Survey: Apple winning students, TV losing them
updated 09:30 pm EDT, Mon September 19, 2011
Younger people getting entertainment online
A small survey interviewing 158 students across eight colleges and universities has concluded that students are spending less on technology compared to last year, and bringing their electronic arsenal with them to school -- but leaving TVs at home, in a dramatic drop from last year. Computer sales were up slightly with the student group, with Apple's share of the purchases in the last three months jumping up sharply from last year, reports Fortune.
While spending for technology was down for 69 percent of the students surveyed, the most dramatic growth for Apple was in computer purchases, with the company moving to 60 percent of purchases compared to last year's 38 percent. The company's share of recent mobile phone purchases fell slightly from last year (35 percent in 2011 compared to 42 percent), but this is largely explained by Apple not having introduced a new model this summer as had been traditional.
Fewer students generally bought a mobile phone in the last three months (14 percent compared to 21 percent last year), but smartphones increased their grip on the undergraduate set -- 73 percent of students surveyed owned a smartphone compared to 69 percent last year. For tablets and e-readers, the iPad and Amazon's Kindle dominated, with the iPad dropping to 42 percent from last year's 48 percent as more competitors emerged -- the Kindle also fell slightly, to 46.8 percent from 48 percent, while "other" as a category of tablet or e-reader increased to 10 percent compared to zero percent last year.
Overall, the e-reader market with students is still small but growing, up to 19.5 percent of students this year compared to 14 percent in the previous survey. Interestingly, none of the students in small sample group owned a RIM Playbook or Barnes & Noble Nook. Sony's share of the e-reader market in the survey also fell to zero percent this year (from four percent last year).
The big losers in the survey, however, were televisions and TV networks. In a huge shift from last year, only 32 percent of students brought a TV or HDTV monitor with them to school, compared to 73 percent last year. Students said that online sites were their primary source of video entertainment by 71 percent compared to 28 percent last year, another big shift in viewing habits. The survey was conducted by Hudson Square Research. [via Fortune]
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How long will TV be a "hobby"?
Sure, Apple execs all say that TV is just a "hobby" for them. But all the pieces will soon be in place for another wave of disruptive innovation. Apple has the means to sell and rent TV shows and movies: iTunes. Apple has the infrastructure to deliver massive amounts of content to end-users: the North Carolina data center. And soon Apple will tie it all together with iCloud.
Apple has relentlessly developed products for screen sizes from 3.5" to 27". Soon they'll make the jump to 45" and bigger. It's just a matter of programming (and good design) to update the old-fashioned channel- and program-based TV model. There are apps for that. Right now, somewhere in a secret Cupertino lab.