Metafacts has released a report with some rather interesting information about who is using computers in the US and what equipment they are using.
Here are some stats I got a kick out of:
* Nearly half (46%) of Apple's base is age 55 and older
* Gateway has the lead among the 18-24 year olds
* More than two-thirds of Apple and half of Dell and HP/Compaq primary home computers are less than 2 ½ years old.
* 51.8 million notebooks are 30.2% of US primary home computers
* Dell continues to lead in sheer numbers with just over 24 million Dell notebooks in U.S. households, a 46.1% share of the home notebook PC market
* In Apple households, over half (52%) of the personal computers are notebooks
Notice how strongly Dell is influencing the home notebook market? With almost half of the home notebook market, this suggests that the other notebook manufacturers are going to have their work cut out for them if they want to promote Tablets. And if you want real Tablet numbers in the home market, you need Dell--at least in today's market.
Also, I find it interesting that so many Apple users are over 55. It kind of makes sense. Many of these people have probably been using PCs for awhile and the Apple brand goes back quite awhile. They may also be less cost concious. I wonder how home Tablet owners fit into this group? Do most fall into this category too? If it's the economics in play here, I bet so. If it's a historical thing, I imagine not. I wish the group had made some Tablet numbers public.
Lastly, notice how many computers are relatively new. This might suggest that the ugrade cycle for Vista might be a little rough. I don't think so. I think it suggests that Vista is right in sync with the market changes. Either people will have new enough machines that can run Vista just fine or they are on the cusp of upgrading their system.
Also, I think more and more people are purchasing more PCs than ever before. They just don't have one. They may have a work PC, a notebook for home and/or their spouse, one or two for their kids, and so on. I imagine many of these systems will get passed along as hand-my-downs leaving room at the "top" to get a new notebook. This change in PC ownership is good news for everyone involved in the PC industry.



Incremental Blogger