Consumer Trends
World Adds 487 Billion Gigabytes of Data in 2008
According to an EMC study titled "As the Economy Contracts, the Digital Universe Expands," released May 18, 2009, the world added 487 billion gigabytes of new data last year... that's the equivalent of 19 billion fully loaded Blu-ray discs! In another impressive feat of creating lots of new bytes, Google reports that Youtube users are responsible for adding roughly 15 hours of new video to the site every minute.
The EMC study also finds that by 2012, 850 million people will engage in online commerce, a doubling from levels in 2008. They expect internet commerce to be a $13 trillion industry by 2012.
TVs a Luxury and Not a Necessity
According to a 2009 Pew Research Center poll, a significant percentage of consumers don't consider a television or a home computer to be a necessity rather than a luxury they could do without. Because of the recession, more people now think these things are luxuries than 3 years ago. Only high-speed internet access has gained in the necessity column, going from 29% in 2006 to 31% today.
By comparison, a car is a necessity to 88%, television set to 52% and home computer to 50%.