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Daily Update for December 28, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Forrester report finds US tablet ownership doubled this year
Forrester Research has come out with its annual report on technology consumption in the US, and tablets are certainly gaining popularity. Although slightly lower than Pew Research's figures, Forrester deduced from its nigh 60,000-strong survey that 19 percent of 'mericans over the age of 18 own at least one tablet -- double the number the research outfit noted last year. While tech penetration is lowest among adults aged 47 and up, 14 percent of this demographic now have slates, which again is twice the figure recorded in 2011. Another notable stat that's risen is daily internet use, with 84 percent of adults hopping online every day (up from 78 percent last year), and approximately half of those owning a smartphone of some variety. TVs are pretty well connected also, as 43 percent of the plugged-in population has accessed the net from their living rooms, with games consoles being by far the most popular intermediary. The whole report isn't available to the public, but why not use the time you would've spent reading it inspecting what's under the tree, and hoping you'll be responsible for upping those tablet stats in next year's report.
Forrester: 19% of U.S. consumers now use tablets
As 2012 draws to an end, it's time once again for various analytics firms to reveal what the statistics they've been feverishly compiling. Forrester Research is one such organization, and as TechCrunch reports, the company's annual "State of Consumers and Technology" report has just been published. Among the tastier tidbits of data on the report is the finding that 19 percent of consumers in the US now own at least one tablet. That figure is roughly double what it was at the end of 2011, which is quite a remarkable leap in adoption. The research also found that while 43 percent of consumers now utilize web-based programming via their TVs, the method by which many user connect may surprise you; 42 percent of those who use the internet on their TVs do so through a video game console, with just 14 percent of the remainder relying on set-top boxes like Apple TV.
Forrester survey finds first ever decline in people 'using the internet,' but a changing notion of 'being online'
A survey measuring people's internet use used to be a fairly simple thing. If you dialed up and logged onto CompuServe or AOL, you were "online" until you disconnected. Even in more recent years, you were "online" for as long as you were looking at a web browser or a chat window. But things have gotten more complicated as we've grown more mobile and connected than ever, and that's now resulted in the first ever decline of people "using the internet" in Forrester's annual survey since it began asking the question in 1997. As AllThingsD reports, this year's survey found that people spent an average of 19.6 hours per week using the internet, compared to 21.9 hours in 2011. According to Forrester's Gina Sverdlov, however, that's not due to a shift back towards TV or other activities, but to a changing notion of what "being online" means to individuals. As she puts it, "given the various types of connected devices that US consumers own, many people are connected and logged on (automatically) at all times," and that "the internet has become such a normal part of their lives that consumers don't register that they are using the internet when they're on Facebook, for example." The full report isn't available to the public, but you can find a few more details from it at the links below.
Mobile banking growing in the US and Europe
Forrester Research released a new report saying mobile banking is growing both here in the US and overseas in Europe. By 2017, says the report, mobile banking will be used by 108 million people in the US, or about 46% of those holding bank accounts in the US. Currently, only about 13% of account holders in the US and 9% of European bank account holders have taken advantage of mobile banking services, but Forrester says those numbers will grow greatly in the next few years. Why? First, mobile banking's various services are growing by leaps and bounds both in numbers and ease of use. Banks today have apps that will let you deposit checks just by taking pictures of them, or transfer money from account to account with just an onscreen tap. Over time, those services will get even easier and more secure, which means they'll see more users. And don't forget, our culture is changing as well. The more we get used to using smartphones for shopping and trading money, the more we'll use them for banking features as well.
Research suggests business directors more likely to use Apple products at work
Forrester Research recently conducted a survey of close to 10,000 workers in 17 countries to determine which workers are more likely to own and use Apple products. The New York Times has published the results, which show that "business directors" -- in other words, bosses -- are the employee group most likely to own one or more Apple products and use them at work. Here's a breakdown of the survey results. Who uses Apple products: 43 percent of people earning $150,000 or more per year -- 87 of 200 respondents 27 percent of people earning $100,000 - $149,999 23 percent of people earning $50,000 - $99,999 19 percent of people earning $49,999 or less -- 1300 of 6800 respondents 21 percent of all 9912 respondents in Forrester's survey said they used one or more Apple devices for work. The New York Times notes that the increasing penetration of Apple products into the workplace, often driven by people bringing in and using their personal devices, is wearing down traditional IT department hostility toward the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. However, as Ars Technica notes, the research also shows that while 50 percent of firms in "mature markets" offer Macs, only 30 percent of respondents said their companies support them, leaving many Mac users to fend for themselves at work. Coupled with reports like Good Technology's quarterly results on device activations, it seems that the old practice of business and enterprise environments shunning Apple products is shifting quite rapidly. Forrester's claim that "Windows' dominance is at an end" is premature, however; while Microsoft's share of the enterprise pie is no longer as big as it once was, it's still claiming the majority of users in that sphere.
