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New Media PCs May Find Lukewarm Reception among
Holiday Shoppers
Parks Associates’ latest consumer research indicates that
full-featured media-centric PCs are above the pain threshold for most
consumers.
Although several
high-profile companies are gearing up to market new media-center PCs for the
holidays, heightened price sensitivity may ultimately keep mainstream
shoppers from adopting these new solutions, at least for this year.
This fall, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are releasing
the Windows® XP Media Center Edition via HP Media Center PCs and planning a
strong marketing campaign to coincide with the holiday season. The task to
sell these PCs may prove difficult, though, for an October 2002 survey of
Internet households, conducted by Parks Associates, found that among
consumers likely to purchase a new PC in the next six months, only 6.3%
expressed a high-level of interest in buying a media-center PC at what will
be its expected price point.
“Price sensitivity among new PC buyers is at an
all-time high,” according to
Parks Associates’
PC-Based Digital Entertainment in the Internet Home. “Although
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and others will be stoking the pre-holiday media
blitz, the majority of new PC buyers will shy away from the $1,600 to $2,000
price tag of these new media-center PCs.”
There are some positive factors regarding the future
outlook for home networking in entertainment products and services. Parks
Associates’ research found that more than one-third of Internet households
are strongly interested in networking audio content from the PC to a home
stereo. This interest may spur sales in the long run; however, current
economic conditions will likely delay mass adoption of media-center PCs for
the present.
Parks Associates’
PC-Based Digital Entertainment in the Internet Home combines two of
the Company’s latest primary consumer research projects. The first, a
September 2002 survey of 10,700 Internet households, examines issues such as
collocation of PCs and entertainment devices, current entertainment-centric
uses of the PC, and consumer interest in new applications and services
associated with networking PC-based digital entertainment content. The
second, an October 2002 survey of 611 Internet households, analyzes consumer
interest in purchasing new PCs and gauges likely purchase behavior for
media-center PCs at specific price points.
For more information about Parks Associates’ research
services and events, please contact us at 972-490-1113 or
sales@parksassociates.com.
About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an
internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing
in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks
Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to
small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research,
custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service
subscriptions.
The company's expertise includes new media, digital
entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services,
digital health, mobile applications and services, consumer electronics, energy
management, and home
control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts executive thought
leadership conferences CONNECTIONS™, with support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®), and CONNECTIONS™ Europe. In addition, Parks
Associates produces the online publication Industry Insights in
conjunction with the CONNECTIONS™ Conference series.
http://www.parksassociates.com |
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