Study Reports Consumers Lukewarm To Home Networking

That's the finding of a new study by Strategy Analytics, who say that vendors haven't sold the technology to the public yet, and should try, with a non-technical approach.Few consumers are excited about the concept of home networking, the study found. Out of 17 emerging technologies, respondents rated the home network 14th, behind wall-hanging televisions, video-on-demand, digital TV, MP3 players and DVD recorders.The research, part of its ""Interactive Home"" service to subscribers from the technology, network and media arenas, involved sometimes lengthy interviews with about 2,000 people - 1,000 in the U.S. and 1,000 in Europe. The study focused on attitudes and motivations toward emerging consumer technologies.""Our research suggests consumers are not clear on why they should buy home networks,"" says David Mercer, Strategy Analytics' director of Interactive Home service and author of the study. ""So developers must concentrate on selling the benefits of inter-device connectivity rather than confusing customers unnecessarily with technical issues.""More than 20 million homes in the US will have installed wireless devices and or wired home networks by 2005, the study concluded, when about 77 million Net devices will be hooked up to wireless home networks. At that time, nearly half of all US households will have at least two PCs - 19 percent with broadband Internet and 11 percent with wired networks.The study says vendors' promotion of home networking aimed at boosting demand - and sales ñ far outweighs consumer excitement over the concept.""I'm not sure most home users have a clear understanding of what home networking is or offers, which is really one of the points we are making,"" Mercer told Newsbytes. ""To those who do, or believe they do, it usually refers to linking together more than one PC, possibly also with other electronic devices (TV sets and VCRs) so that data can be exchanged in some way.""The jury is still out on the question of whether consumers would want home networking even if the understood it, said Mercer. The advantages most often mentioned include sharing PC peripherals such as printers and scanners to save on the cost of buying devices for every PC in the home; sharing Internet access; file-sharing; multiplayer gaming on different PCs in the home simultaneously; content distribution.Mercer says vendors should promote awareness and show how networking can benefit home users; design products that are user-friendly, easy to install and inexpensive; identify and focus on different segments of the market; support a wide range of technologies and standards; remain squarely focused on the problem.Strategy Analytics is a global consultant in high-technology matters, such as evaluation of new business opportunities, competitive threats, emerging trends and critical success factors in the digital economy.

The Strategy Analytics Web Site can be found at: http://www.strategyanalytics.com.Source: Newsbytes, http://www.newsbytes.com