Internet Home Alliance Research Identifies Homeowner Attitudes Toward Adopting the Connected Home Lifestyle.

On March 8, 2001, the Internet Home Alliance issued a report profiling U.S. homeowner attitudes toward home networking. According to the report, 42% of single-family homeowners, or 26.1 million U.S. households, are inclined to adopt a connected home to enhance their lives.

A connected home contains computers, televisions, cars, lighting and heating controls, home security systems and many appliances linked to a centrally controlled network. The most appealing aspect of the connected home is the time savings associated with controlling a variety of devices from a central system. The least appealing aspect is the presumption that the technology will be too technical or complicated.

The report identifies four major groups:

UNINTERESTED IN ADOPTION:

This group dislikes the notion of the connected home, mainly because it doesn't see the need for it.

UNDECIDED ABOUT ADOPTION:

This group sees some benefit to the connected home but is largely neutral about the concept.

WILLING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION:

This segment is mainly positive about the connected home though not as enthusiastic as the next and most promising segment.

LIKELY TO ADOPT:

This segment is strongly inclined to adopt connected home technology.

The first two groups account for approximately 58% of U.S. homeowners, or 36.1 million households. These consumers tend to be suspicious of Internet-enabled technology or are at a point in their lives where the connected home apparently doesn't offer advantages.

Accounting for 25% of all U.S. homeowners, or 15.5 million households, those willing to consider adoption have a positive view of the connected home. They are generally a bit older than those in the next, most eager, group. Most can be characterized as older Baby Boomers.

Likely adopters, accounting for about 17% of U.S. homeowners, or 10.6 million households, compose the core of the connected home market. Among the four segments, likely adopters tend to have the most positive views of home technology in general and the Internet in particular. They describe themselves as early adopters of new home technology like high-speed Internet access and digital cable or satellite television.

Early adopters are generally married couples between 35 and 44 years old, with teenage children. Typically, heading this group are two college-educated, working professionals with an annual household income of $75,000 or more. Those households with at least one teenager between the ages of 14 to 18 are the most excited about the connected home. These early adopters also tend to be outgoing and involved in a variety of social and/or civic activities.

Adopters are willing to spend $3,000 on average for home-technology solutions. Almost without exception, these homeowners are more likely than those in other groups to own various home technologies.

For instance, about nine-in-ten likely adopters reported owning a home computer compared with 77% of homeowners nationwide. They also tend to own multiple computers, have a home network and connect to the Internet via a high-speed line such as DSL or cable modem.

Likely adopters mainly see the connected home as a means of saving time in order to spend more quality time with family and friends or, alternatively, so they can have more time to pursue hobbies or just relax. In short, they regard the connected home as a powerful opportunity to match daily routines with parental priorities. They perceive the connected home as one way to ensure their family comes first. In part because likely adopters consist of more than just technology enthusiasts, for them the connected home isn't a means in itself; it's a means to an end.

The report shows that U.S. homeowners generally have a positive impression of the Internet, with likely adopters having the most favorable views of it. About 58% of this group indicates that the Internet has had a very positive impact on their lives. Most members of this group also consider the Internet reliable and easy to use. Fewer than one in three, however, regard the Internet as very secure for communicating personal information.

This study involved telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected single-family homeowners nationwide. Interviews lasted, on average, 42 minutes. To ensure a genuinely random sample was selected, characteristics of the sample population were compared with similar figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The margin of error associated with the results is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.

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