Posted by: metafacts | January 26, 2010

Press Release: Apple Maintains Brand Loyalty and Nears PC Primacy in 2 of 16 Countries, according to forthcoming MetaFacts Apple Profile Report

Posted by: metafacts | January 14, 2010

The search for China’s searchers

The search for China’s searchers

When you’re number one at home, it’s a lot less fun to go abroad and be number three, four, or lower. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s search sites have that unenviable position in China today.

Why is this important?

Customer vote with their fingertips, as much as they can. Engineering-oriented American technology companies have a tough enough time trying to use innovation to grow, yet it takes much more than exporting technology to attract the same market share or type of customers.

Based on surveys of Chinese urbanites as part of the Technology User Profile 2009 Global Insights Edition, MetaFacts finds that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s MSN, Live, and Bing are ranked 3rd, 4th, and 5th as the preferred search engine. Each of these engines which dominate in the US have 5% or less share in China. The top two preferred search engines are Baidu with 68% and Sogou with 23%.

Furthermore, the few regulars which the American search engines have attracted are less active and demographically less desirable than those using dominant Chinese search engines.

Sogou, perhaps taking a page from the “we’re number two and we try harder” approach, have attracted searchers with the most interesting qualities for marketers. Sogou’s households are larger with nearly four persons on average to Google’s and Yahoo’s four. Sogou’s searchers are more sophisticated using mobile phones, with 61% regularly using their mobile phones for 11 or more activities, while Google’s and Microsoft’s customers are more likely to be basic mobile phone users. Sogou’s searchers also both have and plan to have the longest list of consumer electronics, from entertainment to imaging.

Taking the long view, perhaps American search engines’ foray into China might be seen as the first steps of a long journey.

Further Resources

MetaFacts Technology User Profile – 2009 Global Insights Edition – a syndicated survey of 30,889 representative respondents in 16 countries.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Consumer research, TUP 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: metafacts | November 17, 2009

Smartphones challenge Mobile PCs – the users speak

Smartphones challenge Mobile PCs – the users speak

A TUPdate from MetaFacts by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

You can’t go out for coffee these days without sharing space with legions of dedicated smartphone users doing everything from texting their friends to checking the latest NFL or soccer scores. With smartphone functionality and the number of available apps increasing at hyper speed, could this trend foreshadow the decline of the mobile computer and relegate all those laptops, netbooks and tablets to the land of the Atari? Will Apple iPhones, Blackberries, Winphones or the Android-powered grab the fingers of the most-mobile among us?  Our new MetaFacts Technology User Profile, 2009 Global Insights Edition polled over 22,000+ online PC adults in 10 developed countries and found some surprising answers.

Why is this important?

Makers of mobile computers, smartphone manufacturers, wireless carriers and application developers should all be watching these trends closely both from an R&D standpoint and a marketing perspective. OEMs of desktop computers should also take heed if more and more users opt for portables even if they don’t use them in more than one location.

First let’s look at who’s using mobile PCs these days and where they are using them. Not surprisingly, this is a younger group overall. The average age of online adult mobile PC users is nearly seven years younger than the average desktop user. Nearly a third of the mobile computer users are in the college age to early career category of 18-34 year olds.

Just where are mobile PCs being used? The age of the user is also a factor here. The younger users are, the more likely they were to report using their mobile computers in four or more locations, a finding that is likely reflective of the more mobile lifestyle of this segment.

But desktop and mobile PC manufacturers take notice: Nearly half of mobile PCs are used in only one location. This begs the question of why these homebody mobiles are stuck in their desk job. If this trend continues, will the pendulum swing away from netbooks and ever-lighter notebook PCs back to full-featured desktop replacements?

And the mobile PCs seem to be working harder than desktops. The portables are logging more hours than their desktop cousins with nearly 25% being used for 40 or more hours per week versus 18% of desktops being used that much.

So what are these mobile computer users doing with their portables? While their activities are generally the same as those performed on their desktops, the survey showed that mobile PCs which are used in multiple locations appeared to be much more integrated into the user’s life. These younger multiple-location PC users reported performing nearly double the number of activities on their mobile PCs than the group reporting that their mobile PCs remained tethered to one location.

The more years people use computers, the more activities they add to their list of things to do with their machines. PC Veterans, people who have used computers over a quarter of their lives, use their mobile PCs for more activities than PC Newbies, regardless of their age. Not surprisingly, users in the 18-24 age category use their mobile PCs more often for entertainment and communication than older mobile computer users.

