New PARADE Technology Study Finds Consumers Confused

28-Jul-04

Technology has provided us with more choices than ever-plasma, LCD and HDTV television; digital video recorders and cameras; online gaming and more. The result? We're confused! A new study from PARADE magazine, conducted by The Yankee Group, has found 16-percent of consumers think they own a digital video recorder (DVR); 4-percent do. 71-percent percent say they understand and can explain the concept of a DVR to a friend; 36-percent understand and can explain the concept of TiVo. TiVo is a DVR. Similarly, 40-percent of consumers say they understand and can explain an MP3 player to a friend; 35-percent understand and can explain an iPod. An iPod is an MP3 player. Plasma televisions and computers are No. 1 on Americans' technology wish lists, at 26-percent each; 17-percent want HDTV; digital cameras, 16-percent and DVD players, 10-percent. Online gaming is burgeoning, especially among women (70-percent), the biggest users of Web-based parlor games. Men take the edge in other entertainment-related applications, including e-mailing photos (75-percent vs. 67-percent), burning audio CDs (54-percent vs. 44-percent), watching DVDs on PCs (47-percent vs. 37-percent) and purchasing or downloading MP3 files (36-percent vs. 29-percent). Compared to households without children, families (children 18 or younger) are more technologically advanced. They better understand concepts like DVR (79-percent vs. 66-percent), text messaging (78-percent vs. 60-percent), HDTV (61-percent vs. 50-percent), broadband (56-percent vs. 46-percent) and MP3 (47-percent vs. 35-percent). Four profiles of head of the household, defined by the PARADE study:Gadget gurus are technologically advanced. They have a median age of 40, are affluent (average income of $87,500) and, most likely, parents(58-percent). Fifty-four percent are male. Gadget gurus comprise 15-percent of the population. Digital mainstreamers, or those with intermediate skills, are also around 40, with an average income of $62,500; 43-percent are parents, 52-percent are female. Thirty-six percent of us are mainstreamers. The tech-challenged are low adopters, largely female (61-percent), age 50, with an average income of $42,500. Thirty-one percent are parents. Thirty-four percent of Americans are tech-challenged. The technologically overwhelmed are slow adopters, age 60, with an average income of $30,000; 63-percent are female; 15-percent of Americans are overwhelmed.Segments are based on product ownership and weighted by national penetration. The PARADE study was conducted in March/April 2004 among 2,000 households.For more information, please visit www.parade.com.

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