The newest eReaders from Amazon and Barnes & Noble have received many rave reviews, with some focused on the power button placement, others on the logo’s gleam. While these articles are interesting and timely, do they help an understanding of whether or not people will want to buy them; which ones they will buy; and then having them, whether they will they fully use them? Will they help anyone know if readers will instead choose a generic Tablet PC, Apple iPad, their Smartphone or Notebook, or some personal combination of devices?

To offer the customer’s own views to the dialog, I’m analyzing the survey results in the latest wave of the MetaFacts Technology User Profile (TUP). I’m reviewing current eReader customers, non-users, and those who read eBooks and ePeriodicals on other platforms for their behavior, attitudes, buying patterns, and other defining characteristics. My full analysis will be released later this month in the MefaFacts eReaders Profile Report. This TUPdate gives a preview of the findings during this week of announcements.

MetaFacts predicts that one in six American adults will have an eReader by the middle of 2015, up from almost one in ten today.

Why does eReader adoption matter? eReaders are at the center of changing consumer behavior that spans traditional publishing, retail distribution, paid content, media, new devices, and shifting payment models. Depending on consumer acceptance in the coming year, eReaders may go the way of historical flashes such as the GridPad or Apple Newton, be relegated to niche status, or spur further changes in the combination of tech products that consumers use and how they use them.

Key eReader Market Segments

To develop a detailed profile and forecast of eReader users, I’ve focused on several pivotal questions.

Will consumers adopt the entire package offered by Amazon and Barnes & Noble? Will they see the newest Nook or Kindle eReader for what it looks like and its customized software, as a well-integrated and subsidized experience, or as a toll booth leading to a proprietary “media service”? Fickle consumers continue to dance between the desire for openness and flexibility vs. smoothness and vertical integration.

What mix of products will readers use to enjoy written content? Many people have already invested in a combination of devices which they enjoy for other activities. They may choose to simply add a reader app than juggle one more device. Right now, 20% of Smartphone users read a book on it and 25% read a magazine, newspaper, or other ePeriodical.

Will readers want their eBooks on one device and their ePeriodicals on another device? Or, will they demand that their content be synched everywhere? In that case, are they willing to pay for the service or the bandwidth, and willing to accept a different reading experience across different platforms? This raises questions about the consumer’s center of attention – the content, the experience, or the device?

When consumers choose between Nook or Kindle, will their shopping preferences and habits have a strong effect? To reach the many Americans who still prefer retail shopping over online, Barnes & Noble has recently expanded its Nook distribution with announced outlets widely spanning techie-havens Radio Shack and Fry’s Electronics, office supply retailer Office Max, electronics giant Best Buy, regionals Fred Meyer and hhgregg, to mass marketers Target, Sears, and Kmart. This will at least reach adults otherwise offline.

Furthermore, there are questions about whether there will be a net readership increase across all platforms. Will more readers leave print for eBooks or ePeriodicals, or will readers find their experience too disjointed, the paywalls too steep, or will inertia continue?

TUP survey respondents have addressed these questions through what they own and perceive, forming the foundation for a nuanced profile and market adoption forecast.

While there are many forecasting models and methodologies, one effective approach for tech products and services begins with the assumption that each potential buyer is an independent agent – making choices based on their individual conditions and perceptions. Arguments abound that buyers either follow a stochastic or a deterministic path; that they act randomly in response to stimulus or that their mindful behavior can be predicted given the correct explanatory factors.

Demographics may seem like a convenient forecast foundation, but in this case don’t provide enough statistical explanation. After multiple correlation and clustering analyses of eReader adoption using demographics – both personal and household-level socioeconomic profiling – the statistical relationship is low for most factors. It’s tempting to use one of the various geodemographic modeling systems. However, for many new tech products, these factors simply don’t deliver definitive results. Convenient information may actually be counterproductive, or at best useless.

Instead, I’ve started with a simplified agent prediction model. I’ve clustered the adult population into multiple subsegments across five broad segments using discrete combinations of behavioral and attitudinal factors.

