 11% of the market, respectively, Yankee Group says.

The Quarterly PDP Optical Filter market reached $917 mln in 2006 and is expected to rise 19% in 2007 to $1.1 bln due to gains by larger sizes, transition to higher performance but more costly CRF type filters, and a slowdown in the transition to lower cost film filters due to technical barriers. CRF type filters are expected to rise from a 1% share in 2006 to a 14% share in 2007 on an area basis despite their higher costs due to their significant impact on contrast performance. As their prices fall, CRF filters will continue to take share, DisplaySearch says.

JupiterResearch has found that 26% of large advertisers in companies with annual revenues of $50 mln or more plan to increase spending on search engine marketing by more than 25% in 2007. JupiterResearch has found an additional 28% of large advertisers anticipate spending increases between 11 and 25%.

Micro fuel cells, estimated to be about a $12 mln market in 2006, will reach $112 mln by 2011, for an annual average growth rate of 55.7%, predicts Innovative Research and Products.

Mobile PC shipments also accounted for strong growth in Latin America. PC shipments in Latin America totaled 5.1 mln in Q1, a 21% increase from Q1 2006. Mobile PC shipments increased 86% in Q1 2007. Through multiple PC offerings, easier and extended credit, bundling and product bonuses, retail channels continue to capture a substantial portion of the home and small business markets, Gartner says.

In 2005, the Audio Publishers Assn. (APA) estimated the size of the total audiobook market at $871 mln, up 4.7% from the previous year. The APA also released a 2006 study that found almost 25% of the US population listens to audiobooks.

By the end of 2011, 80% of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life,” but not necessarily in Second Life, according to Gartner.

In-Stat expects explosive growth for Wireless USB devices, with annual shipments increasing at over 250% per year between 2007 and 2011, though starting from a very small base in 2007.