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Broadband Week for August 16, 1999
Cable Modems Change Users' Habits
By DAVID ILER August 16, 1999
The broadband-innovation group at MediaOne Group Inc.'s MediaOne Labs has conducted several formal surveys into the behavior of its MediaOne Express (now Road Runner) subscribers.
And the research -- conducted by the company's two design anthropologists, Anne Page McClard and Ken Anderson -- demonstrated that the "always-on" aspect of cable Internet services has spawned some significant changes in subscriber lifestyles.
Among the findings:
• Study participants used the Internet four times as much as a corresponding study group of dial-up users. MediaOne Express customers accessed the Internet for a weekly average of 22.5 hours, while dial-up users logged on for about 4.7 hours.
• The always-on component of cable Internet access made looking for information more convenient than dialing up each time. Non-computer users often converted to frequent Internet users, with the always-on feature serving as a catalyst. In dial-up households, non-computer users tended to remain so.
• Always-on helped to integrate the Internet experience into household tasks such as checking weather, shopping, planning events, sending e-mail and complementing TV broadcasts.
• Cable-modem users accessed the Internet sporadically during the day, often with short sessions of "walk up and use." One household used the Internet on 17 different occasions on a single day. Monica Marics, director of MediaOne Labs' broadband-innovation group, referred to this tendency as "snacking on the Internet."
• Women and children were predominant users of cable-modem service.
• "Primetime" use differed between dial-up and cable-modem users. Dial-up participants logged on to the Internet primarily during evening hours, while cable-modem subscribers turned to the Internet at all times of the day -- especially in the morning -- to check e-mail, weather, etc.
• Subscribers moved PCs from the den and spare bedroom to "common-use" areas, such as kitchens, reinforcing the term, "kitchen/family-room complex." This finding lends credence and real-world application to the spate of "Internet-appliance" products coming to market.
• In cable-modem households, the Internet was often used in conjunction with other devices, such as TVs and telephones.
Conclusions were based on interviews, observations and tracking data from cable-modem subscribers in Greater Boston and dial-up users in the Denver area. In all, 16 families (11 cable-modem and five dial-up) were involved.
Selection requirements for cable-modem users were: Participants had to have children in the home full- or part-time, and they had to be MediaOne Express subscribers for at least three months to make sure the service had been incorporated into daily routines.
According to Marics, one purpose of the study was to find the answer to the question, "What does broadband living mean?"
For many, it means accessing the Internet instantly for any number of tasks. Instead of watching the cable-TV version of The Weather Channel, for example, an always-on user could access TWC's Web site and quickly check out the local weather, skipping the cycle of TV coverage and the wait for local information to be displayed.
Anderson found that one big change in the perceptions of cable-modem users was that the Internet seemed to be "closer" to the user -- sites weren't something one "went to," but something one immediately clicked to. The phrase, "At our fingertips," was used consistently by study participants.
One study subject commented, "Switching between [Microsoft Corp.'s] Word [word-processing software] and the Internet was like changing channels on the television."
The Internet's "invisibility is really what makes it powerful," Anderson said.
McClard pointed out that in her interviews, she asked what was more important -- the constant connection or the speed. While participants constantly talked about the speed of their service, McClard found that "always-on meant more ... and most of what people were doing on the Internet didn't require that much bandwidth."
Instead of downloading large files, McClard and Anderson found that participants were mostly sending and receiving e-mail and accessing Web sites.
"Multitasking" became commonplace. In one instance, a Web user, while on the phone with a spouse, was able to precisely locate a storm passing through the area on the Web, determining that the evening's softball game was safe to proceed with. Other "multitasking" events included sending e-mail during TV commercial breaks and accessing Web sites while cooking dinner.
The invisibility and instant availability of the Internet increased usage as participants found more utility in the Web, enhancing their PC skills and, in some cases, moving from casual computer users to daily users -- or, dare we say, "geeks."
Consequently, the PC became a "family resource," and it found its way in many homes into the places where the family spends the majority of its time together: the living/family room and kitchen. Conversely, Anderson and McClard found the PCs of dial-up users to be isolated in dens and bedrooms.
A few cable-modem families even squeezed their complete PC setups into corners of the kitchen. Of course, finding room for a tower-sized PC, monitor and printer can be difficult.
One scenario that the research team discovered was a mother preparing dinner and helping her children with homework while they accessed the Web on a PC in the kitchen.
While the typical PC form factor is not yet conducive to kitchen use, there are a few products -- both in prototype and coming to market -- that serve to transform the kitchen into a multimedia, Web-surfing heaven.
One is the "Screenfridge," from Stockholm, Sweden-based Electrolux Group. Debuting at a trade show in Germany earlier this year, the Screenfridge is a combination refrigerator/computer with a touch-screen display on the door.
The touch screen uses a virtual keyboard, and family members can leave each other video mail or e-mail. An Internet connection allows for Web surfing or external messaging. A recipe database contains hundreds of recipes. TV and radio come standard. And surveillance cameras can be networked into the computer.
According to Electrolux press manager Folke Hammarlind, the Screenfridge is in prototype stage, and the company is waiting for infrastructure support, business plans and partners to crystallize before the unit goes to market.
Specific Internet connectivity for the Screenfridge has yet to be worked out. But Hammarlind said Internet connectivity is a natural for the kitchen appliance, noting that there are a number of tasks people want to do on the Internet without going upstairs to the study to spark up the PC.
For the typical family, he added, the refrigerator is a central part of the home. It's not only the place where food and drink are stored, but also where post-it notes, calendars and shopping lists are displayed.
Hammarlind pointed out that the Screenfridge has several advanced capabilities. Equipped with a bar-code scanner, the unit can keep track of grocery items inside. A radio transmitter can then send a signal with that bar-code information to a store.
"We're looking at working together with service and information providers," Hammarlind said, adding that the company is still lining up partners and its business model.
Much smaller in scale, but packing plenty of functionality into a small box, is CMi Worldwide's "Advantage 2000." The unit combines a 128-channel cable-ready TV, stereo audio CD, DVD, "one-touch" Internet dial-up access and an Ethernet connection.
A countertop version is due in the fourth quarter of this year, while a flip-screen version (for placement under cabinets) is due in the first quarter of 2000.
Unlike today's PCs, which may not fare well in a fast-moving kitchen environment, the Advantage 2000 includes a washable greaseproof and shockproof keyboard and remote.
"The kitchen is the room in the home where decisions are made," says Heidi Mikkelsen, project coordinator for CMi Worldwide. The Advantage 2000 will eventually be outfitted with networking capabilities to control other silicon-enabled appliances.
While Mikkelsen couldn't say when the Advantage 2000 would be "broadband-ready," she did note, "We're talking to people in every industry out there."
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