• Current eReader users – The first adopters in line will be current eReader owners. Many like what they have and want more of the same done better. As Amazon and Barnes & Noble continue to innovate, a large share of current eReaders will want to upgrade to the newest offering. Others will switch between Nook & Kindle or stay with what they have. Yet others will drop away, shifting to another platform, and then donate their eReader, pile it in their personal tech landfill closet, give it to the kids, or recycle responsibly.
• Stated eReader purchase intention – Another segment reported they had plans to purchase an eReader. From experience, I’ve seen many purchase plans turn out differently than consumers anticipate, as they see competitive offerings (such as a software reader on another platform), balk at the offering, or simply change their minds.
• Readers on other platforms – With truly disruptive technology offerings, one of the historically richest adoption segments are current users of substitutes. People who are already reading eBooks or ePeriodicals on PCs, Smartphones, Tablets, or other platforms have already demonstrated that they like electronic content. Of these, those that already read across multiple platforms are likely to consider and adopt eReaders.
• Tablet PC users, Mobile PC planners, Early Adopters, Active shoppers/fun lovers – This broad segment has several subsegments not included in the other segments. Those already using Tablet PCs have relevant experience. This has been a quickly-growing group and one likely to include buyers who will consider an eReader as a substitute or compliment to their Tablet PC. Similarly, some percentage of those planning to purchase a notebook or netbook may also consider an eReader. Also, this broad segment includes the early adopters of PCs and Mobile Phones who don’t already have an eReader. Also in this segment are subsegments of people who use their PC online for the widest range of entertainment and shopping activities.
• GUM (Great Unwashed Masses) – Not meant to be a derogatory term, this broad segment includes all other adults, some of whom are not even using a PC online. With somewhat limited, but stabilizing, web and email capability on newer eReaders, some percentage of this group may consider an eReader as their portal to the Internet, just as they may alternatively consider Tablet PCs with specialized reader-oriented apps or general purpose browsers.

Based on the research results we have today, MetaFacts forecasts 31 million eReaders to be in the hands of U.S. adults by the end of 2012. Of those, 23% will be in the hands of first-time users. This spells a healthy market, yet expanding relatively slowly. With the resulting 13% of American adults using an eReader, the market will be larger than a niche, yet hardly as widespread as Smartphones.

Source & Methodology

The information in this MetaFacts TUPdate is based on the Technology User Profile service. The preliminary forecast included here is based on analysis of MetaFacts surveys and assumptions based on adoption patterns within each subsegment.  The analysis is based on what survey respondents have, what they do, where they shop, and how they adopt technology based on patterns tracked in Technology User Profile for the last 29 years.

The MetaFacts eReaders Profile Report is scheduled for release on November 30, 2011 and can be pre-ordered. The research offering has several deliverables: an Executive Summary, Cross-Tabulations and Charts, an actionable Consumer Tech Index with the highest-indexed characteristics, as well as a web-based interactive analysis tool.  Several bundles are available for analysts/researchers, advertisers/agencies, marketers, business planners, authors/publishers, and lean advertisers/agencies.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities  – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing syndicated original research on the market shifts, trends and consumer profiles for eReaders, Smartphones, Mobile PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, and many other technology products and services. 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. Interested technology professionals can sign up at www.metafacts.com for complimentary TUPdates – periodic snapshots of technology markets.

About MetaFacts

MetaFacts helps technology marketers find and measure their best and future customers. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 a primary market sizing and segmentation resource for leading companies providing consumer-oriented technology products and services, such as PCs, printers, Smartphones, consumer electronics, mobile computing, and related services and products. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Busiest PC Users Are Single Young Males

The Busiest PC Users Are Busy Juggling Devices, Not Focusing

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

The busiest PC users are not only busy in hours; they spend a lot of time moving from one PC to another and also between other devices.

This is important because for years, various pundits have foreseen the widespread abandonment of PCs for smartphones, tablets, or other emerging devices. In fact, just the opposite is happening.

Averaging 2.9 PCs, more of the busiest PC users use Home PCs, Work PCs, and Shared/Public PCs than less-active users. Their Desktop usage rate shows this is the main type of PCs used, similar to less-busy users. Their use of Notebook PCs is higher than among other users, although still behind Desktop use.

Almost nine out of ten (86%) of the busiest PC users use two or more PCs, and over half (54%) use three or more PCs.

For this analysis, MetaFacts identifies the busiest PC users as those who spend 60 or more hours per week across all the PCs they use within a 90 day period. This hyperactive group numbers 33.5 million adults, for almost one in five (19%) of online adults.

Why is this important?

Popular media and many recent product launches might leave the impression that PCs have been replaced by smartphones, tablets, and netbooks. However, media attention changes faster than actual usage.

It’s unlikely the busiest PC users will give up their PCs for Smartphones anytime soon. Even the busiest PC users who have Smartphones use their PCs for more activities than the busiest users with basic mobile phones.

