Forrester Releases Consumer Tech Benchmark 2005

August 2, 2005

Forrester Research today offers its report, “The State of Consumers and Technology Benchmark 2005”.

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The report is the result of the independent technology and market research company�surveying more than 68,000 North American households and how they “think about, adopt and use technology.” It, combined with data from seven previous years, provides a comprehensive view of technology’s role in consumers’ lives.

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The study shows that the adoption of consumer electronics and Internet access will continue to see significant growth through the end of the decade (duh).�Specifically, by 2010, 62 percent of United States households will have broadband access to the Internet; 53 percent will own a laptop; and 37 percent will use a digital video recorder (DVR) to gain control over how and when they watch TV.�

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The report includes data in categories such as devices, media, telecommunications, retail, finance, healthcare and government. Following are some key sample data points:

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Device, Broadband and Home Network Adoption��

Twenty-nine percent of North American households connected to the Internet using broadband connections in 2004, up from 19 percent in 2003.�
Broadband access will more than double this decade, reaching 71 million U.S. households in 2010. This growth will be spurred by providers such as SBC and Comcast targeting tech pessimists with lower prices, better in-home support and a clearer statement of benefits.
�Only 8.8 percent of U.S. households have a home network today, dominated by households with multiple PCs and broadband access to the Internet. Benefits, such as surfing the Internet while watching TV, shopping in the kitchen and listening to digital music in the living room, will drive home networking adoption to 46.5 million households by 2010.�
MP3 player adoption last year more than doubled to 10.8 million of U.S. households; 15 million U.S. households bought digital cameras; and 8 million households purchased laptops.

Media Consumption and Online Behavior

Only six percent of online consumers today read blogs, and two percent use RSS, while 70 percent of online consumers use the Internet to research products for purchase. Marketers should focus on identifying the early adopting tech optimists who read blogs to tap effective viral marketing opportunities.�
Households with a laptop and home network watch TV three fewer hours per week and read the paper an hour less per week than offline households do.�

Banking and Shopping�

In the past three months, 43 percent of U.S. online households banked online; 41 percent checked their account balances online; and 24 percent transferred balances online.�
In 2004, 39.5 million U.S. households shopped online; that is 3.5 million more than in 2003. Broadband, laptop and home networking adoption will help drive online research and purchasing to more than 55 million households by 2010.�

Forrester's�full report is available to WholeView 2 clients and can be found at Forrester’s Web site. The entire database is available to Technographics Data & Services clients.

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