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In this issue:

* Wealthy Boomers: A New CFD Program
* Commercial Prospects for Micro Fuel Cells
* The Next Market for eLearning
* Better Factory Automation
* Toward an Experiential Economy
* Pressures on GM-Food Producers
* Personal E-Finance
* Digital Technologies of the Future
* The E911 Mandate: A Drag on Location-Based Cellular Growth
* Financial Services for Millionaires...
* ...And for the Mass Affluent
* Insights into High-Tech Households
* 3G Wireless
* New Japanese Interest in Optical Networking 
* Artificial Intelligence on the Battlefield
* Strategies for Mobile Services
* eLearning Business Models



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Wealthy Boomers: A New CFD Program

SRIC-BI's Consumer Financial Decisions group is launching a new 
program to analyze current and future Wealthy Boomers and their 
use of financial products and services. Wealthy Boomers: The 
Future of Wealth will explore the differences between Boomers 
and previous wealthy generations and analyze the implications 
for financial services.
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/proposals/WealthyBoomers.pdf


Commercial Prospects for Micro Fuel Cells

Demand for increased power in cell phones, personal digital 
assistants, and other portable devices is renewing companies' 
interest in fuel cells, particularly micro fuel cells that 
generate less than 50 watts of power. Direct-alcohol fuel cells 
offer the most promise in the near term, though technical 
barriers will likely prevent most companies from commercializing 
micro fuel cells before 2004. (Micro Fuel Cells)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B306.shtml - 2378


The Next Market for eLearning

Though Fortune 1000 companies will continue to be the primary 
target for eLearning vendors for a number of years, new 
opportunities are emerging to serve small to midsize businesses 
in Europe and North America, with longer-term prospects in Asia. 
Governments, unions, and trade associations are emerging as 
important intermediaries in this market. (LoD Bulletin, First 
Quarter 2002)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/summaries/EvolvBizModelsSum.shtml


Better Factory Automation

Manufacturing and industrial-processing companies have noted 
the success of enterprise-resource planning in improving business 
processes, and now they want to try a similar integrated approach 
to automating their factories. Large, knowledgeable 
industrial-automation vendors have an opportunity to step into 
this emerging market but will have to make their products stand 
out from the pack by adding high-quality services. (Changes in the 
Automation Industry: Moving Up the Supply Chain)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B306.shtml - 2379


Toward an Experiential Economy

As companies battle for consumers' attention, they are looking 
for new ways to meet people's demand for ever-richer and memorable 
experiences. Some firms are building whole lifestyles around their 
products via advertising. Others are creating entertaining settings 
in which customers can experience their brands and products. 
(Designing Experience into Products)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B306.shtml - 2380


Pressures on GM-Food Producers

Monsanto's recent failure to persuade the public of the safety 
and desirability of genetically modified (GM) foods signals a 
crisis for the food-biotechnology industry. However, rumors of 
the death of GM foods are probably exaggerated. The challenge 
now is to balance consumer interests with commercial opportunity, 
both through regulation and through strategies that seek to 
create value across business units in agriculture, nutrition, 
and health care. (GM Foods: Commercialization Opportunities and 
Challenges)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B306.shtml - 2381


Personal E-Finance

More than half of U.S. households with Internet access now 
conduct at least one type of financial activity online, and more 
than 20 million Europeans use online banking, trading, 
financial-information, and insurance services. To succeed in the 
e-finance arena, traditional financial institutions as well as 
nontraditional players like AOL Finance and Quicken need to 
determine which applications will appeal to which consumers. 
(Personal
E-Finance: What Consumers Want and Why)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B306.shtml - 2382


Digital Technologies of the Future

Digital technologies that are five or more years away have 
implications for R&D managers' current decisions and can affect 
current and near-term markets. Among the next-generation digital 
technologies that should be on companies' radar screens are 
three-dimensional displays, fourth-generation wireless services, 
multihop wireless networks, music recognition, and wearable 
computing. (Digital Futures Scan: Next-Generation Digital 
Technologies, 2002)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/DFScanNextGen0502.shtml


The E911 Mandate: A Drag on Location-Based Cellular Growth

The U.S. market for location-based technology has yet to take 
off. A key reason is that although the U.S. government now 
mandates that all cellular callers be locatable by emergency 911 
services, cellular carriers will not begin to meet this 
requirement until well into 2003. Given that location-enabled 
cellular phones are the largest potential market for 
location-based services, this delay has implications for the 
market growth of location-based services for all portable 
devices. (May 2002 Portable Intelligence Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/PI.shtml


Financial Services for Millionaires...

