Business Watch

SURF’S UP ON THE INTERNET

One of the fastest growing segments of the computer industry is the Internet. Originally designed to link computers for the United States military, this part of the “information highway” allows users with a computer and a phone line to access other computers throughout the world by typing an access address. The most popular portion of the Internet is called the World Wide Web. This is the multimedia segment of the Internet, and includes “home pages” that display enhanced graphics and sound of a wide range of companies and organizations. By clicking through highlighted prompts, the user can access a variety of information that the organization has made available. This is also where most companies sell products or services with slick advertisements and presentations.

A recent survey of 4,000 North Americans by Nielsen Media Research, New York, the same firm that tracks television ratings, reveals that an estimated 37 million people age 16 and older have access to the Internet. Of that, about 18 million have used the WWW portion of the Internet in the past three months. Users usually spend 5.5 hours per week browsing or “surfing” the net; and most importantly for businesses, 14 percent say that they have recently purchased products or services through the WWW.

INTO THE INTERNET

*Number of people age 16 and older with access to the Internet: 37 million

*Number of people who have used the World Wide Web portion of the Internet in the past three months: 18 million

*Average time a user spends on the Internet per week: 5.5 hours

*Percent of Internet users who are male:

65 percent

*Percentage of users who have purchased

products or services over the WWW:

14 percent

MANUFACTURERS SEE SLOW GROWTH AHEAD

Manufacturing executives in the United States foresee slower growth through the end of 1995, according to The Dun & Bradstreet Corp., Wilton, Conn. The survey of 1,000 manufacturing executives revealed that expectations through December of this year  call for a more moderate pace of growth of production, new orders, unfilled orders and exports.

“Purchases of industrial machinery and transportation equipment are expected to drop off significantly during the period, along with demand for certain raw materials including chemicals and petroleum products,” says Joseph Duncan, vice president and chief corporate economist for The Dun & Bradstreet Corp.

ON THE MOVE COMMUNICATIONS

The expansion of wireless communications from cellular phone usage and pagers, to faxing and computing, is on the business horizon. According to a study by McLaughlin & Associates, Chicago, 45 percent of wireless communications users will be using that technology as part of a mobile office. Another 25 percent will still use cellular connectivity for personal use; 17 percent will need it for field service and logistics, such as accessing technical data and transmitting information on deliveries and products; and 13 percent will use it to access corporate computer applications.