Consumers hungry for technology says IDC

Consumers are increasingly hungry for gadgets, contrary to the computer industry's belief, according to market research company IDC.

In a briefing to industry watchers at Comdex, Kevin Hause, manager of consumer devices for IDC, said that the computer world has to change the way it thinks and take this on board.

"The mentality in the industry is that consumers are technophobes when you get past the early adopters, but this is not the case," he said.In a recent survey IDC found that 39 per cent of consumers said that they fully understood DVD and 19 per cent said they intended to buy a DVD player in the next twelve months. More surprisingly 28 per cent of consumers said they understood MP3 and 14 per cent said they planned to buy an MP3 player within the next year.

"This is truly amazing if you think that MP3 has only been around for a year," said Hause. "It shows that there is a huge market of consumers out there interested in new technology."

Hause warned the industry, however, that consumers rarely buy expensive gadgets just for the technology. "It is the service it gives, not the device they buy," he said.Hause predicted that most homes will have an information appliance, such as a Web companion within five years. "You will see these types of gadgets being sponsored or given away free," he said. "Supermarkets, for example, will give them to consumers in return for their grocery business and banks to encourage people to bank with them."