While communication activities might seem like the most natural challenger in a one-device scenario, in fact communication PC activities are the second-highest category of activities for the busiest PC users.

The busiest PC users are also the most active with their mobile phones – both Smartphones and Basic Mobile Phones. A higher share of the busiest PC users use their phones for text messaging, email, calendars, playing games, and web browsing than other PC users.

That the busiest PC users are accumulators of multiple devices is probably helped by their physical demographic – young and male. Also, marital status is correlated, although we wouldn’t go so far as to say there is a causal link in either direction. Over four in ten (41%) of the busiest PC users are single, versus 30% of the least-busy PC users.

It’s also telling by what the busiest PC users don’t do – watch much TV. Three in four (75%) of the busiest PC users say they use their PC more than watching TV versus 41% of the least busy. Fun is a key motivation, where 72% of the busiest say they keep finding new ways to use the Internet for fun vs. 42% of the least-busy.

The above analysis is based on people who use PCs to go online, which is the majority. Looking a little more deeply into the possibility of a sizable market being missed, our 1st phase offline survey helped us determine that 14.9% of adults use a mobile phone and do not actively use a PC to go online. While this mobile-phone-only segment has grown, most growth has come from the fully-offline segment. The 5.5% of adults who do not use a mobile phone or online PC at all are slowly shrinking, particularly as handset prices drop and carriers offer prepaid plans.

For the next five years, MetaFacts expects the busiest technology accumulators to continue to use multiple PCs in addition to mobile phones and other devices, and not to fully quit PC use. Since nearly half (46%) of the busiest users have used a PC for 13 or more years, versus the one-third (34%) of the least-busy who are similarly experienced, they are likely to master cloud-based storage and synchronization services to keep their content accessible as they traverse between their various platforms. In this multi-screen world, developers and services will need to support a wide variety of platforms, many of which may not be the newest technology or operating systems.

Looking ahead, the busiest users will likely be noticed by how aptly they can juggle their various and many devices.

Source

The findings in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. In each wave of Technology User Profile, we survey a representative sample of respondents about their use of mobile phones, computers, technology attitudes, and many other consumer electronics products and services, behavioral and socioeconomic factors. Current TUP subscribers can access and drill down more deeply into this phenomenon using TUP Interactive Access or with their datasets.

We began the above analysis by first looking at the answers from nearly 10,000 respondents in the Technology User Profile service and then drilled down further into their profiles to get a more complete picture.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing syndicated original research on the market shifts, trends and consumer profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology products and services. 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 helps technology marketers find and measure their best and future customers. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Rent to Own-Storefront look familiar?

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

Consumers continue to shape the future of technology with their pocketbooks, whether by outright purchase or payment plans. PC renting is not currently widespread among most U.S. consumers, with only 1% of American online adults using a rented home PC. If considered much at all by the digerati, it is considered passé or fringe.

However, looking ahead, consumer usage patterns are trending towards the pay-as-you-go or the ad-supported model, and with a new definition of PCs and devices as the preferred platform(s): whether called Smartphone, Laptop, Tablet, Netbook, Mobile, or otherwise.

Today’s PC rental business might be called opportunistic, socially beneficial, or predatory, depending on your perspective. Americans renting PCs skew towards younger adults – particularly those PC Newbies who have used a PC less than a quarter of their life – as well as skewing towards adults not employed full-time. Also, evidently, PC renting is biased towards people of color: with rental rates higher among adults who identify with a racial/ethnic group other than White/Non-Hispanic.

Interestingly, these same segments are stronger than average in their use of Smartphones or Basic Mobile Phones as their primary or only browsing, email, and Twitter platforms, as well as the broadening use of prepaid cellular plans. This signals that these consumer segments are likely the earliest adopters of new financial models – not the mythical early adopters stereotypically portrayed as affluent, highly-educated youngsters.

Recently, attention on the rental PC business has increased due to the controversial practices of some rental retailers. The major furniture rental chain Aaron’s was named in a federal lawsuit. Some rental companies, allegedly including some Aaron’s outlets or franchisees, have protected their equipment through the use of remotely activated webcams or tracking software, to the consternation of unwitting renters. Privacy and security issues are looming as important factors following large breaches spanning credit cards, health records, Sony PlayStations, passwords and WikiLeaks documents, only to name a few.

