According to primary research conducted by Lucent Technologies, communications operators' potential market for blended lifestyle services in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK combined could reach a cumulative total of 14 billion euros by 2011.
Lucent projected the potential market size by surveying a targeted market sample - nearly 1,500 consumers and enterprises - across those five countries.
To accurately assess interest in blended services, Lucent simulated market conditions using a leading statistical methodology known as discrete choice modelling.
This method enabled Lucent to determine which blended services, consisting of key applications sets, will generate the greatest interest at which price points.
The market simulation has the ability to assess likely product and service success before a product is ready for the test market.
The research objective was to identify the value, market demand and willingness to pay for blended lifestyle services - that is the inter-working of voice, video, data and multimedia applications to produce personalized services.
Among the key findings: Twice as many consumers and enterprises are willing to pay more for blended services (inter-working or "blending" separate applications or services into a single service), than those who are willing to pay more for bundled services (a package of separate applications or services) alone.
Early adopter consumers are more likely to be either young males looking for fresh, multiple applications to get things done or somewhat older consumers with a higher overall income (greater than 45,000 euros) seeking simple solutions for their technology needs.
Early enterprise adopters are large, multi-location corporations seeking portability, company network access, and flexibility of communications with more emphasis on the quality rather than the price of blended services.
Convenience is more important for very small companies (10 or fewer employees) than other enterprises, while portability and remote access to the company network are also important but not rated quite as high as with the large firms.
These companies are more price sensitive and look for technology upgrades to have a more immediate impact on their bottom line.