In research, top of mind is better than top of mind for one particular thing. This sounds great to a wireless competitor, but the big generalist firms have analysts that focus on wireless. It's going to be hard for the wireless-focused research firm to remain on the budget of its clients when clients have to choose between it and IDC, which also reports on many other topics. Another factor that will redound to the benefit of research firms great and small will be a strong public relations effort. The older research firms frequently have the advantage here, because they've already cultivated relationships with the press.
Companies buy research of which they've been made aware.
I write about roughly one-tenth of the research that comes into my mailbox. The rest either doesn't get read, or gets read but never works its way into a column. I won't mention them. I can't write about what I can't read about. With digital goods, a shareware or lite version, is almost always part of the business plan.