The Picture Is Clear - Consumers Interested in HDTV

Opportunity for home networks exist in many US households

Faster Connection Speeds Key for WLAN

Personal Video Recorder Ownership on the Rise

Hands Down - Interest in Bluetooth Trumps Other Mobile Phone Options

Demand for Utility Computing Highest in Large Firms

Got Voicemail? Organizations adopt unified messaging applications to help employees manage personal presence

All Secure: Percentages Double on Integrated Security Appliance Use

Consumers Finding Their Way with Garmin Handheld GPS

Consumers Are All Ears When it Comes to iTunes in 2007

DSL Put on the Table: America's Youth Goes for Cable

The Picture Is Clear - Consumers Interested in HDTV

Of those who don't already own one, 55.6% of consumer respondents are extremely or very interested in purchasing an HDTV, with 52% of those interested in an LCD TV, 28% interested in a plasma TV.

Opportunity for home networks exist in many US households

We looked at the availability of Ethernet, coax, and phone jacks in US households that could be used for a variety of networking connections. For US respondents currently without a home network, we found that 7% had Ethernet jacks/outlets in four or more rooms in their home. We also found that 66% had phone jacks and 45% had coax outlets in four or more rooms. So, if these consumers were to install a PC home network, 7% would not even need to rely on a wireless network or install new wiring, while the others would likely use wireless LAN. On the other hand, for service providers to network set top boxes together for whole-home DVR solutions, they could rely on a combination of phone/coax or powerline/coax solutions. Power receptacles are naturally available in all rooms of US homes.

Faster Connection Speeds Key for WLAN

We surveyed members of In-Stat’s Technology Adoption Panel™ (TAP), 1549 in June 2007, 682 in August 2006 and 579 in May 2005, regarding their knowledge and usage of wireless LAN ("WLAN" or "hotspot") services which allow you to access the Internet in public spaces. Respondents are significantly more likely this year over previous years to be persuaded to pay for WLAN services if it offers better performance and faster connection speeds. This trend is also reflected in their responses to question on willingness to pay for a premium service (costing $25-$40/month) which promised faster connection speeds over a ‘no frills’ service which did not; here respondents are more likely than in previous years to consider this premium service.

Personal Video Recorder Ownership on the Rise



We surveyed members of In-Stat’s Technology Adoption Panel™ (TAP), 2021 in May 2007 and 1553 in February 2006, regarding their familiarity with and usage of Personal Video Recorders. Compared to 2006 data, there was a significant change in 2007 among the number of people who actually owned a PVR opposed to those who had only heard/were familiar with this type of device. In addition, PVR users were significantly more likely in 2007 to receive their PVR as part of their pay-TV service.

Hands Down - Interest in Bluetooth Trumps Other Mobile Phone Options



We surveyed members of In-Stat’s Technology Adoption Panel™ (TAP), 1465 in April 2007 and 1092 in August 2006, regarding their current and future mobile phone features and purchases. Compared to 2006 data there was a significant upward trend in interest for having certain options/features on a respondent's next mobile phone, such as for Bluetooth, MP3 player, Video records/playback and Mobile TV. Other options such as Built-in camera, FM radio, Wi-Fi, GPS and Speakerphone remained flat or had slight increases in interest over 2006 data. Note: This question was only asked among those who indicated that they will be replacing their mobile phone in the foreseeable future.

Demand for Utility Computing Highest in Large Firms



Adoption of, and interest in, on-demand or utility computing services is strongest among the largest US firms. In April of 2007, In-Stat conducted a Web-based questionnaire that gathered data from 1003 respondents who are knowledgeable about their organizations' IT infrastructure. The survey gauges demand for utility computing services for IP telephony, CPU, storage, and bandwidth capacity. Survey results show that more than 50% of respondents from firms with over 1,000 employees either currently contract for on-demand services or, if they do not currently do so, would be very interested in doing so within the next year. For those who currently contract for on-demand computing services, saving money was cited most often as the most important reason.

Got Voicemail? Organizations adopt unified messaging applications to help employees manage personal presence



In February 2007, In-Stat conducted an online survey about the use of unified messaging applications among members of its Technology Adoption Panel™. IP-based conferencing (both the web and video types) were most likely to be used amongst large companies (1,000 employees or more) in comparison to smaller categories of companies (SOHO, small and medium sized). Specifically, 66% of all large companies surveyed currently use IP-based web conferencing (compared to 8%, 30% and 31%, respectively, for SOHO, small and medium sized companies). Not surprisingly, medium sized companies (100-999 employees) were the most likely to say that they have plans to use IP-based web conferencing (38%), in comparison to other companies of smaller or larger size. The ability to manage personal presence on an individual basis, as well as the assurance that employees receive voice and email messages on a timely basis are more important factors in adopting unified messaging solutions than the functionality of text to voice, or voice to text conversion.

All Secure: Percentages Double on Integrated Security Appliance Use



In April 2006 and March 2007, In-Stat conducted online surveys about the use of network security appliances among members of its Technology Adoption Panel™. This year’s survey shows growth in the use of integrated security appliances among all company sizes, but especially in small businesses. Integrated security appliances combine multiple security functions in a single appliance. Multifunction security solutions are becoming an increasingly attractive option for deploying and managing security among small businesses, as many of these products are targeted toward small and medium businesses.

Consumers Finding Their Way with Garmin Handheld GPS



Garmin is the Handheld GPS Device brand of choice. In February 2007, In-Stat conducted a web-based questionnaire. Respondents were members of a large, third party online consumer panel that consists of over 1.7 million consumers in the U.S. and Canada. In-Stat received 1,151 responses to this questionnaire; and of the 116 respondents who own a handheld GPS device, 53% own a Garmin-branded product. Magellan ranked second with 19% of GPS owners, and TomTom followed third with 8% of GPS owners. As the market for handheld GPS devices heats up in 2007, Garmin is well-positioned to maintain the number one spot in terms of market share. In fact, Garmin was the first GPS company to feature a major advertisement during this year’s Superbowl – a move that helps to signify the rising popularity in GPS technology.

Consumers Are All Ears When it Comes to iTunes in 2007



The percent of people who use iTunes has increased significantly from last year. In February of 2006, In-Stat conducted a random digit dial phone survey among consumers in the U.S. Among the 174 people who indicated that they’ve paid for downloading music, 47% said they had used iTunes. In February of 2007, In-Stat conducted the survey again, and 64% of the 163 people who have paid for downloading music said they’d used iTunes. This research supports In-Stat’s belief that revenue growth in the US online music market will continue as more users turn to legitimate sources of music. iTunes is expected to hold the number one market share position in the US in online music sales, as well as for US portable MP3 player sales, in 2007.
DSL Put on the Table: America's Youth Goes for Cable



In-Stat recently conducted an online survey among 1013 North American broadband users. Of the broadband users surveyed, the age group with the highest use of cable broadband is the 18-29 year old segment (69.4%), while that same age group had the lowest use of DSL broadband. We find this interesting to compare to last year's results and that of December 2003, since this recent survey indicates a significant rise in cable broadband use for this age group. In February 2006, 56.2% of the broadband users in this age group had cable broadband. Going further back, in December 2003, 50.8% of broadband users age 18-29 used cable broadband. The bottom line is that this age group in North America seems to be finding cable broadband more attractive recently. Traditionally, cable broadband has historically offered more bandwidth than DSL, and the 18-29 age group can be generally considered as power users. In addition, this age group is the most likely to be on the leading edge in terms of downloading videos that benefit from higher bandwidth services.