The pay-as-you-go approach has done well for the cable TV and wireless phone businesses, if not for PC manufacturers or PDA makers. Wireless carrier subsidies are increasingly driving the decisions of consumer technology manufacturers, a factor arguably contributing to Palm being driven from their business model prior to being acquired by Hewlett Packard.

In addition to this pay-now/pay-later balance, consumers also position platforms along the BOB-Integrated spectrum. The BOB – Best Of Breed – end of the spectrum features products which do one or few functions very well. One example is a standalone GPS device which gives directions extremely well. The other end of the spectrum: Integrated or Swiss Army Knife – features broadly functional devices which do many things adequately. An example is a Smartphone navigation app, which may not have a full function set or may be compromised due to simultaneous use for incoming messages and music or as a timepiece. Most interestingly, consumers find ways to adapt their behavior in ways that are out of synch with the intentions of the product designers, in some cases using on a fraction of a product’s capability while at other times finding new uses for products beyond their expected design.

Looking ahead, MetaFacts expects continued turmoil and changes as each segment of consumers decide their own favorite device or platform striking a balance of BOB vs. integrated, with choices being affected in part by heightened security and privacy concerns and in part by the underlying payment model.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, we surveyed American adults about their use of mobile phones, technology attitudes, and many other behavioral and socioeconomic factors. Current TUP subscribers can access and drill down more deeply into this phenomenon using TUP Interactive Access or with their datasets.

We started this analysis by first looking at the answers from 8,175 U.S. respondents in the Technology User Profile service and then drilled down further into their profiles to get a more complete picture.

The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically.

These editions are for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities  – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals who want a solid resource they can use immediately after industry events such as mergers, or even use prior to anticipated events, can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 helps technology marketers find and measure their best and future customers. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

Are Smartphone subscribers more about fun than communication? Is entertainment that much stronger for Smartphone subscribers than for users of Basic Mobile Phones? Is the lack of a boss key because mobile phone users feel freer to have fun with their handsets than their PCs?

For Smartphone users, it’s not only playing games like Angry Birds that is widespread. Activities such as listening to music, watching movies, and checking sports and weather also are prevalent.

These fun activities are much more popular on Smartphones than on Basic Mobile Phones. For most key entertainment activities, more than three times the rate of Smartphone users find ways to play than the percentage of Basic Mobile Phone users.

Entertainment Activities by Mobile Phone Type-MetaFacts

Playing Games and Listening to Music are activities for more than half of Smartphone users, and for only one-fifth or less of Basic Mobile Phone users.

High-end app developers may be amazed that any Basic Mobile Phone users find ways to use their simpler phones to have any fun at all. That might be considered a glass half-full view, with the prospect that someone eager enough to struggle with the limited games and web access on most Basic Mobile Phones may be a great candidate to switch to a smartphone. The half-empty types may see this as a reality that for many consumers, good enough is good enough. They may be satisfied with simple games for casual play, and may be less prone to upgrade their platform. In either case, this highlights that app developers, handset makers and carriers need to look at the demand across multiple platforms so they don’t miss out on market opportunity or dissatisfy important customers.

Diving a little deeper into the Technology User Profile survey responses, fun is also age-linked. The game-playing rate among age 18-34 mobile phone users is 42% versus half that (21%) among those aged 35+. Although to a great extent, Smartphones have been more strongly adopted among younger than older adults, taking age into account; Smartphone users are simply more fun-oriented than users of Basic Mobile Phones.

Fun isn’t the only driver for Smartphones; communication does rate more highly for Smartphones than for Basic Mobile Phones, with usage broadly spanning phone calls, text messages, voicemail, and email for two-thirds or more of Smartphone users. For Basic Mobile Phone users, only phone calls and text messaging are used by over half of the users.

Looking ahead, bandwidth-hogs such as multi-player games and video calls are likely to drive demand for Smartphones as well as underlying wireless networks. However, as carriers seek to optimize their spectrum and profits, data caps or throttled apps may discourage the most active subscribers. Then, these users will either revert to other devices, or app makers and service providers will find ways to further optimize precious bandwidth, likely increasing supply to satisfy the demand driven by so many consumers.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, we surveyed American adults about their use of mobile phones, technology attitudes, and many other behavioral and socioeconomic factors. Current TUP subscribers can access and drill down more deeply into this phenomenon using TUP Interactive Access or with their datasets.

We started this analysis by first looking at the answers from 8,175 U.S. respondents in the Technology User Profile service and then drilled down further into their profiles to get a more complete picture.

