TRENDS
Includes Consumer Technographics® data
November 1, 2005
Europeans Need Simpler Home Networks by Paul Jackson with Jaap Favier and Manuela Neurauter
EXECUT I V E S U M MA RY Home networking in Europe has passed the novelty stage and is now a valuable technology for the 13% of home PC owners who have it. These consumers use their networks to share an Internet connection between multiple PCs, to connect printers, and for storage. However, networking technologies are still in the geek domain. To move home networking into the mainstream, the PC industry and broadband providers need to focus on killer applications and ease of use. EUROPEAN HOME NETWORKING CUTS THE WIRE Home networking technologies have been available for almost four years. Data from Forrester’s Consumer Technographics Q2 2005 European Study shows that consumers are beginning to warm up to them, particularly in technologically advanced markets like Sweden and the Netherlands.
· Thirteen percent of home PC owners have a home network. Of the 69% of consumers with
access to a PC at home, an impressive 13% now report that they have a home network (see Figure 1-1).1 Technologically advanced markets like the Netherlands and Sweden lead the field of home networkers, while Spain lags — even Poland has higher relative levels of network ownership.
· Wireless home networking is gaining ground. Around 5% of home PC owners now have a
wireless home network. This newer, but far more convenient, technology is particularly popular in the Netherlands and the UK, where it accounts for almost half of all home networks. And Spanish consumers are leapfrogging wired networks: 43% of the small installed base of Spanish home networks are wireless.
· Consumer interest in wireless networking is high. We asked consumers about their interest in
five emerging technologies; wireless home networking came in a convincing second after personal video recorders (see Figure 1-2). Consumers with broadband access but without a home network are particularly interested in the technology. Wired home networks lag far behind — an effect of the lack of marketing around wired network offerings and the inconvenience of installing one.
Few New Home Networking Applications Are Emerging Part of the problem with home networking to date has been the lack of a killer application. When we asked consumers what they use their home networks for, we discovered that very few put them to radical uses like connecting their game consoles or home security (see Figure 2). Headquarters Forrester Research, Inc., 400 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Tel: +1 617/613-6000 • Fax: +1 617/613-5000 • www.forrester.com