A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, Principal Analyst

There always has to be someone who’s first, and a first time for everything. Early Adopters are a substantial force in technology adoption, and the starting point continues to get younger.

Think back to the first time you used a Personal Computer or a Mobile Phone. Were you the first on your block, in your class, or where you work? If so, then maybe you are in that earliest 2.5% called Innovators. That’s one step ahead of Early Adopters, who are in the first one-sixth of users of any given product.

If you’re Generation X, age 31-46, and you first used a PC when you were 11 or younger, you were ahead of 84% of others your age. Yes, you’re a PC Early Adopter in your age group. On the other hand, if you only started using a PC at age 29 or older, then you’re in the adoption segment named PC Laggards. (Don’t take it personally; it’s a widely used term and someone has to be last.)

Early Adopters, Innovators, and Laggards - Age First Used a PC

For both PCs and Mobile Phones, market adoption is happening faster and earlier than before. Among Mobile Phone users age 35-44 today, the first 2.5% in their age group to use a Mobile Phone – Mobile Phone Innovators – started at age 14. The Mobile Phone Laggards – the last 16% – started at age 33, a 19 year span. Among the 25-34 group, there are only 14 years between Innovators and Laggards.

Why does this matter?

Simply put, Early Adopters behave and think differently than the Early Majority, as with the Late Majority compared with Laggards.

PC Early Adopters crave details and innovation while PC Laggards feel overwhelmed. Laggards generally have lower socioeconomic status. PC Early Adopters use more PCs and other devices, and are also earlier adopters of Mobile Phones, eReaders, MP3 Players, and a host of other devices and services. Laggards have a simpler technology footprint.

Early Adopters also choose different brands than the majority or Laggards. PC Clones, shunned by Laggards, rank relatively highest among Early Adopters, as do Apple and IBM/Lenovo brands. PC Laggards, on the other hand, have a higher rate of choosing Acer and e-Machines PCs.

PC Laggards shop for home PCs at Wal-Mart, Target, or eBay, while the Early Adopters who aren’t assembling their own PCs shop more often at company stores such as Sony Universe or Apple retail.

Mobile Phone adoption corresponds highly with PC adoption, although differs in several respects. Particularly, Mobile Phone Laggards strongly overlap with PC Laggards, while Early Adopters do less so.

Like PC Laggards, Mobile Phone Laggards are similarly overwhelmed and ad-averse. Mobile Phone Early Adopters are more strongly adopters of home entertainment consumer electronics from Roku boxes to mobile wireless broadband, and network attached storage (NAS) to wireless keyboards.

Mobile Phone Early Adopters have a higher share of subscribers who frequent LinkedIn, MySpace, and Google+ than Laggards do. Communication is big; more Early Adopters tend to use VoIP services like Skype for domestic and international calls than Mobile Phone Laggards.

This is not to say that Early Adopters are good and Laggards are bad; simply that they are different. This has implications for forecasters and marketers alike, as it provides a fuller understanding of the adoption potential of other technology products and services.

Early Adopters, Innovators, and Laggards - Age First Used a Mobile Phone

Using Technology User Profile, both the current wave and its previous 28 years, MetaFacts analyzes market adoption in many different ways. The age-banded approach analyzed here gives a high degree of explanatory power to how some market segments adopt technology much differently than others. We find that age alone does not predict market acceptance. In other words, it’s being young doesn’t mean you’re automatically an Early Adopter.

While there is a certain trickle-down folklore which favors the “latest and greatest” products and features as driving adoption across all tech products, realistically, this technocentrism has not been borne out. In fact, focusing what people feel and do, and not on technology alone, gives a more solid foundation towards understanding, predicting, and creating the future. After all, people adopt technology, not the other way around.

Source

The information in this MetaFacts TUPdate is based on the Technology User Profile service.

For this TUPdate, MetaFacts used two factors defining Adoption Stage: PC Adoption and Mobile Phone Adoption. In both cases, this is a straightforward measure of adoption based on the year they first used the product. Adoption stage was determined based on the respondent’s adoption age within each respondent’s discrete age relative to all other respondents of the same age.

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.

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.

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, 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.

Reading the popular press, it might seem that Smartphones have consumed the entire mobile phone market. In fact, the Smartphone boa has only swallowed a portion of the American calling public. Also, much of the smartphone market is a replacement market as these busy adopters hanker for newer models or churn to competitive carriers.

Furthermore, some Smartphone callers have even returned to Basic Feature Phones. This brings into question assumptions around how soon Smartphones will dominate.

In Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic book “The Little Prince”, he draws a boa constrictor eating an elephant, which many adults mistake for a drawing of a hat. I was reminded of that image while looking at the size of mobile phone transition segments from recent Technology User Profile survey results.

Why is this important?

When you’re deep in the belly of the beast, it’s easy to imagine that the whole world is inside with you.

Realistically, Basic Feature Phone callers outnumber Smartphone users three to two. Smartphone makers and carriers have multiple challenges ahead in trying to convince the rest of the market to adopt Smartphones. Each segment of customers along the mobile phone adoption path has its own unique characteristics and needs.

While many Smartphone shipments are replacing existing Smartphones, with many eager to get the newest iPhone, Android or RIM Smartphone, these replacement markets are very different than conversions into the Smartphone world.

We found that 8% of online adults are in the “Basic Switchers” segment, which means they’re using a Basic Feature Phone after having previously tried a Smartphone. This segment is dominated by both male and female adults age 18-24. This group uses the broadest number of activities, in effect using so much of their Basic Feature phone as to rival many simple-usage Smartphone owners.

Avid mobile phone fans may be surprised that anyone would be in a segment called “Tried & Quit” – online adults who have used a Smartphone or Basic Feature Phone within the last year and not now using one. This is a small, yet measurable segment, dominated by retired or unemployed single adults who treasure simplicity. Evidently, Smartphones outsmarted them and even Basic phones were just not compelling enough.

At the other end of the curve, there’s a very interesting segment labeled “Just Smart”. These are people who have never used a Basic Feature Phone and instead have a Smartphone as their first mobile phone. These callers tend to be parents, active Best Buy shoppers, and employed full-time in larger companies. As might be expected, this group is relatively young, with over half being age 25-44. What might not be expected; this segment has a relatively low share of age 18-24 users.

In the coming year, MetaFacts expects a continued and turbulent replacement environment as carriers and mobile operating systems compete with each other for the most active Smartphone users. The majority of the market is likely to continue its relatively slower migration to Smartphones. Each segment is likely to be further splintered by user’s varied attention on other devices than “traditional” for their calls, music, ebook reading, communication, and images.

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 over 8,100 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.

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.

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.

Google+ Adoption - preliminary results from MetaFacts

Early Independent Research on Google+ Users

By Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts

The earliest adopters of Google+ are a unique slice of highly-active socially-networked users.

Early results are showing a good-news/bad-news combination for Google+:

• Bad news: Early Google+ users are above average among social networkers who have recently unfriended someone, removed content, and adjusted their privacy settings. They are well below average in friending someone, not a very bullish sign.
• Good news: Early Google+ users are also above average among social networkers in clicking ads, RSVP’ing events, playing games, sharing photos, and watching videos

Unlike the launch of Google Buzz, which brought privacy concerns to the fore, Google+, even privacy-adjusters to be trying out Google+, at least so far.

Evidently, Google+ controlled its “field trial” launch, inviting and allowing in a carefully selected audience. Over half are highly experienced tech users, with 16 or more years under their belt since they used their first PC, and 12 or more years using a mobile phone (smartphone or basic feature phone).

In the coming year, it’s unlikely to see an either/or scenario between Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Instead, the most-active social networkers will simply expand their experience, influence, and content across an ever-wider network. The privacy-conscious and ad-averse are likely to remain in the shadows or with minimal involvement. Up for grabs is the largest middle segment, and this group is most likely to wait and watch for a simple and safe experience which piques their interest. This will come in the form of competitive apps on Facebook, extensions to Twitter, or further innovation from Google.

Background and Methodology

Google+ came live shortly before the fielding of the 29th year of the MetaFacts Technology Survey, so we expanded the comprehensive user survey to include Google+ along with other social networks.

The Technology User Profile survey is independently conducted by MetaFacts. The syndicated research original service provides solid sizing and segmentation information about technology use, uniquely allowing for deep dives into use of competitive and substitute products as well as interactive segmentation and profiling.

Based on surveys with thousands of representative respondents reached by telephone and online, the MetaFacts Technology User Profile Service survey the entire range of information technology users. The full market is surveyed, from those with the richest collection of products such as Smartphones to Tablets and Netbooks, to those who don’t even use a mobile phone or PC.

Soon we will be releasing key takeways about the earliest adopters for the new service. Watch this site – technologyuser.com – for brief, complimentary updates. For full details, a special Google+ Flash Report will also be available at a special rate. Send a request to be notified of availability. Subscribers to the 2011 Technology User Profile services will receive updates directly.

