From: Nua Ltd.
To: Recipients of surveys mailing list
Sent: 31/10/00 19:04
Subject: Nua Internet Surveys: October 31, 2000
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NUA INTERNET SURVEYS - The Number One Resource for Statistics
Free Weekly Email For Latest Information & Trends on the Internet.
Email: [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/
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October 31st 2000 Published By: Nua Limited Volume 5 No. 42
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CONTENT
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EDITORIAL:
"The arrival of the Internet
and its integration into everyday
life has led some people to
question whether new communication
technologies are adversely affecting
our quality of life."
Conor Normile in 'Happy families online'
ACCESS DEVICES
:Mobile phone market to continue growing
ECOMMERCE
:Online shoppers prefer the real world
:B2C fails to attract South Africans
:Online auctions to be worth USD6.5 billion
:Ecommerce market approaches hypergrowth
:UK B2C sites take off
HEALTH/MEDICAL
:Pharmacies flop online
INFRASTRUCTURES
:Web multimedia still low-grade
:UK slow to take up broadband
IT/COMPUTER INDUSTRY
:Bulgaria lags behind in IT sector
:Global PC market shows steady growth
MINORITIES
:Net use among African-Americans increasing
USAGE PATTERNS
:Most Net growth to occur outside US
:Net does not impact society negatively
:US households want their own networks
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EDITORIAL: 'Happy families online' by Conor Normile
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial/archives/issue1no150
.html
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Surprising as it may seem, the advent of Bell's telephone in 1876
was not met with universal approval. While some welcomed the
invention with open arms, others expressed fear and dismay,
worried that the dismembered voice of the telephone would sound
the death-knell for social interaction. We may laugh now at the
notion that the telephone would dehumanize people, but at the
time it was a real concern, perhaps fuelled by a fear of the
unknown.
Despite the fact that we've become more accustomed to new
technology, people are pretty much the same today as they
were over a century ago. The arrival of the Internet and its
integration into everyday life has led some people to question
whether new communication technologies are adversely affecting
our quality of life.
A study last February by the Stanford Institute for the
Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS) provided ammunition for
non-believers. A quarter of respondents who were regular Internet
users (more than five hours a week) said they spent less time
socializing outside the house or being with family or friends.
The lead researchers in the SIQSS study concluded that the Internet
is an isolating technology which reduces our participation in
'real world' communities.
The study ruffled the feathers of a number of noted Internet
luminaries, such as Jakob Nielsen, suggesting that the Internet's
effect on society is a sensitive issue among proponents of a wired
world.
For the full story, go to:
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial/archives/issue1no150
.html
For archives of editorials, go to:
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial/archives/index.html
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DIGESTS START HERE
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ACCESS DEVICES
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=26
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RCB: Mobile phone market to continue growing
Worldwide mobile phone density will be twice as high as Internet
penetration by the end of 2000, according to a recent study.
The report, which was carried out by the Research Centre of Bornholm,
predicts that 69 percent of Western Europeans will own at least one
mobile phone in 2003, up from 56 percent this year.
Approximately 41 percent will have Internet access, while 20 percent
will use WAP services. These figures suggest that stationary Internet
users will outnumber mobile Internet users for the foreseeable future.
In Asia, China inched ahead of Japan in terms of mobile phone density
this year. By the end of 2002, China will have the greatest number of
mobile phones in use in any single country in the world.
Mobile phone use in the US is expected to increase by 10 percent to 41
percent this year, still well below the figure for Western Europe. The
US is one of the few countries in the world where Internet use remains
higher than mobile phone use.
Overall, the number of mobile phones in use throughout the world will
reach 690 million by the end of 2000, rising to one billion in 2002.
Other findings of the report reveal that the average lifetime of a
mobile phone is only 20 months. The replacement market for mobile
phones looks likely to overtake the new user market in the near future.
<http://www.rcb.dk/uk/staff/chm/wap.htm>
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ECOMMERCE
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=14
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American Express: Online shoppers prefer the real world
Ecommerce may be growing in popularity, but the vast majority of
consumers prefer the traditional shopping experience.
In a recent worldwide survey by American Express, 28 percent of current
and future Internet users said they already shop online or expect to
within the next year. Interest in online shopping was highest in Hong
Kong at 54 percent, followed by the US (39 percent) and Sweden (28
percent).
However, over 70 percent of all respondents said they were more likely
to use the Internet to research goods and services, but preferred to
make the final purchase in a real-world store. Furthermore, 84 percent
said they prefer to physically see a product and deal with a
salesperson face-to-face.
According to American Express, security and service concerns deter
consumers around the world from shopping online. The majority of those
polled (79 percent) said they were concerned about security and privacy
when making an online transaction, while 76 percent were worried about
service issues, such as returning goods bought on the Internet.
