Technofriends

Google has brought to life a new microsite which brings together the latest industry facts and insights. These facts and insights have been collected from a number of third party sources and covers topics ranging from macroscopic economic and media trends to how consumer behavious and technology are changing over a period of time.

The third party sources from where the data is procured include B2Bonline.com, BARB, BusinessWeek, Coke, Commission of the European Communities, Comscore, Core Metrics, Datamonitor, Deloitte, The Economist, eMarketer, Enders Analysis, Eurostat, Film Distributors Association, Financial Times, Forrester, GFK, Google Insights for Search, Greenbee.com, Guardian, HarvardBusiness.org, Hitwise, IAB, IFPI, IMF, Internet Retailing, Internetworldstats.com, JP Morgan, KMPG, Media & Marketing, Mediascope Europe, Mindshare, Motorola, Net Imperative, New York Magazine, Nielsen, NMA, Ofcom, Ipsos MediaCT, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, QuickPlay Media Inc., Retail Week, Reuters, TGI Net, Times Online, TNS, Verdict Research, Wall Street Journal, WARC, YouTube, ZenithOptimedia, GM

Below are some of the interesting facts from the new Google microsite

1.) Searches for mortgages decreased by 19% over the quarter.

2.) 84% of the UK population owns a mobile phone.

3.) 36% of UK broadband users (aged 16-55) state they have both the TV and Internet on in the same room every day. On weekdays the time when TV and Internet multi-tasking is most likely to happen is around 8pm in the evening.

4.) On January 26th 2009, more than 76,000 job cuts were announced worldwide in a single day.

5.) Worldwide, over 6 billion songs have been sold on iTunes.

6.) There are 1.5 million business searches daily on YouTube, making it the second-most-visited destination for business searches, behind Google.

7.) In the UK, 55% of iPhone users and 34% of smartphone users have used web search, as opposed to 12% of total mobile phone users.

8.) Many people are forgoing expensive nights out, but are instead willing to pay more for home entertainment. The number of customers using “video on demand” services, which allow customers to watch films on a pay-as-you-view basis, almost doubled last year with an average 45m views a month, according to Virgin Media.

9.) In the three months to the end of December 2008, sales of premium high-definition (HD) TV subscriptions doubled on the previous three months, according to Sky, 39% owned by News Corporation, owner of The Sunday Times. Charlie Ponsonby at price comparison service simplifydigital.co.uk said: “It’s taken a while, but high-definition TV is going mainstream in the UK, with over 1m UK homes now enjoying a high-definition service.”

10.) We’re in the midst of a global financial crisis and the first serious slowdown of the digital era. The IMF went on record in January as saying that they expect the global economy to grow by just 0.5% in 2009, its lowest rate for 60 years, and Eurozone GDP to actually shrink by 2.0%.

Checkout more such facts all by yourself by visiting the microsite.

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