Daily Update for October 27, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Forrester does a 180 on Macs in enterprise, finds most productive staffers are Mac users
I'll bet a lot of us have fought the Mac wars in our own companies. I won some, I lost some, so it's especially gratifying to see Forrester Research urging IT to get over itself and enthusiastically support Macs in the enterprise. A new report from the research company, authored by senior analyst David K. Johnson, turns the already-stale conventional wisdom about integrating Mac OS machines into enterprise operations completely on its head. Mac-enabled employees are actually the HEROes of business, says Johnson -- Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives. This 17% slice of the enterprise workforce are the ones who work longer, give more effort and actually push innovation forward. The report is pricey if you're not a Forrester subscriber, but it's extensively quoted at Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog. One of the most powerful statements in the report is that Mac users forced to use Windows laptops find the PCs are "slowing them down." "Time is the only thing that these fierce competitors can't make more of. Many of today's corporate PCs are saddled with management, backup, and security agents that can bog down a PC. Employees want their PCs to boot in 10 seconds, not 10 minutes, and they don't want to have to get a cup of coffee while opening a 20 MB spreadsheet in Excel. They're drawn to uncluttered Macs -- especially those with solid-state drives, which are more responsive and boot in seconds." Pretty amazing from the same research group that warned companies in 2008 to stay well clear of the Mac. "Unless your market is a niche business group, Windows is the only desktop you need support." Even now, 41% of the enterprises that Forrester surveyed don't even support Mac clients getting access to web-based corporate email, much less welcome the Mac in as a full-fledged IT citizen. Now the tide has turned, with more and more Mac laptops making inroads into the most productive corners of the enterprise PC landscape. Forrester says, rather emphatically, "Stand in the way (of letting Apple in), and you will eventually get run over." If you want to part with US$499, you can buy a copy of the report and leave it in your boss's inbox.
iPad killing the competition
With the iPad 2 hitting stores across the U.S. today and worldwide within a couple of weeks, Ars Technica published a report today showing that the iPad should remain the market leader for tablet devices through 2011. Citing data from market research firm IDC, Ars blogger Chris Foresman notes that Apple had about 83% of the tablet market for 2010, with most of the competition coming from Samsung's 7" Galaxy Tab. The Amazon Kindle, which is considered to be an eReader rather than a tablet, dominated its market with almost a 50% share in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Motorola Xoom was widely expected to take on the iPad, with better specs and the Android 3.0 OS. Unfortunately for this pretender to the throne, it was lacking some promised hardware and software features when it shipped, and is priced higher than most iPad 2 models. Forrester's Sarah Rotman Epps blogged that all of the upcoming competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the HP Touchpad, and RIM's PlayBook, have serious problems with their product strategies. Many are priced higher than similar iPad models and/or come with carrier contracts to subsidize the high price. Most of Forrester's research points to consumer disinterest in having to sign a long-term contract for a tablet. Forrester expects 24.1 million tablets to sell in 2011 in the U.S., and close to 20 million of those will be iPads. Another market research firm, ChangeWave, is also predicting that 82% of people planning to buy a tablet in the next 90 days will buy an iPad. And with that news, it's time for me to go get in line for my iPad 2.
Shocker! Internet use now ties TV in time spent avoiding outdoor activity
Despite a huge dropoff in cable subscribers this year, Forrester Research's 40,000-strong survey pegs consumer TV consumption at about 13 hours weekly, same as it ever was. But lo and behold, reported internet use has also risen to 13 hours weekly, a veritable tie to which we naturally reply, "what took it so long?" This number represents a 121 percent uptake in the past five years and attributes its success to multitaskers and those who are spending less time with radio, newspaper, and magazines -- again, nothing too mind-blowing to our perception of reality. If the survey has revealed anything surprise to us, it's that email is only used by 92 percent of those questioned, leaving at least eight percent classically trained in case the post-apocalyptic world of Kevin Costner's The Postman ever becomes reality. [Image Credit: ICHC]
Forrester: e-book sales to hit nearly $1 billion this year, $3 billion by 2015
There's no denying that e-books are already big business, and market research firm Forrester is now offering some pretty impressive numbers that show just how big it already is, and how much bigger it will get in the next few years. The firm surveyed some 4,000 people and found that while just seven percent of those actually read e-books, they still bought enough of them to translate to $966 million in sales this year -- a number that's projected to grow to $3 billion by 2015. As for the reading habits of that seven percent, Forrester found that they "read the most books and spend the most money on books," and that they read 41 percent of their books in digital form. That doesn't necessarily mean that they use actual e-readers, though -- a full 35 percent apparently do most of their e-book reading on a laptop, followed by 32 percent on a Kindle, 15 percent on an iPhone, 12 percent on a Sony e-reader, and ten percent on a netbook. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Kindle users seem to be the biggest boosters of e-books -- they do 66 percent of all their reading in digital form.