Now let’s turn to the role that cell phones play in the mobile PC world. With the ever-increasing functionality of phones, is the choice of mobile connectivity an either/or when it comes using mobile computers and smartphones? Our survey showed quite the opposite. Even the savviest of smartphone users are not likely to give up their mobile computers. Interestingly, the adults who reported using the most functionality on their phones also reported using their mobile PCs in more locations, nearly twice the number of those who used their mobile phones only as basic phones. Bottom line: When it comes to the question of whether to take the smartphone or the mobile PC to the cybercafé, the current answer is often “both.”

If today’s mobile PCs could talk, they might paraphrase Mark Twain’s famous quote, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Further Resources

MetaFacts Technology User Profile – 2009 Global Insights Edition – a syndicated survey of 30,889 representative respondents in 16 countries

MetaFacts Technology User Profile – 2009 Global Insights Edition – Developed Economies – a syndicated survey of 22,072 representative respondents in 10 countries

MetaFacts Mobile PC Brand Profile Report – analysis of the mobile market based on results in MetaFacts Technology User Profile 2008 Annual Edition – a syndicated survey of over 10,000 representative respondents in the U.S.

About this TUPdate

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Windows Vista, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry topics. These TUPdates are short analytical articles in a series of specific topics utilizing the Technology User Profile Annual Edition study, which reveals the changing patterns of technology adoption around the world. Interested technology professionals can sign up at www.metafacts.com for complimentary TUPdates – periodic snapshots of technology markets.

About MetaFacts

MetaFacts, Inc. is a national market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile survey is the longest-running, large-scale comprehensive study of its kind, conducted continuously since 1983, the year before Apple released the Apple Macintosh. The detailed results are widely recognized as a primary market sizing and segmentation resource for leading companies providing consumer-oriented technology products and services, such as PCs, printers, software applications, peripherals, consumer electronics, mobile computing, and related services and products. For more information about the syndicated research service, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Busy Mobiles Profile Report, Consumer research, Market Research, Mobile PC Brand Profile Report, TUP 2009, TUPdate | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: metafacts | November 9, 2009

Printing Mobile Phone Photos: The New Frontier

A TUPdate from MetaFacts by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst
When you take a photo with your mobile phone’s digital camera, you can share it by waving the tiny screen at other people, or incur the expense of sending it over the network. Or you can do the sensible thing and print it out—but, worldwide, only one person in eight actually does that.

Or so it seems from a recent MetaFacts Technology User Profile 2009 Global Insights Edition survey of 30,889 online PC-using adults in 16 countries. While nearly two-thirds of the respondents (64 percent) did take pictures with their mobile phones, only 12 percent every printed out pictures from their mobile phones.

The rate, however, varied from country to country, with people in emerging nations proving to be far more likely to immortalize their phone snapshots on paper. The rate peaked at 24 percent among India’s Upper Urbanites, followed by 23 percent of China’s Urbanites, 20 percent in Mexico, and 17 percent in Russia. The rate bottomed at 6 percent in South Korea and 7 percent in Japan, rising to 8 percent in Holland and the U.S.

Yet, 64 percent of the global respondents did use their mobile phones to take pictures, implying that there are a lot of unprinted pictures out there.

Leading the charge of the cell phone paparazzi were the Saudi Arabians, 86 percent of whom used their phones for taking photos. They were followed at a distance by 77 percent of Mexican respondents, and 76 percent of South Korean and Indian respondents. Those avoiding mobile phone photography were led by the Dutch (55 percent), the Americans (56 percent) and the Germans (57 percent.)

Interestingly, the rate of mobile phone picture printing was roughly an inverse to the national rate of digital camera ownership—although, at 78 percent, most respondents did use a digital camera. For instance, India, which ranked #1 in the rate of mobile phone picture printing, ranked next to last (#15) in terms of digital camera use. China ranked #2 in cell phone picture printing, but #12 in digital camera use. Mexico ranked #3 in cell phone picture printing and #14 in terms of digital camera use.

But it did not work in the other direction—South Korea was dead last (#16) in cell phone picture printing, but a middling #10 in digital camera use.

While we’re talking about digital photography hardcopy, 20 percent of global respondents said they had used kiosks to print their pictures, with those in Mexico leading the way at 31 percent. Retail printing centers were used by a similar 19 percent, and they were most popular in Brazil, where 36 percent used them.

Overall, pictures were more likely to be taken by mobile phones than by digital cameras in India, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, and the rate was neck-and-neck in Russia. Elsewhere, digital cameras still ruled the pixels.

As for film cameras, globally only 27 percent of the respondents still used them, the leaders being the Indians at 42 percent. At the other extreme, only 18 percent still admitted having them in Japan.

