In a survey which was released last Friday, it showed that 29 percent of American households don't have Internet access and see nothing that it offers that would make them want it. That ends up being a total of 31 million homes in the U.S.
The Park Associates survey also revealed that they had no plans on signing up in any way over the next 12 months either.
The major reason given by those responding to the survey said they don't see it adding any value to their lives, with 44 percent saying there was nothing on the Internet that interested them; it wasn't a matter of cost for the vast majority, with only 22 percent saying computer plus Internet cost was a factor.
The study also found that 17 percent of respondents said they didn't know how to use the Internet, with another 14 percent saying all the need they had for shopping or looking for something online was done at work.
John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said "Entertainment applications will be the key. If anything will pull in the holdouts, it's going to be applications that make the Internet more akin to pay TV."
It's a larger number of people than one thinks when you consider that the 31 million number is for households and not individuals. I wonder how many people are represented in those households?
Personally, I don't see these numbers changing a huge amount. Barrett may be right about entertainment changing some attitudes, but for those not that interested, it would have to be some major, original content only available on the Web that would attract those that haven't gotten online yet. I think we're working generally with those that we have to work with, give or take some here or there.
What's more important is broadband being adopted by the existing users, rather than trying to convince those that haven't taken the online plunge at this time.
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