Personal Computers in 33% of US Households

Software Publishers Association Fourth Annual Consumer Study Finds PCs in More Homes and Being Used More Diversly

55% of PCs Sold in 1994 have CD-ROM Drives

Buyers are also taking advantage of the latest technology available, as high powered machines dominated home PC sales in 1994. In fact, a full 57% of IBM compatibles purchased in 1994 contained 486 chips.

If the home PC market in 1994 were described in a word, it would be 'more'," said David Tremblay, SPA Research Director. "Far more households are using PCs now than were a year ago. They are spending more time on their PCs, and are using more types of application."

Of all the computers purchased for home use in 1994, over 60% of buyers said that this was their first home PC. Three-quarters of both first-time and experienced PC purchasers said that at least one person in their household utilized a computer at work.

Among other key survey findings:

• Multimedia capabilities clearly spurred PC purchases in 1994, as 55% of all PCs purchased were equipped with CD-ROM drives. Modems are prevalent but survey results show they often go unused.

   

• On-ramps to the information superhighway largely remain underutilized. Despite the fact that 73% of buyers in '94 admitting owning a modem, only 25% presently use an on-line service.

   

• Use of Microsoft Windows increased dramatically in 1994 . But, the increase will likely taper off going forward. While the survey results show a dramatic rise in Windows use over the past year (from 53% in 1993 to 79% in 1994), only 31% of present non-Windows users responded that they would begin using that platform in the coming months.

   

• Home PC use diversified as respondents described utilizing their computers at increasing percentages for personal productivity, working out of home offices, recreation/entertainment, and educational purposes. Home education use alone increased tremendously -- by 50% over the past year.

   

• PC users are varying their applications. Word processors, used on 87% of home PCs, and entertainment software (78%) are the two most common types of applications on home PCs. But as further evidence of more diverse use of home PCs, more applications are being used by more households this year. A total of 5 types of applications are being used on at least 50% of home PCs, up from only 2 types in 1993. Ten types of applications are used on at least 1/3 of home PCs, up from only 6 in 1993.

   

• PC users are supportive of game ratings. A strong majority (70%) of PC users were supportive of a games rating system. This coincides with a vast increase in the use of recreational software, with 59% of respondents saying they utilize their PCs for entertainment. When given a choice of rating systems, PC users favored one that discloses potentially objectionable content over a system which gave general age group recommendations by 55% to 37%.

The 1994 survey results are based on a nationwide random sample telephone poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies. More than 500 consumers who are the primary in-home decision makers about computer software and hardware purchases were interviewed.