GfK Study 2010: The Living Room of Tomorrow

Internet and Connectivity –
Consumers' Equipment, Usage and Desires

New technologies are changing the usage of the Internet in our day to day lives. In the past, the Internet usage mainly took place at the PC, nowadays people can access the Internet almost anytime, anywhere with their Laptop, Netbook, MP3 Player, Mobile Phone, or even with their TV set.

Another key development is the merging of IT and Consumer Electronics: The possibility of connecting many different devices allows the consumer to enjoy movies from the PC directly on their TV for example.

However, with the increasing potentials for different devices to be connected to the Internet and other IT devices, is the customer even ready for this? With which devices is the consumer actually accessing the internet and for what purposes? What are the reasons for the rejection of Internet usage on a Flat-TV even if the technical capability is present?

Many of these questions remain unanswered. GfK has therefore carried out an international study in five European countries in order to find out more about consumers' equipment, new technologies, the usage and the barriers between this usage.

The study aims to uncover:

• Which of the devices (Flat Screen TV, DVD Player/Recorder, Set-Top Box, Home Theatre, MP3/MP4 Player, Mobile Phone/Smart Phone, Video Game Console, Computer, Laptop, Netbook) do consumers have in their households?
  Which of these devices are connected to the Internet or to a PC/Laptop?
  How often do consumers use the Internet with different devices? What content do consumers use with different devices?
  What are the barriers of usage?
• Which of these devices are used to watch TV or movies and how often?
• With which devices do people surf the web, parallel to watching TV?
• How often do consumers use different options for connecting their laptops/computers with other devices in order to share files/watch footage/listen to music etc.?
• How likely is the consumer to purchase one of these devices in 2010?
  How important is the picture quality, design, price, 3D capability, Web-TV etc. in relation to the final decision when purchasing a new TV set?
• How important is the capability of using the Internet and different connection types via TV in the future and what type of (internet) possibilities do consumers desire for their TV?
• … and more

New technologies are constantly changing the usage of the Internet in our day to day lives. In the past this mainly took place at the PC, but nowadays people can access the Internet anytime and almost anywhere with their Laptop, Netbook, MP3 Player, Mobile Phone, and even via their TV-set.

+++

For more details about this study (including pricing information), download the Study Offer, or contact GfK Retail and Technology's Ingo Holzer.