Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?

Parks Associates released new consumer research this week showing that 2 percent of U.S. broadband households, or 2.3 million households, own a virtual reality headset. The survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households reportedly reveals that 5 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a VR headset in 2016, an increase from only 1 percent who made a purchase the year prior.

“The big change in VR for 2016 has been the availability or pending availability of VR headsets from companies such as Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard) and HTC (Vive). Sony PlayStation VR is expected to be released in October. We expect gamers to be the initial market for VR,” Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates director of research, says. “VR is an immersive experience, and more is better for gamers – more immersion, better sound, better graphics, and more players. The mass market is more likely to adopt mobile VR, which will be less expensive and uses a tool – the smartphone – that the majority of U.S. consumers own.”

From the article "How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?" by Laura Hamilton.

Previously In The News

Schneider Electric (Finally) Puts Out a Wi-Fi Thermostat

More than two years ago, Schneider Electric revamped its Wiser home energy management offering, hoping to appeal to utilities that might be eager for a comprehensive residential demand response offeri...

Smart TVs aren’t very clever

In an August report, NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren’t actually connected to the Internet. That’s down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Re...

Why Internet-connected TV Sets Are Falling Flat With Consumers

In an August report, the NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren't actually connected to the Internet. That's down from about half two years earlier, but still not good...

Keys to Entering the Smart Home Economy

In late 2014, research by Parks Associates found that 16 percent of US broadband households owned a smart home device and one-third have experienced at least one technical problem with their devices....