Americans in Love with "Terabyte Lifestyle"; Study Finds Nearly all Own Products with Digital Technology

August 11, 2005

Lifestyles of American adults are becoming increasingly "digital," with fully three-quarters owning computers, and large majorities owning multiple electronics products - ranging from cell phones to entertainment devices to cameras - all using digital technology*. The ravenous consumer appetite for these devices has been fueled not only by advances in consumer electronics, but also by a transformation in hard drive storage.

"Technology advances that enable smaller, higher capacity, more stable storage solutions are allowing consumer electronics manufacturers to develop products with greater functionality," said Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate Technology, one of the industry's leading providers of digital storage solutions. "The convenience, reliability and huge capacity of hard drive storage is enhancing applications as diverse as digital audio players, gaming devices, DVRs, HDTVs, automobiles, cell phones, PDAs, and a host of other products. Ground-breaking storage solutions are helping to drive the adoption of a digital lifestyle."

A recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation's CARAVAN poll found that three-in-four American adults (76%) own a computer and two-thirds (67%) own a cell phone. Other consumer products found in American households include a digital camera (47%), an Xbox or a similar video game console (38%), TiVo or something similar - such as a digital video recorder (27%) - a home security system (19%), and an IPod or something similar, like an MP3 player (17%).

Storage providers are increasingly offering solutions designed specifically for consumer electronics, with Seagate leading the industry in those development efforts. Some of the diverse storage offerings the company has recently announced include its breakthrough hard drive designed specifically for use in automobiles; the industry's first 1-inch hard drive with 8GB storage capacity for handheld applications; the first 2.5-inch hard drive designed specifically for consumer electronics devices; and the industry's highest capacity drive - a 500GB model - for DVRs (digital video recorder) and home entertainment systems.

* According to an Opinion Research Corporation's CARAVAN study conducted in June, 2005