Not only is broadband not expanding as forecast, current broadband users are dropping the service in rising numbers. It is likely that cancellations are rising because of the bad economy, the rise in broadband pricing and disappointing content. It is especially evident in areas like San Francisco Bay Area where high tech jobs have been vanishing by the thousands.
The death of Napster is believed to be another major influence. At its peak, it had 64 million registered users. These users were inclined to install broadband to download the MP3-encoded files. There has not been another “killer app” to replace it and drive the growth of broadband.
Defectors, which are known in the industry as “churn” are particularly disturbing because the providers expect a long term revenue stream to defray the installation costs. The margins for DSL providers are in the 5% range so a small amount of churn will hit them hard financially. To compensate, they must raise monthly rates which touches off a vicious cycle of cancellations for price reasons, and then more rate raising.
View: Full Article @ CNet
The death of Napster is believed to be another major influence. At its peak, it had 64 million registered users. These users were inclined to install broadband to download the MP3-encoded files. There has not been another “killer app” to replace it and drive the growth of broadband.
Defectors, which are known in the industry as “churn” are particularly disturbing because the providers expect a long term revenue stream to defray the installation costs. The margins for DSL providers are in the 5% range so a small amount of churn will hit them hard financially. To compensate, they must raise monthly rates which touches off a vicious cycle of cancellations for price reasons, and then more rate raising.
View: Full Article @ CNetMicrosoft Game Studios presents five exclusive titles at launch, including:
- "Halo" the much-anticipated sci-fi shooter, takes place on a mysterious alien ring-world. Packed with combat, "Halo" will have players battling on foot, in vehicles, indoors and outdoors with alien and human weaponry. The objective: to destroy mankind's sworn enemy, the Covenant.
- "Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee>/b>" brings Oddworld to life in full 3-D. Players embark on a journey through a changing world of oddball creatures, off-the-wall action and outlandish goons. Players guide aquatic Gabbit champion Munch(TM) and Mudokon partner Abe(TM) in their third adventure across Oddworld.
- "NFL Fever 2002" combines fast and hard-hitting action with deep season and career modes. Featuring stadiums from all 31 NFL teams and enabling players to participate in up to 25 seasons, "NFL Fever 2002" allows players to amass both individual and team trophies as well as build dynasties, season after season.
- "Project Gotham Racing" is the future-generation racing game where fun and reward come from focusing equally on speed, flair and risk-taking. Players choose from more than 25 different cars and compete on more than 200 city-based circuits in photo-realistic downtown environments in San Francisco, Tokyo, London and New York.
- "Fuzion Frenzy
" is a nonstop party game with an edge, combining the continuous, frenetic action of a futuristic street sport with the action-packed fun of minigames. Set in a dynamic 3-D urban environment with six arenas and more than 45 minigames, "Fuzion Frenzy" provides competitive fun for up to four players.
"In addition to our blockbuster launch-week lineup, gamers can look forward to electrifying games to come in the near future from world-renowned publishers like Sega, Capcom, Namco, Acclaim, Interplay, Take-Two, Ubi Soft Entertainment, LucasArts, Crave and Sierra Entertainment"m said J Allard, general manager of the Xbox platform at Microsoft. "Xbox has arrived, and the future of gaming has never looked brighter."
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