Mobile PCs: walk the line between home and on-the-road use

MetaFacts has just finished a report on Mobile PC usage entitled “Mobile PC Profile Report”. In this report, they take a look at how mobile users shop for and use their PCs. It looks like a fascinating report that ISVs, OEMs, VARs, and those interested in Tablet PCs and Mobile PCs should read. This report is part of a larger collection of reports in MetaFacts 2006 Technology User Profile study, which according to their press release “reveal the changing patterns of technology adoption and use in American households and businesses”. I’m working on getting a copy of this report so I can learn more.

An interesting finding: home-owned Mobile PCs and Tablet PCs spend more time outside the home than work mobile PCs spend outside the workplace. Intriguing.

Here is a snippet from their press release :

Most mobile PCs, although portable, are used in only two locations, and are used very differently than desktop PCs, according to the 2006 Mobile PC Profile Report from MetaFacts, Inc. Most employer-owned mobile PCs stay in the workplace, although when mobilized, are often used in hotels, home offices and client locations. Home-owned mobile PCs spend more time outside the home than work mobile PCs do outside the workplace. Besides various rooms of the home, such as adult bedrooms, living rooms and home offices, home-owned mobile PCs are used twice as often as work mobile PCs in a school, at the library, in a cybercafé, or at a restaurant.

“Notebook and tablet PCs are bought for the promise of portability and freedom, yet only get used in a couple types of locations,” said Dan Ness, Principal Analyst at MetaFacts. “Even though Mobile PCs are more powerful and lighter than ever, Americans seek the convenience of always on and always connected. Also, someone you see using a notebook in public is probably using their home, not work, PC.”

Source: MobileTechNews.com