MetaFAQs – MetaFacts' TUP findings

October 25, 2020

Chromebooks make a tiny dent with parents [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, October 25, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on consumers worldwide have helped Google Chromebooks start to make a small dent in the active installed base after years of experimentation and effort. Parents are one bright spot for the slowly-adopted products, as they have sought support for remote work and help with schooling at home.

Google Chromebooks have been on the market since 2013 and have only recently started to make much headway into the Windows and Apple-dominated PC market. Despite Chromebook’s generally lower prices, consumers have continued to choose other products. With recent Chromebook models having more horsepower and features than the earliest models, and after aggressive marketing by Google, especially into educational markets, the products have eased into the consideration set. Many buyers distrustful of Google’s market dominance, advertising, and data privacy handling have stayed away from Google-linked products. Broad use of Android smartphones has moved some buyers into the ecosystem, at least in part.

Mid-2020 high demand and some supply disruptions of Windows and Apple notebooks drove some buyers – parents and work-at-home adults – to consider Google Chromebooks. It remains to be seen if this recent uptick is a blip in the product’s long road to market acceptance.

About MetaFAQs

MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.

Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.

On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.

October 10, 2020

Key device usage by ethnic/Hispanic income group and household income [MetaFAQs]

Are smartphones mostly being used by higher income Americans? Is there a digital divide by ethnic/Hispanic group within upper and lower income groups? This MetaFAQs looks at the market penetration of smartphones, PCs, tablets, and feature/basic cell phones among White/non-Hispanic, Black/non-Hispanic, Asian/non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and other groups.

About MetaFAQs

MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.

October 3, 2020

Key device usage by ethnic/Hispanic group and educational status [MetaFAQs]

Does having a college education or not coupled with ethnic/Hispanic group make a difference in the market penetration of key connected devices? Do White/non-Hispanic college graduates have higher levels of device use then Black/non-Hispanic or other groups? Does this vary by device type? This MetaFAQs reports on the active penetration of smartphones, PCs, tablets, and feature/basic cell phones among White/non-Hispanic, Black/non-Hispanic, Asian/non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and other non-Hispanic American adults.

April 8, 2020

Video calling and conferencing by those working at home [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 8, 2020

Employees working at home have many options when it comes to staying in touch with coworkers and clients while working from home. With the sudden move to working from home, there was a sudden shift in market share. This MetaFAQs draws on the April 2020 MetaFacts Pulse Survey to identify which platforms employees have been using for their work-related and personal video communications, further split by video conferences versus video calls.

March 13, 2018December 15, 2020

Voice Assistants-Does Age Matter? [MetaFAQs]

Age by Recency of Voice Assistant Use

Age matters when it comes to Voice Assistant use, and it’s overly simplistic to say that they’re mostly being used by younger adults. Yes, there’s a strong age difference between active Voice Assistant users, former users, and those who’ve never even given one a try. And yes, otherwise-connected adults that have never used a Voice Assistant are older than active users by a decade. The average age of a Connected Adult who has never used a Voice Assistant is 51.7 years. By comparison, the average age for active Voice Assistant users, those who’ve used one at least once within the last 90 days, is 41.6 years.

However, in this time of experimentation and users finding their own voices, younger adults are disproportionately former Voice Assistant users. They used a Voice Assistant within the last year and haven’t used one since.

This is based on results from the MetaFacts Voice User Profile (VUP) survey conducted in February 2018. The results report on active usage, which is a practical measure to contrast with the promised potential of what Voice Assistants may or may not be able to do.

Our TUP 2017 results show a similar pattern – the novelty effect. Older Millennials have the highest active Voice Assistant usage rates. This group of 28-36 year-olds also shows the steepest dropoff between recent and less-recent use. This novelty effect is also prevalent among younger millennials (age 18-27) as their usage rate drops.

Voice Assistant Usage Recency by Age

Observations

As a long-time tech analyst, I’ve seen many technologies go through fits and starts as they either reach broader adoption or settle back into their niches. Apple’s Macs had PlainTalk 25 years ago, yet the voice recognition and speech synthesis system never reached widespread regular use. Still, the earliest adopters found ways to use these early Voice Assistants, such as dictation. Apple’s Siri arguably brought usable Voice Assistants into handy use for a much broader audience. The most-recent entries from Amazon and Microsoft to Google have brought a lot of heat and light to the category, although it’s still too early to declare Voice Assistants as be mainstream. There are many challenges ahead for makers of Voice Assistant systems and listening devices. It’s hard enough to encourage users to experiment with a Voice Assistant. It’s even harder to get users to continue using a technology after the novelty wears off. Many who have tried have given up, disappointed or daunted that their Voice Assistant hasn’t lived up their, er, its words.

Related research results

The MetaFacts Voice User Profile includes other related analysis, including:

The subjects Voice Assistant users ask about: weather, scheduling, music, entertainment, home automation, and more
Which Voice Assistant systems are being actively used, on which platforms, and which segments they are attracting
Which listening devices are being actively used – from Smart Speakers to Smartphones and Headsets
Where Voice Assistant users will – and won’t – do their talking: in restaurants, driving, while walking, and many other locations and settings
How well – or poorly – users experience their Voice Assistants, and how performance metrics vary by system and listening device
Reasons given why consumers have never used a Voice Assistant, as well as why former users aren’t currently active users

Source

The information in this MetaFAQ is based on a survey of 7,410 online adults in mid-2017 as part of the MetaFacts Technology User Profile (TUP) study and 525 online adults during February 2018 as part of the MetaFacts Voice User Profile (VUP) study. The TUP and VUP study universes included a representative sample of online adults, with active Voice Assistant users, former Voice Assistant users, as well as consumers who have never used a Voice Assistant. Current TUP subscribers can obtain the results of this newest research at a discount. For more information about MetaFacts and subscribing to VUP or TUP, please contact MetaFacts.