Although some 43% of people are using the PC to watch videos, usually shorter ones of the Youtube style, or movies on DVD, television continues to be used for watching longer programs. As for other devices, mobile phones are becoming the most popular means of engaging in communication for households. Also notable is the presence of hi-fi stereos.

On the other hand, household equipment is being complemented with other digital entertainment devices at a slow pace. Six out of ten homes have a DVD, only one in four has a digital camera. Home theater or digital camcorders has had the least development, having experienced very low growth in recent years.

Personal Computers as IT Access Terminals

As of 2008, the number of personal computers (PCs) exceeded a billion worldwide, over 60% of them found in mature markets like the US, Europe and Japan. Despite the economic crisis in the second quarter of 2008, growth was 16%, but a decline of 9% was expected for 2009, even with growth in countries like China, India and Brazil, the ongoing pace of the Information Society in those countries, and the tendency for lower costs. In Europe, the percentage of homes with personal computers is very high at 55%. With regard to types of computers, desktops are more widespread than laptops in all EU countries. This is largely due to the fact that until recently, laptop prices were far above desktops, yet had inferior performance. The percentage of households that only have a fixed computer decreases in countries that have achieved greater development of the Information Society, such as Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg, where the number of houses with laptops exceeds 30%. The increase in number of laptops is related to the different habits of users, some of whom may not even fully appreciate use of the computer as a community device, and convert it into a device for personal use. In general, laptop owners are more technologically advanced people; on one hand, the profile corresponds to younger users, over three quarters being under 45, and on the other hand, it shows completely different behaviors, greater interest in watching videos on the web, downloading music, etc. Another important factor that explains the current boom in laptop sales is the huge drop prices have undergone. Data shows that the price of laptops fell 25% between June 2006 and June 2008, compared to a 1% drop for the desktop.

The year 2008 saw the birth of the concept of netPC, netbook, or SubNotebooks, that has its origin in the OLPC initiative (One Laptop per child) propelled by the guru Nicholas Negroponte for the purpose of making the Information Society accessible to children of the Third World by means of low cost computers. This development has facilitated two things: technological equipment at much lower than the usual cost, and incentive for manufacturers to capture an emerging market of enormous scope and potential. Accordingly, manufacturers have in recent years developed several models along these lines. This new category of equipment may be described as small notebook computers that incorporate all the basic elements of a classic computer, but of significantly smaller size and more importantly, a much lower price. At first the precursor, the Eee PC from Asus was the only such device on the market, until the second half of 2008 when there was a veritable avalanche in this new section of computers, from multiple manufacturers.

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Category: Business
Keywords: Technology, Communication, Business