The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically.

These editions are for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities  – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals who want a solid resource they can use immediately after industry events such as mergers, or even use prior to anticipated events, can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 helps technology marketers find and measure their best and future customers. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Are early adopters starting to act like laggards? It may seem a paradox that the most forward-thinking consumers – the first to adopt smartphones – would also be the ones more strongly avoiding unique smartphone features.

The true answer is that consumers are more complex and intelligent than simplistic adoption curve analysis suggests. In choosing mobile phones, they are navigating between the sirens and rocks of enticing deals, identity theft, entertainment, carrier signal strength (or weakness), desire for social connections, misinformation, privacy, trust, and much more.

When it comes to data security & privacy, most Smartphone users express concern and corresponding action. A higher share of Smartphone than Basic Mobile Phone users take steps to protect their security and privacy, including disabling some features.

Privacy Concerns for Smartphones and Basic Mobile Phones

Location services have been integral to Smartphones and Feature Phones for years and most handsets give subscribers the option to minimize tracking. However, recent widely publicized breaches have brought this closer to the forefront of consumer’s buying behavior.

Age and gender alone do not truly define the privacy-aware from others; correcting for age shows that tech experience matters. Most Smartphone users today have more tech experience than average users, so are savvy about settings and controls and have privacy and security concerns for PCs which are inherited by their Smartphones.

App developers which assume settings will be on by default, such as location identification, will encounter market resistance. Privacy and Security are issues which can suddenly inflame public sentiment. Even though customers may have read agreements and adjusted their privacy & security settings, many have an expectation of being private and secure.

Consumers vote with their responses, as well as their fingers and wallets. Building (or rebuilding) trust is a widespread issue, and certainly not only in the U.S. Each participant in the ecosystem of handling personally identifiable information has their part to play if location-based services and mobile payments are to flourish and last longer than fads. MetaFacts expects that privacy and security will continue to stay a concern among many consumers with reported breaches beyond those specifically on Smartphones – from identify theft to Wikileaks reports.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, we surveyed American adults about their use of mobile phones, technology attitudes, and many other behavioral and socioeconomic factors. Current TUP subscribers can access and drill down more deeply into this phenomenon using TUP Interactive Access or with their datasets.

We started this analysis by first looking at the answers from 8,175 U.S. respondents in the Technology User Profile service and then drilled down further into their profiles to get a more complete picture.

The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically.

These editions are for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals who want a solid resource they can use immediately after industry events such as mergers, or even use prior to anticipated events, can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 helps technology marketers find and measure their best and future customers. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

Ink refill usage is substantial, especially among some leading-edge market segments.

There’s an old marketing adage about giving away the razor to make it up selling razor blades. In the PC printer business, printer ink pays a lot of the bills, yet is increasingly at risk.

In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, American adults told us they continue to prefer original ink versus compatible or refilled cartridges. However, the ink loyalty rate varies by PC printer brand and market segment. One bellwether segment is decidedly using refills or sharing photos online.

We started this analysis by first looking at the answers from 8,175 U.S. respondents in the Technology User Profile service and then drilled down further into their profiles including factors such as their printer brand, type of ink used, years of PC experience, and age. We also compared usage from our prior waves, including results from our identical surveys across nine other countries.

In U.S. homes, original is strongest. Kodak & Lexmark have the highest ink loyalty, at 81% and 79%, respectively. Eight in ten adults who use these PC printer brands as their primary printer used an original ink cartridge by the same manufacturer as the printer.

Ink Type by Printer Brand

HP’s ink loyalty rate is not the strongest, with HP ranked third. HP is maintaining its strength: its ink loyalty rate at 73% is slightly up from 70% the prior year.

These high ink loyalty rates may be satisfactory enough for some printer manufacturers, yet as consumers change their printing behaviors, and even non-printing behaviors, these rates are likely to change as well.

Use of refilled ink is highest for Dell and Brother, both with 27% of adult printer users. Due to HP’s dominant market share, the number of users of refills for HP printers is almost equal to users of refills for all other brands combined.

The refilled market is broad and diverse, so unlikely to change overnight. It it served by a diverse group – spanning drug stores such as Walgreens, franchises like Cartridge World, to a small army of entrepreneurs and do-it-yourselfers with pliers and squeeze bottles.

Direct competition is strong, although compatible inks trail refills as the least-preferred option across most brands. Use of competitive compatible inks is highest for Epson and Brother, at 19% and 18%, respectively.