Other findings of the survey confirm that customers are more
comfortable doing business online with a company they have already
dealt with in the offline world. Roughly four out of five respondents
rated trust in the brand name as one of the most important factors when
buying online.
The American Express survey polled 11,410 Internet users and non-users
across ten countries- Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong,
Italy, Japan, Sweden, the UK, and the US.
<http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/latestnews/gis2000.asp>
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BMI-TechKnowledge: B2C fails to attract South Africans
Only 33 percent of South Africa's online population use the Internet to
purchase goods, according to a study by BMI-TechKnowledge.
However, almost half of the country's online shoppers are regular
buyers. The study showed that 11 percent of Internet shoppers buy at
least one item on the Web each week, and 5 percent purchase online
daily.
The most popular items purchased online in South Africa are books (55
percent), movie tickets (26 percent), CDs (23 percent), and event
tickets (18 percent).
The report also revealed that local online retailers are losing out to
international sites in the South African ecommerce market. The most
popular online retailer in the country is Amazon, which is used by 45
percent of the country's online shoppers. Altogether, 52 percent of
online purchases in South Africa are made from international sites.
Ecommerce in the country is expected to grow slowly over the next few
years, reaching ZAR24billion (USD3.14 billion) in 2005. Of those web
users that are not yet buying goods online, 17 percent said they plan
to do so within the next year, and a further 36 percent believe they
will be online shoppers in two years time.
However, almost half (46 percent) of those polled said they will never
shop online because of concern over privacy and security, and general
satisfaction with real world shops.
According to BIM-TechKnowledge, etailers will need to understand their
customers and contain costs to succeed in the South African market.
Other findings of the survey show that 98 percent of online households
use the Internet for email, while 87 percent use it as an information-
gathering tool.
Almost 70 percent of South African users download software from the
Internet and 43 percent use it for online banking.
<http://www.bmi-t.co.za>
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eMarketer: Online auctions to be worth USD6.5 billion
The online auction market will be worth USD6.5 billion by the end of
the year, up from USD650 million in 1998.
In its forthcoming study 'eCommerce: B2C Report,' eMarketer predicts
that revenue from online auctions will reach USD16.3 billion by 2004.
As a percentage of total b2c sales, the online auction market is
expected to peak this year at 17.6 percent, falling to 13 percent in
2004.
Currently, there are over 1,000 retail auction sites in operation, with
eBay dominating the market. According to research conducted by Odyssey,
76 percent of online shoppers used eBay over a six-month period.
Yahoo's auction service attracted 12 percent, followed by Amazon with 8
percent.
<http://www.emarketer.com/estats/dailyestats/b2c/20001016_auctions.html>
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Forrester Research: Ecommerce market approaches hypergrowth
Ecommerce will account for 8.6 percent of worldwide sales of goods and
services by 2004, according to new findings by Forrester Research.
However, not all world regions will experience an ecommerce boom-
Forrester predicts that 12 countries will account for almost 85 percent
of online trade.
With Internet sales of USD3.2 trillion in 2004, the US will remain the
world leader in ecommerce, followed by Western Europe, where the market
will be worth USD1.5 trillion.
Weak infrastructures will hinder growth in Latin America's ecommerce
market, which is expected to reach USD82 billion by 2004. Online sales
in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will be worth a combined
total of USD68.6 billion in four years time.
If online retailers want to maximize earnings from the predicted boom,
they will need to improve the service they provide. A recent study by
BizRate.com revealed that 78 percent of online shoppers abandoned
shopping carts in Internet stores over a 90-day period. On average,
shoppers abandoned between two and three shopping carts, with each cart
representing USD175 in lost sales.
Of those surveyed, 40 percent said they abandoned the purchasing
process due to expensive shipping and handling charges, while 21
percent blamed slow-loading pages.
<http://www.forrester.com/ER/Marketing/1,1503,212,FF.html>
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MMXI Europe: UK B2C sites take off
The number of consumers visiting online stores in the UK has increased
by 72 percent since January 2000, according to a recent survey from
MMXI Europe.
Retail sites received over 4.3 million unique visitors in September, an
increase of almost two million from the beginning of the year.
Amazon.co.uk is still the most popular retail site in the UK,
attracting over one million unique visitors in September. Amazon's US
site claimed second place, followed by ShopSmart.com, jungle.com, and
streetsonline.co.uk.
The figures reveal that high street retailers are beginning to make
their mark on the Web. New entries to the retail site top 10 included
Argos.co.uk and WHSmith.co.uk. MMXI Europe said the popularity of these
sites could be an indication that the shopping behavior of online
consumers has reached a new level of maturity and diversity in the UK.
The figures from MMXI Europe also show that people spent an average of
23 minutes in online retailers' sites in September, an increase of
eight minutes since January.
