Online office suites barely register with public, says study; that may change as they mature

ARS Technica published research by NPD Group. They surveyed 600 Americans about their knowledge and usage of Online Office suites. Not much yet is the conclusion ..

... A new study by the NPD Group doesn't paint a great picture for the current state of online productivity suites. If the numbers from a survey of 600 US residents are to be believed, most of us have never heard of, let alone tried, products such as Google Docs or Zoho. Considering various factors such as visibility and the industry's untested waters though, these numbers could be due for a significant shift in the coming years.

According to NPD Group numbers, 73 percent of the 600 Americans surveyed have never heard of online office suites, while another 20 percent have, but simply haven't tried any for one reason or another. The remaining six percent of respondents are split between those who have heard of the suites and either haven't used them again, use them infrequently, and use both online suites and desktop apps like Microsoft Office. Based on these numbers, some have already written a eulogy for Web 2.0 office suites, but that assessment might be a bit early.

There are various reasons for the perceived limited success of online office suites, starting with their lack of visibility. As they stand right now, online office suites have a hard time getting in front of users because they aren't offered as boxed software that can adorn retail shelves. Even Google's toolbar that sits above many of its services doesn't highlight the Docs product; users have to click the More button and find Docs among a sea of other Google offerings. To try and overcome this obstacle and snag more consumer attention, however, Zoho plans to mimic successful online offerings like Apple's .Mac package by getting actual retail boxes on store shelves in 2008. The box will be virtually empty, with not much more than some starter documentation that informs customers about the site, helping to get them started with using its various web apps. ...

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Source : ARS Technica.com