Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 13, 2017 The terms “free” and “unlimited” continue to entice consumers and employees alike, in offers of faster bandwidth to larger data storage. The promise of enormous, convenient, and always-available storage space is helping Google, Apple, and Microsoft attract and retain customers within their fold. It’s also helping Amazon…
Technology spending – beyond owned gadgets [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, March 30, 2017
Tech spending – it’s mostly driven by living in the moment, through month-to-month subscriptions and on-demand content. Spending on tech devices, while substantial, is only a fraction of annual household spending. Also, the biggest spenders are few in number.
During the full year of 2015, 90% of household technology spending was for services and 10% for devices. Total household tech spending averaged $7.9 thousand for the year. Most of this spending was concentrated among the top 25% of spenders. In 2015, the Top Quartile of adults spent $23.6 thousand on average for technology services and devices.
For these biggest tech spenders, services make up 93% of the technology spend. This is in contrast to the bottom quartile of spenders, whose spending is more equally balanced, with 63.6% going for services and 36.4% for devices.
Every step you take – smartphone step-trackers [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, March 24, 2017
Baby steps count, as long as they’re in the right direction. Digital health promises positive outcomes for a wide range of people. However, like gym memberships and home treadmills, they don’t do much unless people use them. A first step for many is to use what’s handy. Most smartphones can track a user’s steps, and many are being used for that purpose, although use isn’t as widespread as fitness trackers or smartwatches.
How do (they) love thee? Follow their brand footprints [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, March 17, 2017
“How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways.” So begins the 43rd of Elizabeth Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. After more than 160 years, this poetry still inspires.
This classic poem seems fitting for a research-based understanding of customer loyalty and, well, mutual loyalty and love. One might hope that love and loyalty would flow in both directions – between customers and company – and in turn would result in more delighted customers, better products and services, and more customers actively using more of a brand’s offerings. In addition to brand footprint measures such as market size and intensity, MetaFacts measures the shape, loyalty, and quality of technology users.
Inexorable device trends – beyond the niche, fad, and fizzle [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, March 10, 2017
It can be exciting to see the hockey-stick charts, with everything up and to the right. It’s important to put the numbers into context, though, through a more grounded analysis of the active installed base. Yes, Apple’s long-climb into broader use of their triumvirate is substantial, Smartphones are quickly replacing basic cell phones, and PCs and printers persist. Their market size confirms their importance.
We, humans, are wired to notice a change. Our very eyes send more information about motion than the background. While life-saving should tigers head our way, this capability can be our undoing if we miss gradual changes, like the slithering snake in the grass creeping towards us. Watching an installed base of technology has some parallels. For some, it can seem as if nothing is really changing even while important shifts are taking place.
What is the penetration of home-owned computing devices? [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 22, 2017 Mobile phones dominate home-owned connected devices like the ones used by the greatest number of U.S. adults. As of our MetaFacts TUP 2016 US survey, 87% of U.S. adults used a smartphone or basic cell phone that was home-owned. Slightly trailing mobile phones, 81% of adults use…
Tablet-first. Is it a thing? [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 17, 2017
Which comes first – Smartphone? Tablet? Notebook? For a small and steadily growing segment, the tablet comes first as the primary connected device.
Over the last three years, the share of connected adults using a tablet as their primary device has expanded. In our 2014 wave of TUP, we found that 6% of adults were using a tablet as their primary device – before a PC, mobile phone, or game console. In TUP 2015, the tablet-first rate had grown to 7% and by TUP 2016, reached 9%.
OS-polyglots are big tech spenders [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 15, 2017 Who are the biggest spenders – Windows-Only, Apple-Only, or some other segment? (MetaFAQs) Google went high, Apple went higher, and Microsoft is left with the rest. That’s an oversimplification, and yet is reflected in household technology spending. Users of certain combinations of operating systems spend differently. Lowest-spending…
Are most hearables being used by young males? [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 13, 2017 Wireless headsets have been available for more than a decade, and are strongest among two age and gender groups. These hearables-active groups also have above-average shares of VR Headset early adopters. The strongest segments for active hearables use include younger males – age 18-44 and youngish females…
The most creative – PCs or smartphones? [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, February 9, 2017
Creativity eludes definition, yet we know and admire it when we see or feel it. Well beyond simple clicks, creative activities greatly add to the collective oeuvre while also giving voice to expression.
It might well be argued that creativity is shown in the clever use of hashtags, emojis, or Snapchat video filters. I’m choosing to identify creativity broadly and practically – how the most-creative, most-involved tech activities get done. Activities such as creating presentations and videos require forethought and a blending of skills. Some activities such as taking photographs are now so widely commonplace that the activity spans the professional photographer to the budding amateur. So, for this analysis, I’m considering this a moderately-creative activity.