Compared with many other developed countries, the U.S. has some of the most ink-loyal consumers. Our prior wave of Technology User Profile across key countries revealed that ink loyalty rates are strongest in Japan and the US and weakest in Germany and the UK, and that use of refills is highest in South Korea and Germany.

Home Photo Printing - Ink & Options

Looking ahead, the ink business continues to face challenges both from within the printer and ink industry as well as from substitutes.

Printer manufacturers hoping to reclaim refill customers face an uphill battle beyond pricing, since a higher rate of refill users share photos online and a lower rate print photos. Adults who use refills have higher rates of using online photo-sharing services, sharing images across a social network, sharing on their own websites or blogs, and sharing folders online through a cloud storage service. They are an attractive segment, though, because when they print, they print at higher volumes.

To the extent that younger users are bellwether of future buyers, it’s important to note that younger adults use refills at a higher rate than older adults.

Looking further ahead, increased online collaboration is expected to continue the erosion of home-printing photos. Of the 70.9 million adults with a home printer which they don’t use to print photos, most of their sharing is done online. The greatest upside is likely to come from the broad general increase in images from user’s own smartphones, feature phones and cameras, as well as the many photos they receive online from friends and others.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. Results specific to this topic can be obtained through a customized report and analysis. The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically. This edition is for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals who want a solid resource they can use immediately after industry events such as mergers, or even use prior to anticipated events, can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Apple's Market Footprint-A Racial/Ethnic Glimpse

Apple’s Market Footprint – a Racial/Ethnic Glimpse

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, MetaFacts Principal Analyst

With the sizzle surrounding Apple’s newest iPads, MacBooks, and iPhones, there is the inevitable speculation around Apple’s true market size and composition. Some speculate that Apple’s most loyal fans – that buy all Apple – are at the core of Apple’s market strength. Others conjecture that Apple’s footprint has extended so wide that most of Apple’s pioneering work is done and Apple simply needs to entice its current customers to upgrade or buy other Apple products. The most exuberant estimates seem to foresee the wholesale conversion of the non-Apple masses into the Apple fold.

To help shed light on these and other related questions for serious tech marketers, MetaFacts has analyzed its most recent survey results and produced the Overview Report. The MetaFacts Technology User Profile syndicated research service survey respondents about their use of computers, MP3 players, mobile phones, and many other tech products and services.

Apple’s footprint extends to just under one in three (32%) American adults. These 56.6 million online adults either use an Apple PC or iPad, an Apple iPhone, or an Apple iPod or iTouch. This finding is from a carefully balanced sample of 8,175 adults in the second phase of the Technology User Profile survey.

It may be little surprise that the iPod has driven most of the penetration, in fact reaching over a quarter (27%) of American adults, with the highest usage among listeners age 18-34.

What may surprise some is that there is a racial/ethnic difference. The iPod and iPhone have reached their highest usage rates among adults identifying as Asian/Non-Hispanic and Non-White/Hispanic. Apple iPod penetration of Asian/Non-Hispanic online adults is 52% and among Non-White/Hispanic adults the rate is 42%. Apple iPhone penetration is 5% of online adults, and a more than triple 16% of Asian/Non-Hispanic adults and 12% of Non-White/Hispanic adults.

The full research results are available to current subscribers to the TUP Overview Report or the complete Technology User Profile service.

Source

MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition – report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com.
View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically. This edition is for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other Internet-oriented questions TUP covers on www.technologyuser.com

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

With the prospective merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, would the combined dominant share be very different in some states than in others?

Also, will the fog of merger give competitors enough pause to secure their unique clienteles, and attract more of the same?

Nationwide, the combined share of the top three carriers would increase from just over two-thirds (68%) to nearly eight in ten (78%).

Post-merger Carrier Domination

In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, we found that three carriers – Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobile, and T-Mobile, collectively hold a 68% share. This is based on the broadest active market – subscribers of mobile carriers using Smartphones or Basic Mobile Phones, with either contract or pre-paid agreements, and among online adults. Combining the subscriber share of AT&T Mobile and T-Mobile, this boosts Sprint into the top group, so that the top three carriers collectively command 78%.

There is a regional difference, in some cases due to the growing popularity of simpler more cost-effective prepaid agreements through MVNOs, and in other cases to the strength of regional operators.

The combined AT&T/T-Mobile share would be 50% or higher in two states: Texas with 55% and California with 50%.