<http://www.mmxieurope.com/press/releases/20001023a.jsp?language=uk>
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HEALTH/MEDICAL
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=36
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InsightExpress: Pharmacies flop online
Just 7 percent of online consumers have ever purchased goods from an
online drugstore, according to new research by InsightExpress.
The findings also show that over three-quarters of shoppers surveyed
have never visited on online pharmacy.
According to InsightExpress, online pharmacies are failing because
people prefer personal interaction when purchasing prescriptions. Over
half (60 percent) of the 300 respondents said they would be more
comfortable dealing with a local pharmacist, while 23 percent said they
were reluctant to use online drugstores due to privacy concerns.
For some respondents, online pharmacies are simply not worth the
hassle. Of those questioned, 8 percent were put off by the fact that
online drugstores would not accept insurance, while 4 percent said
prescriptions were more expensive online.
Consumers look set to stay away from pharmacy sites for some time to
come-57 percent of respondents said they did not plan to uses such
services in the future, while 31 percent were undecided. Only 12
percent of those polled said they would purchase prescriptions online
in the future.
<http://www.insightexpress.com/news/release_102000.htm>
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INFRASTRUCTURES
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=20
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Keynote Systems Inc.: Web multimedia still low-grade
Despite recent advances in connection speeds and webcasting technology,
the quality of audio and video on the Web is still quite poor,
according to a new study.
Keynote Systems has created an index to measure the quality of
streaming audio and video at 20 popular websites. The Keynote Streaming
Index awards each site a mark out of 10, where 10 equals near-DVD
quality. For the week of October 08-14, the average score for streaming
multimedia was just 1.87.
MTV Interactive was judged the best web broadcaster, scoring 3.46 out
of 10. Barnesandnoble.com came out tops for audio ecommerce, WUSL-FM 99
for broadcast radio, and CNBC.com for financial audio.
Although Keynote admitted that the highest possible score for a web
broadcast is around 6.0, the results of the study show there is plenty
of room for improvement.
Keynote expects the ratings on the Streaming Index to improve in line
with new developments in web operations and streaming technology.
<http://www.keynote.com/press/html/00oct24.html>
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NetValue: UK slow to take up broadband
The UK has been slow to take up broadband, with only 1 percent of
online homes using the technology.
According to figures released last week by NetValue, the UK is trailing
well behind other major online countries in terms of broadband
penetration.
More than 1 in every 15 online homes in France uses a broadband
connection, six times higher than in the UK. Broadband penetration in
France is twice as high as Germany, where 3.2 percent of web users have
broadband connections. In the US, 6 percent of the online population
connects to the Net using broadband.
NetValue's figures show that Asia is quickly catching on to the
broadband revolution. Of the Asian countries covered in the study,
Korea led with 38 percent of online homes using broadband, followed by
Hong Kong (7.6 percent), Singapore (4 percent) and Taiwan (1.9
percent).
Broadband is still in its infancy in China, however, where 0.1 percent
of connected homes use broadband Internet services.
<http://uk.netvalue.com/presse/index_frame.htm?fichier=cp0032.htm>
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IT/COMPUTER INDUSTRY
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=12
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EuropeMedia: Bulgaria lags behind in IT sector
Speakers at last week's South-East Europe Economic Forum expressed
concern over Bulgaria's growth potential in the digital economy.
According to this year's Global Competitiveness Report by the World
Economic Forum, Bulgaria ranks last out of 59 countries in terms of
business start-up opportunities. It takes the same position in its
ability to keep high-skilled professionals from emigrating.
The report put Bulgaria's poor performance down to the country's
preoccupation with financial stability over economic growth.
A separate survey by The Economist Group put Bulgaria in 41st place
worldwide in terms of ebusiness readiness.
Meanwhile, research firm Internet Securities has estimated that only 5
to 6.5 percent of the country's population have Internet access. Just 3
percent of Bulgarian households have PCs, suggesting that most of the
country's Internet users go online from work.
As with many other countries, Bulgaria's online population is based
mainly in urban areas. Sofia accounts for more than a third (34
percent) of all web users in the country, while only 2 percent of rural
Bulgaria is connected to the Web.
<http://www.europemedia.com/content1/Europe/24_Oct_2000.shtml#Article8>
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IDC Research: Global PC market shows steady growth
Despite recent forecasts of a slowdown in PC sales, the global PC
market grew 18.3 percent in the third quarter of 2000, according to
data released this week by IDC.
Sales were buoyed by a strong consumer market, high demand in Asia, and
increased sales in the portable PC market.
In the US, the PC market grew by only 9.4 percent, as demand for
corporate desktop PCs waned. Other mature markets, such as Canada and
Europe, also grew at a rate below the global average.
