All Articles Tagged State Of Industry 2011

Julie Jacobson | 01/11 07:51 AM, 2 Comments

One-wire solutions is one of CE Pro's Top 5 Home Technology Opportunities for 2011. Check out the complete list below. Remember those millions of production homes built with "structured wiring" over the past decade? We chastised homebuilders for installing the bare minimum - maybe a structured wiring can with coaxial cable to a few TV locations and Cat 5 to a couple of computer desks. The more progressive builders “future-proofed” their homes with an extra Cat 5 to the media room and other potential entertainment spots. After all, one day… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 01/10 09:05 AM, 1 Comment

Streaming media is one of CE Pro's Top 5 Home Technology Opportunities for 2011. Check out the complete list below. In mid-2010, integrator Chris Cunningham told CE Pro that he wanted to be able to deliver this message to his market: “Do you want to fire your cable company? Let me show you how.” His company, Partner Technology in Bogart, Ga., has “many clients that rave about the streaming content available after our installations,” Cunningham says. “Most of the Blu-ray players that we are now installing are being used more… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 01/07 06:43 AM, 5 Comments

We’ve hailed the coming of home health technology for several years now, but we really believe CE pros will embrace the market in 2011 and beyond. That’s when we reach a critical point in terms of the aging population, financially burdened healthcare system, and emergence of exciting technologies for seniors and their caretakers. That’s also when many CE pros will have exhausted their growth options in traditional home systems integration. The opportunities in the health technology sector are plentiful as are the terms you may hear to describe them: telehealth,… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 01/05 09:04 AM, 0 Comments

Consumers will spend, spend, spend every month on their cable TV, telephone, security monitoring, Internet, movie downloads and other technological niceties. But they never seem to want to spend $10 or $20 per month for remote home management. At least, that has been the trend for the past decade. 2011 will be the year integrators can finally make recurring revenue by enabling consumers to remotely monitor and control their lights, security, thermostats and other home systems. The reason? Some very large companies are spending big bucks to promote the concept.… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 01/04 08:46 AM, 0 Comments

Voice over IP is so yesterday. The next big thing in telecommunications will be videoconferencing - not just for corporate execs but for everyday folks connecting with friends, family, care givers and would-be love connections. A report by GigaOM Pro indicates that total video calls will grow from 3.2 billion in 2010 to almost 30 billion by 2015. About 10 percent of these calls will transpire through the TV set. The adoption will coincide with an increasing number of Internet-connected TVs, which is expected to grow from 21 million units… View this story

Phillip Perry | 01/03 12:04 PM, 1 Comment

What lies ahead in 2011? If you’re like most business owners you’re ready for a rebound in sales after two years fighting the recession dragon. But maybe you’re dogged by a common question: How will the unsettled economy affect the success of your marketing programs? Here’s some good news: You are now operating in an economic environment that is slowly but surely on the mend. “The recovery will start to ramp up in 2011, then really expand quite strongly in 2012 and 2013,” says Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director of industry… View this story

Jason Knott | 01/03 10:22 AM, 1 Comment

When CE Pro blasted out via email its first-ever Profitability Survey in mid-October, the very first response was an email saying, “I am no longer in business.” The irony in the reply was palpable. Here is CE Pro with a somewhat detailed survey trying to gauge the level of profitability among custom integrators when for some (8 percent), the answer is simple - there is none. That is the backdrop against which we sent our queries to dealers, but the real surprise is just how resilient the industry is amid… View this story

Jason Knott | 01/03 09:46 AM, 0 Comments

The custom electronics industry gained some much-needed stability in 2010 following two years of decreases in revenues. According to the 2010 CE Pro Reader Survey and 2010 CE Pro Profitability Survey, the average CE pro rebounded with a 6.5 percent increase in gross revenues in 2010. That jump followed two years of declines (9.1 percent in 2008 and a devastating drop of 51 percent in 2009). The median revenue for a custom installation firm in 2010 was $567,000. That’s up from $531,250 the year before but still well below the… View this story