Americans are still buying high-tech products, with High-Def TVs and home broadband networks among the most popular, according to an annual survey by Forrester Research. Media consumption continues to be split between traditional media and new media, although younger demos spend more time with new media.
Americans of all ages continue to adopt a digital lifestyle according to the largest annual survey of consumers’ technology adoption and attitudes by Forrester, “The State of Consumers and Technology: Benchmark 2009, US,” based on nearly 48,000 respondents.
Forrester points to these as highlights:
1) Devices. High-definition televisions (HDTVs) and home networks were two of the fastest-growing consumer technologies in 2008. Over the next five years, nearly 39 million US households will get their first high-definition set and more than 30 million homes will add network connectivity. Forty-four percent of US households have a laptop, and the average American family owns two personal computers.
2) Media consumption. While media consumption among all Americans is split evenly between new and traditional media, on average, consumers younger than 40 spend almost two hours a week more with new media than they do with traditional media.
3) Mobile. Four in five US households now have a mobile phone; families with older children have nearly three mobile phones per household, the most of any age segment. Eight percent of consumers own a smartphone.
“US consumers are making an inexorable transition to an all-digital, Internet-powered world,” said Forrester Research Principal Analyst Charles S. Golvin. “The Internet pervades all aspects of Americans’ lives, from how we shop and buy, how we communicate, how we entertain ourselves, and how we seek out information to how we manage our personal relationships. While today these digital activities are constrained to the home and the office, in the next several years consumers will increasingly rely on a ubiquitous Net that is instantaneously accessible on a wide variety of devices, from mobile phones to laptops to new form factors such as eReaders,” he said.
This is the 12th annual Consumer Technographics Benchmark mail survey. This year, Forrester performed a life stage analysis of the data that looks at technology adoption of singles and families, both young and old. Forrester Research, a publicly traded company, is at Forrester.com.