Compaq held its position as leader of the global PC market, with a
market share of 13.1 percent, followed by Dell (11.5 percent) and
Hewlett-Packard (7.8 percent).
IDC's findings contradict recent forecasts of a slowdown in the PC
market. According to an article this month in the New York Times, some
industry analysts believe the market for PCs is close to saturation
point.
<http://www.idc.com/Hardware/press/PR/PS/GPS102300pr.stm>
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MINORITIES
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=49
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Pew Internet & American Life: Net use among African-Americans increasing
Over 3.5 million African-American adults have connected to the Internet
for the first time in the past year, bringing the black online
population in the US to 7.5 million.
A report released this week by the Pew Internet Project (PIP) also
revealed that the proportion of black women to black men on the
Internet is 56 percent to 44 percent.
The report shows that the gap in access between African-Americans and
whites is closing, with 36 percent of the African-American population
now online, compared to 50 percent of white Americans.
However, African-American users are more likely than whites to rely on
work as their sole point of access to the Web. Just over 70 percent of
black Internet users have home access, compared to 84 percent for
whites.
The reliance on work for Internet access may explain some of the online
activity patterns of African-American web users. A greater proportion
of African-Americans than whites have sought entertainment online
through music, video, and audio clips. The report suggests that this is
because workplace computers are more likely to have the high-bandwidth
connections needed for online multimedia applications.
Gender-based behavioral patterns among the black online population
mirror those of the Internet population in general. African-American
women are more likely to have sought health, job, and religious
information online, while sports and financial information is more
popular among men. Black men are also more likely than black women to
have purchased goods online.
PIP interviewed 12,751 Americans aged 18 and over for its survey, 1,501
of which were African-Americans.
<http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=25>
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USAGE PATTERNS
Archives: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=34
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Jupiter Media Metrix: Most Net growth to occur outside US
A new report by Jupiter Media Metrix indicates that America's dominance
of the Internet industry may be slipping.
The study, which covers markets in Australia, the US, Germany, France,
and the UK, estimates that 245 million households worldwide will be
online by 2005. It also predicts that the vast majority of growth, as
well as business opportunities, will occur outside the US.
Jupiter Media Metrix cautioned that in underdeveloped countries such as
France, marketers will need to measure more than just the number of
unique visitors when evaluating online success and market trends. Other
factors, such as how intensely an audience uses the Web, should also be
taken into account.
The report also indicates that users who consume vast quantities of web
pages, but focus little on each one, may be less valuable to
advertisers than those focusing heavily on fewer pages.
According to Jupiter Media Metrix, the most significant increases in
usage intensity have occurred in the content category. Usage intensity
has remained stable in transaction-oriented websites, such as travel
and retail sites.
<http://www.jupitermediametrix.com/press/releases/20001023.jsp?
language=us>
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UCLA: Net does not impact society negatively
A UCLA study released this week refutes many popular notions about the
Internet's impact on society.
The report found that the Internet has become a household activity,
with 47 percent of web users going online with another household member
at least once a week.
Most users were not concerned that the Internet affected physical
interaction-88.4 percent claimed the Internet had no effect on the time
household members spend together.
The majority of adults questioned in the survey had no problems with
children using the Internet. Almost 90 percent believed that children
spend the right amount of time on the Internet, 70.5 percent said it
does not affect children's grades, and 93 percent felt the Internet had
no bearing on the amount of time children spend with their friends.
However, most respondents agreed that children are exposed to a lot of
inappropriate material on the Net.
Overall, 66 percent of Internet users and 49.3 percent of non-users
believe new communication technologies such as the Internet have made
the world a better place. On a scale of one to five, the Internet
received a satisfaction rating of four from web users.
While the survey's findings contradict widely held beliefs about the
negative influence of the Internet, a researcher for the UCLA report
warned that the Web may have long-term effects that users cannot yet
detect.
<http://www.uclanews.ucla.edu/Docs/LSHL514.html>
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Yankee Group: US households want their own networks
According to research presented by the Yankee Group this week, 21
million US households are interested in home networking.
The figures show that 12.4 million households want to implement home
networks within the next year.
However, the Yankee Group warned that households would only purchase
home networking equipment if manufacturers provide compelling
applications and services that utilize such networks.
A home networking study found that PC-equipped households are mostly
interested in using a network to communicate with family members.
Many households would like to implement a home network for
entertainment purposes-39 percent want a network that allows them to
view downloaded video anywhere in the home, while 33 percent want a
network that does the same for music.
The study also revealed that 37 percent of households would use a
network to control home heating and cooling systems, while 36 percent
would use it to control household appliances.
<http://www.yankeegroup.com/webfolder/yg21a.nsf/press/035119A4FB008D7485
256981005031BE?OpenDocument>
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