In the recent article, "Survey Results: Please Tell Us About Your Experiences" at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/10/survey-results-please-tell-us-about-your-experiences.html, I expressed surprise at how many genealogists use Macs. As a couple of readers pointed out in the comments, my beliefs about the number of Mac users were out of date. A new survey by the NPD Group found that 12% of US computer-owning households have a Mac which is slightly more than the percentage of Mac-using genealogists reported in my recent survey.
A similar survey conducted last year by the NPD Group listed Mac ownership as 8%.
A similar survey conducted last year by the NPD Group listed Mac ownership as 8%.
What really interested me, however, is that the NPD survey found that 85% of the Mac owners also own a Windows PC. Mac owners are also far more likely to have multiple computers in the house. Two thirds of Mac owners have three or more computers in the home, while only 29% of PC owners have two or more PCs.
NPD concludes that Mac owners not only own more computers than the norm, they also own more types of consumer electronics -- the average Apple household owns 48 consumer electronics devices compared to 24 in the average computer household.
You can read the report on the NPD Group's web site at http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_091005.html.
