From...

May 23, 1999
Web posted at: 11:49 a.m. EDT (1549 GMT)

by James A. Martin

(IDG) -- True or false: The declining cost of owning a PC has prompted many low-income families to join the digital revolution.

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The answer, according to a new study of consumer PC buying habits, is false. The report by data analysis firm InfoBeads reveals that low-income households (under $20,000) accounted for only 8 percent of PC purchases during the first quarter of 1999. But during that period, several PC makers began selling PCs at unprecedented low prices of about $600 plus some change.

When low-income household members buy PCs, they tend to purchase systems that are more sophisticated than computers with rock-bottom price tags, according to Dave Tremblay, InfoBeads senior industry analyst. The reason is that low-income buyers are often not as technically savvy as their mid- to upper-income counterparts, and they think cheap PCs will be more difficult to use, he explains.

Results from the InfoBeads report are based on interviews with some 30,000 households about their PC buying habits during the first three months of 1999. Among the other findings:

• The greatest percentage (14 percent) bought a PC for a home-based business, followed by educational purposes for adults (12 percent) and children (11 percent). Nearly 10 percent said they bought a PC for Web research. Only about 6 percent listed computer games as their primary use.

• Males still tend to be the primary PC users (45 percent) of household PC systems purchased in the first quarter. Of the households surveyed, in 33 percent women were the primary PC user.

• In terms of education, 25 percent of households had a college graduate as the primary PC user, with both college and high school graduates accounting for 24 percent each.

• As mentioned earlier, only 8 percent of primary users had a household income of $20,000 or less. The greatest percentage (26 percent) had incomes of $20,000 to $40,000, followed closely by those with $60,000 to $100,000 (25 percent) and $40,000 to $60,000 (24 percent).