Mobile phone and smartphone photo printing may move from a niche into an everyday activity. Hewlett Packard, who dominates the world in PC printing, has recently released a way to make it easier to print mobile phone images. Their HP iPrint Photo app which makes it easy to quickly print a 4”x6” or 10cm x 15cm image on almost any HP printer through a wireless connection, For now, the app only works on Apple iPhones or iPod touch.

1 Comment

Posted in Consumer research, Market Research, TUP 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: metafacts | November 2, 2009

Which buyers are bucking the recession with tech shopping plans? Where is the consumer demand?

Also see another recent TUPdate: Printing Mobile Phone Photos: The New Frontier 

Which buyers are bucking the recession with tech shopping plans?

A TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts

Recession or not, what people around the world are hungering for—and apparently planning to shell out money for—is HDTVs. In the 27th annual Technology User Profile survey, HDTVs were on the top of the wish list in 14 of 16 countries among 30,889 respondents surveyed about 76 different technology products and services. Surprisingly, this HDTV interest reached uniformly across gender and included both the younger and older, unlike operating systems upgrades such as Microsoft’s Windows 7 or Apple’s Snow Leopard.

But much as they want their MTV in hi-def (or SunTV in India or Sky World News in the UK), they also put entirely practical products high on their lists, and these sometimes even stole priority from HDTVs.

The intensity of the desire for HDTVs varied, peaking in the developing nations. Globally, an average of 27 percent of online PC adults were making plans that include an HDTV, but the percentage rose to 53 percent in Brazil, and was 40 percent among China’s Urbanites, India’s Urbanites, and Russia, and 39 percent of Mexico’s Urbanites. On the other hand, only 12 percent of the Dutch and 16 percent of the Japanese were making such plans, indicating a saturated market or jaded TV watchers.

The two countries where HDTVs did not top the list were China and India. In China, the number one choice was those wireless keyboard-mouse combos. These practical devices were desired by 43 percent of the respondents, pushing HDTVs (which 40 percent planned to purchase) into second place. In India, meanwhile, everyone seemed to be planning to buy everything, pushing HDTVs (40 percent) into sixth place, behind those ubiquitous wireless keyboard/mouse combos (49 percent), digital camcorders with memory cards (42 percent), wireless mice by themselves (42 percent), wireless keyboards by themselves (41 percent), and additional RAM for their long-suffering PCs (40 percent).

The interest in upgrading operating system software varied surprisingly by gender/age group. In percentage terms, the group with the strongest interest is males age 18 to 24. However, looking more deeply, this group’s much stronger interest in so many other tech product outweighs these plans so an operating system upgrade is ranked 28th among these youngsters and ranked 6th among males 55+ and 12th among males 45 to 54.

In case you were wondering, U.S. respondents did list HDTVs as numero uno, but still only 19 percent wanted one. Number two on the list was additional RAM (14 percent), third was a digital camcorder with a memory card (13 percent), fourth was that wireless keyboard/mouse combo (12 percent) while fifth was their very own DVR/PVR digital/personal video recorder (12 percent). This may be so they can time-shift and not have to watch TV commercials.

Speaking of DVRs/PVRs, which give the users additional control over their entertainment, that device was number two on the list in Australia, Germany, England, and Japan, number three in Italy, and number four in the Netherlands and Spain. Globally, it was ranked number 8.

The wild card among products appeared to be the arguably obsolete analog camcorder. Globally, only 9 percent of respondents admitted to planning to buy one, but the rate shot to 31 percent in China, 28 percent in India, and 20 percent in Saudi Arabia. On the other extreme, demand amounted to only 1 percent in the Netherlands and Japan.

About this TUPdate

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Windows Vista, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry topics. These TUPdates are short analytical articles in a series of specific topics utilizing the Technology User Profile Annual Edition study, which reveals the changing patterns of technology adoption around the world. Interested technology professionals can sign up at www.metafacts.com for complimentary TUPdates – periodic snapshots of technology markets.

About MetaFacts

MetaFacts, Inc. is a national market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile survey is the longest-running, large-scale comprehensive study of its kind, conducted continuously since 1983, the year before Apple released the Apple Macintosh. The detailed results are widely recognized as a primary market sizing and segmentation resource for leading companies providing consumer-oriented technology products and services, such as PCs, printers, software applications, peripherals, consumer electronics, mobile computing, and related services and products. For more information about the syndicated research service, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Consumer research, Market Research, TUP 2009, TUPdate | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Older Posts »

Categories