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Canadians truly are superior to Americans in at least one area. New numbers from comScore Media Metrix Canada show that the country has sped way ahead of the United States in broadband adoption. Roughly 54 percent of Canadians use broadband compared to 34 percent of the U.S. online population. Still, in terms of numbers, the U.S. remains dominant. Canada boasts 9.2 million broadband users while the U.S. has 48.9 million. Canadian broadband users view more pages per day than Americans, 101.5 to 95.7. High-speed Canadian surfers are more likely to be online than their dial-up counterparts and spend 55 percent more time there. The most frequented site categories by Canadian broadband users are radio, luxury goods, sports, financial information and toys. Rural users lag way behind urban users in broadband adoption, probably because of availability issues. Sixty-six percent of internet users in communities of less than 10,000 residents use dial-up, compared to 36 percent of city users.
More online spending = worse customer service
Online spending is rising, but the quality of customer service is not keeping pace. A new report from Jupiter Research finds that only 56 percent of online customers were satisfied with the help that they received via email from e-tailers. Eighty-eight percent of customers said that they expected a response to a customer service email within a day. Thirteen percent said that they expected a response within 60 minutes. But only 54 percent of sites that Jupiter tested responded within 24 hours to email service requests. Almost nine in 10 customers said that if they did not receive a response in a time they deemed reasonable, they were less likely to visit the site again. A determined 11 percent said that they would report poor customer service experiences to a consumer protection agency.
New TiVo software allows computer interaction
TiVo is mating with the PC. The parent company of the digital video recording device has released a new software upgrade that allows the two mediums to interface for the first time. TiVo Series 2 boxes using the Home Media Option software will be able to access and distribute content from Mac or PC hard drives. The content, such as digital photos or songs, can then be streamed to TV or stereos. The upgrade also makes it possible to set machines to record programs via TiVo’s web site.
Disney's video on demand on TV, not online
Mickey, Donald and the rest of the Disney bunch are coming to video on demand, but in a very different format than most studios have chosen. Instead of transmitting the movie files via internet, Disney will use the broadcast spectrum. “Movie Beam,” set to debut this fall, will transmit in the same way Disney-owned ABC transmits. The new service will be tested in Salt Lake City and two other markets before a wider launch. Disney and Twentieth Century Fox were supposed to start a video on demand service two years ago, but Fox pulled out of that deal. Five major movie studios have cooperated on the video-on-demand site Movielink, which began last year.
Desert town auction deserted by eBay buyers
The market for desert towns is evidently as dry as the economy. A month-long auction for a seven-resident Mojave Desert oasis in California failed to reach its list price and has been yanked from eBay. Bidding reached $995,900 for the 150-acre town, currently owned by photographer Timothy White and business partner Walt Wilson. Amboy, Calif., boasts two landing strips, a church, a gift shop, a motel, a gas station and a post office. It began as a mining town in 1858. Though the town didn’t sell online, a real estate agent hired to handle the offline sale says that the auction generated several calls.
April 9, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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