Outsell, Inc. Predicts ''Power Plays'' Across the Information Industry in 2005

Business Wire, Jan 19, 2005

BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Leading Research Firm Makes 14 Predictions for the Year Ahead and Expects Turbo-Charged Growth of Business Information Products

WHAT: Outsell, Inc., the leading research firm providing actionable analytics for the information industry, predicts which companies will grow, which will be acquired, go private or dissolve, and the big issues that will shape the industry in the year ahead in Outlook 2005: Power 'Play' in the Information Industry.

In Outsell's eighth annual look-ahead briefing, researchers present 14 far-reaching predictions for publishers, commercial information providers and content software technology vendors. Outsell's 2004 predictions were nearly 100 percent accurate.

A selection of Outsell's 2005 forecasts follows:

--This will be the year information users in the business and academic markets start to catch up with their counterparts in the consumer world. Most of the fun has been on the consumer side in recent years. Outsell researchers and analysts have documented the delight consumers take in digital information products such as digital cameras, cell phones, CD burners, and iPods. In 2005, some of that fun will start to spill over to the business, academic, and healthcare markets, as more vendors create products that put users in charge.

--For content vendors such as news, financial information, and scientific information publishers and aggregators, 2005 will be the year to start letting content escape yesterday's containers. With liberation comes power; today's content vendors will liberate themselves and their content from traditional containers -- such as articles, magazines, books, and directories -- and traditional models. Tangible change is coming to key sectors in 2005.

--Outsell analysts and researchers have documented dramatic changes in information managers' roles since 1997, but in 2005 two will take center stage: a changing relationship with content vendors, and accelerated convergence of content-delivery roles.

Outsell, Inc. tracks over 4,500 information industry companies. In addition the firm follows institutional information purchases, management and consumption in corporate, academic, and government markets, and surveys and tracks the information consumption and buying patterns of over 30,000 individual knowledge workers. Outsell analysts are in close dialogue with players in the industry.

Authors:

Authors of this year's Outlook include David Curle, Director and Industry Analyst and Leigh Watson Healy, Chief Analyst, Outsell, Inc.

More Information:

For more predictions and a full copy of the Outlook, go to www.outsellinc.com.

About Outsell, Inc.:

Outsell of Burlingame, CA is the leading research and advisory firm providing actionable market analytics for the information industry. Founded in 1994, Outsell helps publishers, commercial information providers, and content software technology vendors identify, maintain, and grow markets and revenue streams. Outsell also works with information management executives in top corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions to benchmark spending, optimize performance, and demonstrate best practices. Outsell invests heavily in unique information industry data assets that form the core of its high-quality, fact-based research, analysis, and recommendations for clients worldwide. For more information, see www.outsellinc.com.

Journalists seeking interviews with Outsell should contact Christen Graham (207-829-6336, christen@warnepr.com) or Dawn Ringel (781-449-8456; dawn@warnerpr.com) of Warner Communications.