Millionaires are financial institutions' best and most 
profitable customers, and despite some slowing of growth 
along the way, this attractive market will continue to grow 
in the long term. Meanwhile, the mantle of wealth is passing 
to working Boomer households. To serve this new group of 
millionaires, financial institutions will need to devise a 
multidimensional array of wealth-management products and 
services.
(The Millionaire Market: Wealth Management in Transition)
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MRsummaries/MR.V-9.shtml


...And for the Mass Affluent

The millionaire market may not be big enough for every financial
institution that wants to tap into it. However, another affluent
market--households whose income is $100 000 or more or whose 
assets (minus their primary residence) are worth $500 000 or 
more--is twice as large, with 11.6 million households in 2000. 
Boomers account for more than half this group of Mass Affluent 
consumers. (Targeting the Mass Affluent)


Insights into High-Tech Households

Using SRIC-BI's VALSTM system to link consumer psychology and 
behavior, analysts have developed in-depth profiles of three 
hypothetical high-tech households: in the United States, in Japan, 
and in Germany. The study describes these households' information, 
communication, and entertainment needs in 2002, 2004, and 2006, 
outlining the electronic equipment and services they are likely to 
use and how these products and services will evolve.  (Digital 
Futures Scan: Three High-Tech Households, 2002-06)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/NextGenWireless0402.shtml


3G Wireless

The 3G (third-generation) world of cell phones will differ 
dramatically from the world of second-generation devices. 3G 
devices' functionality will vary dramatically, the market will 
rapidly fragment, and for the first time, feature sets will be 
critically important. For these reasons, handset vendors need to 
understand subscribers' needs and target functions appropriately. 
(Next-Generation Wireless Devices)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/NextGenWireless0402.shtml


New Japanese Interest in Optical Networking

Given Japan's reputation for producing high-quality, low-cost 
electronics, Japanese companies' traditional disinterest in 
producing components for optical networking has surprised some 
industry watchers. However, Japanese attitudes toward optical 
networking may be changing: Fuji Xerox has begun producing 
vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, and Omron is preparing 
to make optical switches, transceivers, and couplers.
(May 2002 Optoelectronics/Photonics Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/OP.shtml


Artificial Intelligence on the Battlefield

The successes of remote-controlled vehicles in Afghanistan have 
strengthened the U.S. Department of Defense's already strong 
interest in artificial-intelligence R&D. Military planners 
believe that within a decade, sophisticated machines will be 
able to perform many of the most dangerous tasks that people 
now perform on the battlefield. Thanks to advanced sensors, 
weapons systems in vehicles will be able to distinguish friends 
from foes and destroy targets without consulting humans.
(May 2002 Knowledge-Based Systems Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/KBS.shtml


Strategies for Mobile Services

Rapid industry consolidation, rising investment costs for 
next-generation infrastructure, and uncertain demand for future 
services are requiring wireless players to engage in some 
serious strategic thinking. Successful companies will examine 
their competitive postures and business models and analyze the 
emerging body of best practices. (Mobile-Services Strategies)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/MobileSvcsStrat0502.shtml


eLearning Business Models

Technology innovations have expanded the eLearning field from 
its origins in stand-alone computer-based content to encompass 
a range of management, delivery, and collaboration technologies. 
As the field transforms itself into an established industry, 
eLearning companies need to devise solid business models. 
(Summary White Paper: Evolving Business Models in eLearning)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/summaries/EvolvBizModelsSum.shtml


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Copyright 2002 by SRI Consulting Business Intelligenc.