ONE-THIRD OF ALL PC USERS ACCESS ONLINE SERVICES, SAYS CII

Online Usage Patterns Differ Clearly Among Workplace and Consumer Users

LA JOLLA, Calif., August 14, 1995 -- Though online services receive a great
deal of media attention, they are still in the early development phase,
with only one-third of all PC users logging on, according to recent
research from Computer Intelligence InfoCorp.

The online access profiles emerged from CII's annual Consumer Technology
Index (CTI) study, the largest, most comprehensive survey of personal
computer usage in the United States. In addition to examining the
expansion possibilities for the online market, the CTI study revealed that
consumer users go online for different reasons than their workplace
counterparts. The study defines consumers as respondents who used PCs at
home for household or self-employment purposes in 1994. The workplace
segment includes users of employer-provided PCs and self-employed PC users
who worked outside the home.

"With only one-third of all PC users connecting to online services, there
is tremendous potential for growth in this market," said David Tremblay,
CII's Senior Analyst for PCs. "Online services will only be as popular as
their content. To succeed, companies will have to make a compelling case
for users to connect."

According to the CTI study, consumer and workplace users have relatively
equal online access, but the types of communications performed by the two
groups are quite different. Workplace PCs are twice as likely (65 percent
to 32 percent) to communicate with a larger computer or a LAN at their
office, while consumer PCs are more likely to go online or communicate
using the Internet.

While nearly one-in-four consumer PC users reported accessing an online
service, the CTI study uncovered differences among the users of various
services. Users of the large, "mass market" services -- America Online,
Prodigy and CompuServe -- report lighter use, spending an average of
two-to-three hours online each week. By contrast, the less widely-known
services measured -- Genie, Delphi and eWorld -- appear to appeal more to
online enthusiasts. Weekly log-on times for these services range from five
to 10 hours.

Not surprisingly, the CTI study found that electronic mail and downloading
software or files are the major online activities of both consumer and
workplace users. From there, however, the usage patterns diverge.
Interactive chat activities are used by more than one-third of consumer
online subscribers, while less than one-in-ten workplace subscribers use
these services. Consumers also take greater advantage of the Internet
access capabilities of online services. They are nearly twice as likely to
use online services as a gateway to the Internet as are workplace users.

              Online Activities by Segment

                        Total Consumer  Total Workplace
E-mail                       59%             57%
Download software/files      59%             47%
Interactive chat             35%              8%
Commercial services          33%             23%
Gateway to the Internet      31%             17%
Interactive games            17%              4%
Other                        23%             26%

   Source:  CII Consumer Technology Index 1995

Internet usage is roughly equal across both segments, with 10 percent of
consumer users and 12 percent of workplace reporting Internet activity,
according to the CTI study. Median weekly connection time ranges from two
hours for consumer users to three hours for workplace users. As with
online services, electronic mail is the top application for the Internet,
used by more than three-quarters of both segments.

             Internet Connections and Use

                           Total Consumer  Total Workplace
E-mail                          79%             76%
Read newsgroups                 48%             31%
Browse WEB services             45%             30%
Telnet orFTP to remote          32%             29%
Access commercial services      22%             11%
Interactive chat                27%             17%
Other                           12%             14%

Source:  CII Consumer Technology Index 1995 CII's annual Consumer
Technology Index study is the largest, most comprehensive survey of
personal computer usage in the United States. The annual 12-page survey
polls more than 16,000 individuals throughout the U.S. on the types and
brands of equipment used at home and in the workplace. The survey also
gathers extensive demographic information from respondents and ascertains
their future PC purchase plans.

Computer Intelligence InfoCorp, a Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, is the
leading source of fact-based information for the computer and
communications industries. CII's extensive research capabilities provide a
wide variety of products and services that help computer and
communications companies sell and market more effectively. All of the
company's products and services are based on proprietary information
databases built and maintained by CII specialists. Headquartered in La
Jolla, Computer Intelligence InfoCorp has offices in Boston, Farmington,
Conn., Mountain View, Calif., and Europe. Samples of CII's extensive
market data and research results, timely commentary from industry
authorities and previews of upcoming technology events are available on
the company's Home Page on the World Wide Web (http://www.compint.com/).
 
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