---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 13:58:27 -0600 From: Michael Gillespie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: No PCs For 36 Pct Of North American Consumers-Study SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) - Thirty-six percent of consumers in North America who do not own a personal computer said they have no reason or interest in buying one -- no matter how low the cost, according to a Forrester Research study. The recent study by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester also showed that 43 percent of North American households currently have a PC, and 50 percent will have one by year-end 1998. "There is a gaping divide in the population," Josh Bernoff, a Forrester Research analyst, said. "The main reason the non-owners in that group say is that they don't need it." Bernoff said that high-income consumers, with annual salaries of more than $35,000 are nearing the saturation point, with a 69 percent already owning a PC. He also said, however, there is a massive surge of interest among what he calls "technology optimists" in lower-income families, with an annual income of less than $35,000. "These people can tell you exactly what they want to do with the PC - home budgeting, education, Internet use," Bernoff said. "If you are black or Hispanic, you are 50 percent more likely to be planning to buy one than if you are white." He said the lower-income group, which had been shut out of PC ownership previously because of price, is seriously looking at the booming sub-$1,000 PC. This study is the first in a series by Forrester called "Consumers & Technographics," which it says is the biggest survey of consumers on technology. More than 120,000 consumers were polled in a 16-page study, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point. -------- Michael. -----------------------------------------------+------------------------ Michael Gillespie | Voice/Fax 204.943.9000 President, Telecommunities Canada Inc. | [EMAIL PROTECTED] President, The Gray Research Group | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Flying Colors Precision Flight Team | [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- No good deed will go unpunished. ---- Standard Disclaimers Apply ---