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.

Are Americans really a nation of early adopters? Are early adopters mostly age 18-24 in the U.S. and other countries? While Americans pride themselves on many forward-thinking attributes, it is not ranked first for early PC adopters compared with many developed and developing countries.

Think back to how old you were the first time you used a personal computer. If you are American and were 17 or younger, then you’re in the youngest 21% of American early adopters and ranked 10th among 16 major countries. As an under-18 adopter in Brazil, you’re less unique, being in the same group as 31% of today’s Brazilian online adults, and ranked 1st for youthful PC adoption. If you were 26 and Italian, Australian, or Saudi Arabian, then you were younger than average in your country.

There are many reasons that some countries have a higher share of young first-time PC users than other countries. One element is how evenly income is distributed, as shown by measures such as the Gini coefficient. Countries such as Brazil and Mexico have a similar distribution of income today as they had when PCs were becoming widely available there in the 1980’s, so today’s wealthier adults were most often in wealthy families which had better access to technology. There are also cultural differences, some of which encourage younger people to use technology for their education or economic future. Other cultures may discourage youngsters from using technology, such as for their safety and privacy. Saudi Arabia is affected by this cultural preference, even though its wealthiest citizens are still the strongest adopters.

South Korea is at the latest end of the age-adoption spectrum. On first glance, this may seem counterintuitive to Korea-watchers, since South Korea has enacted and maintained national policy to narrow its digital divide and to get its population online and connected to the Internet. In fact, in doing so, South Korea leapfrogged many other countries in the speed and breadth of its citizens’ connectivity. However, since this was enacted relatively recently, it accelerated the adoption rate among adults in the workplace, and to some degree less among younger children in homes.

Why is this important?

Assuming that early adopters are all young Millennial Gen Y or Gen Z oversimplifies the market and misses the mark. Experience matters, since tech-savvy users make different decisions than relative newbies, particularly when correcting for age.

The age of first PC use as well as the years of usage tell a lot about the person’s experience, with the past pointing the way toward their likeliest future choices. After all, someone who has gone through 10 versions of Microsoft Windows (including Millennium Edition) will have a different perspective than a similarly-aged first-time PC user.

In conducting factor analysis with the Technology User Profile datasets, MetaFacts finds that both earliest age of adoption and length of experience are strong additional factors to explain the variance when predicting the heaviest and lightest consumers of new information technology and consumer electronics products and services. These factors are in addition to other other more standard demographics. In other words, likelihood to adopt new technology is not only about youth; early adopters are more likely to act like early adopters even as they age.

This has implications for any tech marketers seeking a more effective path than the simplified approach of focusing marketing primarily to certain younger age groups. The first implication is to lower the risk of wasting resources with misdirected energy. Another implication is that new & stronger markets may emerge beyond the stereotypical young adopter as early adopter, leading to even more effective results.

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 over 30,889 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.

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.

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.

Market demand for online gambling continues strongly among some players, despite efforts by the U.S. Federal Government to limit it, including the recent closures of several key online poker sites. While states from New York and New Jersey to California sort out their legislation to block, tax or support it, a core segment of consumers still find ways to satisfy their desires.

Interestingly, each state varies in its online betting activity level. Nationwide, 4.5% of online adults are betting online, either playing poker or other contests.

New Jersey residents hold the distinction as the state with the most-active online bettors, with 8% (one in 13) of online adults betting online.

Three states are effectively tied for second place at 6% of adults: Illinois, New York, and California.

Other states also above the national rate are Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. Each has a 5% penetration rate.

MetaFacts-Online Bettors by Top States

Why does this matter?

If and when laws liberalize, knowing which consumers will or won’t be the earliest customers can make a big difference, for policymakers, marketers, and brick and mortar casinos alike.

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 online betting and online card-playing to build a profile of these diehard players. We also compared this to our prior international wave of Technology User Profile to get a global perspective.

To get closer to a true answer from respondents who may not consider it socially acceptable to admit to online betting in a survey, we gathered online betting and card-playing activity well within the survey, amidst a battery of other online activities and attitudes. Through our years of survey experience and testing, we’ve found that this method elicits truer answers for certain behaviors, especially coupled with other rigorous methodological steps.

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 full picture. We also compared usage from our prior waves, including results from our identical surveys across nine other countries.

The full results can be obtained through the MetaFacts TUP Online Betting Demand Data Slice. This data-rich deliverable includes 75 pages of PowerPoint slides and 50 supporting cross-tabulations.

The related 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.