Forrester Research says iPhone and iPad 'secure enough' for most businesses
That's a change from 2007 when the iPhone was not a recommendation from most of the IT firms, and many large companies posted a 'keep out' sign for the iPhone. Now Forrester Research in a new report says that the iPhone running iOS 4 and the iPad are 'secure enough' if companies implement the correct security policies and controls. In the report, Forrester consultant Andrew Jaquith says the iPhone (and iPad) gives enterprises enough security options to enable them to say "yes" instead of "no." Forrester still says the RIM BlackBerry still rules the roost as far as security goes, because it can be customized and security settings are more fine grained, but the firm add that the iPhones and iPad can be made very secure in an enterprise environment. That's good news for Apple, and for companies who are seeing increasing pressure to integrate Apple products into their suite of tools. The full report is available to Forrester customers.
A 1998 Forrester Research prediction about HDTVs wasn't even close
One of our favorite pastimes here at Engadget HD is to give analysts and researchers a hard time and this is one that we just couldn't pass up. The HDTV Almanac happened across a very old Forrester Research report that didn't think HDTV had much of a future. Of course looking back over 10 years makes it almost too easy to poke fun, but predicting that HDTVs would still cost $2000 in 2008 seems pretty silly about now. What's worse is the prediction that only one million sets would be sold by 2003, while the number ended up being 3.4 million. Looking back at all of this makes us wonder about all the 3D predictions we've seen lately, because if consumers went that crazy about going from 480i to 1080p, just imagine how they'll feel about adding a third dimension.
Report finds single women enthusiastic about technology, single men enthusiastic about single women
A new report, entitled "The Single Female Tech Buyer: Cast Aside Myths And Embrace This Target Segment" may read like the latest Tom Clancy techno-thriller (okay, not really) but its message is crystal clear: "cast aside myths," it says, "and embrace this target segment." In its study of one thousand single men and one thousand single women residing in the United States and Canada, Forrester Research uncovered a slew of facts you can use to sell single women stuff that they probably don't need. Behold: When asked about their next computer, the vast majority of women (forty-seven percent) said they were planning on buying a laptop, while most of the men (again, forty-seven percent) said they'd be buying a desktop. Clearly, laptop makers should be concentrating hot-to-trot models like the Vaio P (or, for the budget conscious, the Vaino), while desktop manufacturers should concentrate on superhero or vicious animal-themed desktop rigs. But that ain't all! Ownership amongst bachelors and bachelorettes were darn near equal for things like gaming consoles, handheld games, and digital cameras. If you can't wait to dip into what is sure to be a real page turner, make sure you hit the read link -- the report can be yours for a mere $749.[Via CNET]
Hollywood wants PSP to compete with iPod
In a recent CNET article, Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey explains Sony's lost opportunity to capture the media download market. Due to their fixation on UMD, Sony has let Apple hold a near-monopoly on digital downloads. "The thing is, Sony could have been all this. The Sony PSP is one of the best portable entertainment media devices that anyone has come up with in years. It has a relatively big screen, plays video beautifully, has good storage and audio. It could have been the first big mobile carrier for TV shows and movies."Even now, Sony continues to stand by UMD, instead of offering a true video download service for the handheld. Sony seems content with their position: their attempts in Japan have been lackluster at best, and PSP's video playback remains crippled due to incomprehensible video restrictions. "You got a company here that's pushing its own approach on every level, and as a result nobody is using its memory stick or video format," McQuivey said. "So you don't have the same robust market that you could have had if you said, 'We're going to open this up. You can put your Windows Media files on here. You can put your QuickTime files on here.'"All hope is not lost, however. A Hollywood executive spoke anonymously to CNET, noting that many Hollywood executives are "pulling for the PSP to emerge as a competitor to the iPod." Many executives are afraid that Apple will maintain a monopoly over movies as it has had over music. Competition is good for the consumer, and the companies making the content. A PSP video download service makes so much sense, but it won't happen until Sony stops making lame excuses. "But Sony has been so dysfunctional and clueless when it comes to the Internet," said the executive. "We keep hoping they pull themselves together ... with the PSP video, we're hoping they create a forward-thinking strategy and stick to it."
