Dataquest Revisits Survey Participants Who Planned On Buying a PC Within One Year; New Study Reports Many Who Intended to Purchase a PC Held Off.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1996--A Dataquest survey in July of last year showed that 15 percent of U.S. households planned on buying a PC within one year, but a new survey of these same participants shows that only 32 percent of those stating intent to buy a PC actually purchased one during the nine months following the original survey.

"Clearly the high cost of PCs and their perceived relevance to many American's lives continued to be an obstacle to consumer PC purchases during last year's somewhat disappointing holiday buying season," said Van Baker, Dataquest's Director of Demand Side Research. "We have begun to see new, lower-priced entry-level consumer PCs during the second half of 1996, and we expect to see some exciting new systems in the Fall that should provide the industry with an excellent fourth quarter."

The conversion of intent to purchase to actually purchasing a computer varied significantly from end-user segment. The Dataquest survey found that slightly more than 41 percent of repeat/replacement buyers purchased their next PC during the survey period. However, only 26 percent of prospective first-time buyers actually bought a system. The two reasons most given by this market segment for not buying were that a PC did not fit into the family budget, and that the household did not need one or was not interested.

Dataquest's new report titled "Home PC Buyers - Are They Really Buying?" reviews the results from the original summer of 1995 Homeward Bound survey and the follow up survey. This report offers significant insight into the dynamics of the PC consumer purchasing process by analyzing the transformation of intent to purchase to actual purchase. Equally important, the report answers the question as to why many of the intended purchases were delayed or abandoned altogether.

This report also analyzes consumer purchase activity for PC peripherals such as printers, monitors, and other hardware. The report examines survey data regarding the ongoing use of PCs in the home, it examines which employees are using a PC at home for their employer's work, and it explores the use of online services by U.S. families.

Dataquest is bundling both the original report titled "Homeward Bound" and the follow up survey "Home PC Buyers - Are They Really Buying?" for $5,495. To purchase the reports, please call 800-419-DATA. More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports, and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com.

Dataquest is a 25-year-old global market research and consulting company serving the high-technology and financial communities. The company provides worldwide market coverage on the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the information technology industry. Dataquest is a Gartner Group Company.

CONTACT: Dataquest

Tom McCall, 408/468-8312

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