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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: shane forbes who wrote (30691)	5/28/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

PC Penetration of Homes Exceeds 41 Percent, NRI Survey Says May 28, 1999 (TOKYO) -- About 41.6 percent of Japanese homes have a personal computer, according to Nomura Research Institute Ltd.'s survey on user trends in IT products and communications services. NRI published the survey results on May 20. It was the first time that PC penetration of homes exceeded 40 percent. The institute has conducted the survey on a semi-annual basis since March 1997, and the survey conducted in early March 1999 is the fifth in the series. The survey covers the following: (1) cellular phones/PHS handsets, (2) PCs, (3) PC connectivity with networks, (4) electronic commerce, (5) video games, and (6) digital still cameras. A total of 2,000 people were contacted, comprising teenagers through those in their fifties. Valid replies were received from 1,430 (and the response rate was 71.5 percent). Active home users of PCs reached 21.9 percent. In the first survey conducted two years ago, the rate of PC installations in residences was 27.9 percent and the rate for usage was 14.2 percent. Among the home PC users, the ratio of connectivity to a network was 52 percent, exceeding 50 percent for the first time. The figure increased by 10.1 percent compared to the results of the survey conducted six months earlier, and by 19.2 percent compared to two years ago. About 20 percent of those users who are not connected to a network said that they hope to be connected within the next six months. As the number of networked PC users increases, the level of awareness of electronic commerce (EC) has also risen. Although only 2.2 percent of the overall respondents have used EC, about 80 percent of them have "some kind of knowledge about it," or have "heard of such services." If limited to networked respondents, 15.8 percent of them have already experienced EC. Among those who have not used EC, 20 percent of the overall respondents and more than 30 percent of PC users said that they would like to use EC. The number of respondents who are familiar with electronic money exceeded 20 percent for the first time. As concerns debit cards, which appeared as a subject item in the survey for the first time, 26.5 percent of the overall respondents "know about them in detail,$B%b(B or "have some kind of knowledge," implying that the level of awareness was higher than that of electronic money. However, when asked about the "type of payment method preferred when purchasing an expensive item in department stores or specialty retail shops," most respondents chose credit cards and cash. Those stating a preference for electronic money and debit cards were in the minority. For the first time, more than half of the overall respondents have become users of cellular phone or PHS handsets. The survey results showed that an increase was significant amongst male respondents in their teenage years and thirties. Only 6.6 percent of the respondents use digital cameras. Nevertheless, 24.6 percent of the respondents indicated that they "would like to use them in future." This implies that the usage of digital cameras will increase at a rapid pace. (BizTech News Dept.) nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com