In the Northeast, TracFone is popular enough to be included in the post-merger top 3 carriers, although with a distant 9% to AT&T/T-Mobile & Verizon’s collective 73%. TracFone’s Northeast share is buoyed by New York and Pennsylvania, where the 9% share is similarly far from the two leaders 70% and 73%, respectively.

Among the major states, Wisconsin is unique in the strength of regional carrier US Cellular, which holds a 19% share, even besting nationally-second Verizon. No other regionals have that position or share.

Across other states and regions, Sprint has a third-ranked position. In most key states, Sprint’s share is less than half of the second-ranked carrier.

Whether or not these heightened levels of market dominance constitute a problem will depend primarily on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). One of their statistical tests for market concentration is the Herfindal-Hirschman Index (HHI) which summarizes the relative difference of shares. Industries with scores of more than 1,800 are considered concentrated. If post-merger, using our current market share results, Texas would have an HHI of 3,396, California  3,247, and New Jersey 3,208, up from 2,059, 2,154, and 2,547 respectively. Furthermore, the HHI would rise to 3,299 among contract subscribers and 1,716 among prepaid subscribers.

From the customer’s perspective we’ve gathered in findings of our TUP survey results, the usage profiles of AT&T and T-Mobile subscribers are different enough to show this will not be a simple merger. In fact, some customer usage types are unique enough they were already poised to seek better alternatives due to the way they use mobile wireless devices. That’s in addition to changes they might be considering beyond being triggered by the merger announcement, such as their satisfaction levels with customer service, their reception, or the complexity or costs of their subscription agreements.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. Results specific to this topic can be obtained through a customized report and analysis. The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically. This edition is for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other questions TUP answers on www.technologyuser.com. Tech market research professionals who want a solid resource they can use immediately after industry events such as mergers, or even use prior to anticipated events, can license direct access to TUP.

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Churn Intention by Major Carrier-MetaFacts

Will dissatisfied subscribers let their fingers do the walking?

A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

An old western movie featured a cowboy who sold his horse several times throughout the film. After each sale, the cowboy would wander off and whistle and the horse would run back to the cowboy. The various new owners were upset, yet the cowboy claimed his horse had his own mind.

With the prospective merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, the biggest question is whether the customers will approve of the transaction and stay with the combined unit. Or, will they stray, perhaps back to Verizon or to one of the prepaid MVNOs?

One measure of a subscriber’s mindset is their intention to switch carriers upon the expiration of their contracts.

In our most recent wave of Technology User Profile, we found that both AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile contract subscribers report the highest churn intention rate of any of the major carriers. Close to one in four (23%) of T-Mobile’s online subscribers agree or strongly agree that they plan to switch carriers when their contract expires. Among AT&T subscriber base, this rate is nearly one-fifth at 19%. For comparison, Sprint’s rate is 18% and Verizon’s is 13%. These findings are based on responses from 5,054 online adults who use a mobile phone with a contract agreement, a subset of the entire Technology User Profile survey.

Also, churn intention rates were highest among both carrier’s Smartphone as well as Basic Mobile Phone subscribers.

If the merger were complete today, the combined customer base would have the highest churn intention rate. This is not fully comparable to independent rates, because some subscribers planning to switch likely considered switching from AT&T to T-Mobile or the other way around.

In other findings in our survey results, we’re seeing that the segments of customers AT&T has attracted are different enough from T-Mobile’s subscribers that it’s likely that both companies will need to create an assortment of campaigns to address the wide span of segments. Furthermore, this will rattle the positions of handset manfacturers from Motorola to Apple and RIM.

Of course, wireless carriers do all they can to sway subscriber’s churn intentions, and we’re likely to see creative efforts from both companies to entice subscribers to stay, just as competitors Verizon, Sprint, and others will do their best to welcome them into their fold.

So, we’ll all be keeping our ears open for the whistle which might draw subscribers back to Verizon, although some might instead follow the growing herd to prepaid alternatives.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. Results specific to this topic can be obtained through a customized report and analysis. The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically. This edition is for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other Internet-oriented questions TUP covers on www.technologyuser.com

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Busiest Road Warriors want to Text or Email While Driving - MetaFacts

Calling the Shots While Driving the Wagon: Renegades say they should be allowed to text or email while driving

A MetaFacts TUPDate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

When you change lanes on the highway, you hope that the guy next to you isn’t a distracted driver looking at his smartphone instead of at the road. Ninety percent of the time, you’d be fine. On the other hand, a recent MetaFacts Technology User Profile survey showed 9% of online Americans agree or strongly agree with this statement: “I should be allowed to text or email while I am driving a car.” Nine percent isn’t 100%, but considering the concentration of people on the road in any ordinary rush hour, that 9% adds up to a lot of road risk.

