Many Spanish Consumers Experience Problems with Devices, but Few Willing to Pay for Tech Support

Thursday, November 06, 2014

New European research released by Parks Associates this week shows the need for technical support services among European households is growing. The firm reports that over 80% of Spanish broadband households regularly experience problems with connected CE devices, while 70% of German and UK broadand households experience problems.

Commenting on the research, analyst Patrice Samuels noted that roughly one-third of broadband households in the U.K., Spain, and Germany still prefer to fix tech issues on their own, despite the problems they experience (viruses, malware, and poor device performance) can be highly complex in nature.

“With so many households across Europe and the United States experiencing problems with connected home products, consumer frustration is high, but it hasn't yet translated into sustained demand for paid tech support services,” she said. This could be due to pricing—the firm found that, while 20% of British and Spanish broadband households were interested in a subscription tech support service, very few of those interested consumers are willing to pay just £9.99, or €9.99, for the service.

Two of Parks Associates' annual executive conference will have sessions that focus on the technical support markets:

CONNECTIONS™ Europe,18-19 November in Amsterdam, will host executives from Alcatel-Lucent, Axiros, iYogi, and Sutherland Global Services during the session "Consumer Tech Support in the Smart Home. "
CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, January 6 in Las Vegas, will feature the session "Consumer Support in the Internet of Things" with executives from CSS Corp., PlumChoice, Support.com, and Sutherland Global Services.

For more information on this technical support research and Parks Associates events, click here.

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