Who are these renegades? It seems they have a few commonalities, ranging from age, state, and parental status to privacy attitudes. Eighteen percent of 18 to 24-year olds surveyed felt that they should be allowed to text and email while driving, and the concentration of renegades indeed appears to be in the young-uns: that 18% is double the national average. The 25 to 34-year-old group come in second, with 16% wanting to multitask in their vehicles, followed only slightly more slowly by the 35-44 age bracket with 10%. After that, percentages drop down to 5% and lower in older age groups—it seems that most of these rebels get hit with a dose of safety-juice by the time they hit their mid-forties.

Yet, there is something these folks have in common which points to a concern for safety, even coupled with their desire to type and drive, and that is their tendency toward device-security consciousness. 71% of renegades agree: “For security, I do things such as password-protecting my phone or limiting what is stored on it,” compared to the national average of 30%. Is the line between physical safety and the safety of our information becoming blurred, or is this issue just holding the door for better voice-recognition technology?

Are these renegades simply using mobiles for texting or emailing more than average? MetaFacts survey shows the links between age and texting in general, where 18 to 24-year olds top the charts as well. That age group’s attitude about texting while driving reflects this inclination. Mobile emailers, on the other hand, are led in a close race by the 25 to 34-year-old demographic (42% of 25-34-year-olds use their mobile devices for email vs. 37% of 18-24-year-olds and 32% of 35-44-year-olds).

While age seems one of the main things renegades have in common, gender does not appear to be a significant factor in who texts and drives; only slightly fewer women than men surveyed wanted to use their keypad en route (7% and 11%, respectively). But be they men or women, what might tie these people together is a hunger for better, more streamlined technology.

Judging from the types of phones renegades use, it seems their thirst for new technology may be comparable to their need for untimely texting and emailing. 21% of Android users are renegades, followed close behind by 20% of Apple iPhone users and 16% of Blackberry users. This tech-heavy crowd might just be waiting for the right technology to help them send an email in the car, without having to type it out the old-fashioned way.

Clearly, this scary finding implies a need for a shift in the world of smartphones, and mobile companies should take note. While safety-inducing apps exist to render texting and emailing applications defunct while operating a vehicle, they tend to be geared toward the protective parenting set, which make them seem unlikely that they would appeal to the renegade mindset. In that case, better voice-recognition technology ought to be on the forefront of this issue. Some of this technology is already in place, and the renegade wordsmiths on the roads today seem likely to keep up their bad behavior, favoring accessibility and convenience over safety.

This seems as much an issue for marketing as R&D. The demand for voice-activated texting and email for this niche of rebels, with their busy lifestyles and need for constant quick communication, may lie more in the convenience and speed of the new technology rather than its image as a safety feature.

MetaFacts expects the first early adopters for this technology to include several unique and dissimilar segments: ultra-mobile road warriors, tech-savvy soccer moms, hyperactive smartphone users, Twitter addicts, certain ethnic groups, particularly in states enforcing distracted-driver laws. With that as the case, these texting renegades may be leading voice-activated texting and email out of the periphery so that it can, so to speak, take the wheel.

Source

The results in this TUPdate are drawn from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Survey. Results specific to this topic can be obtained through a customized report and analysis. The MetaFacts Technology User Profile Overview Edition report is available immediately on www.metafactsstore.com, which covers the broader range of key trends. View findings in 25 pages of executive summary analysis, 200+ pages of charts and graphs, all supported by 95+ pages of detailed tables. The complete, 300+ page report is delivered to you electronically. This edition is for the U.S. based on the 2010 wave of Technology User Profile gathered among a scrupulously selected set of representative respondents, surveyed both online and offline.

To see other research coverage of Internet products and activities – from smartphones to feature phones, desktops to notebooks, social networking, demographics, and attitudes – see the many other Internet-oriented questions TUP covers on www.technologyuser.com

About TUPdates

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Smartphones, Netbooks, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry trends and facts. 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 market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile (TUP) 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 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. TUP analyzes key trends and the data-rich source can be dived into more deeply for custom analysis. For more information about the syndicated research service, analysis tools, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.