This week's highlighted research:



MetaFacts, Inc. "Technology User Profile--SOHO profile report."



In-Stat. "Here comes MIMO: SOHO/consumer WLAN market analysis."



IDC. "SOHO market overview 2006: How similar are small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and home-based businesses?"

The SOHO (small office/home office) marketplace is often misunderstood, and small business (the "SO" part of SOHO) is too often overlooked, marginalized and ultimately killed off as America becomes filled with look-alike chain stores, our vibrant downtowns decay as our suburbs become mall-ified, and massive retailers push smaller mom and pop stores out of business. We as a nation of shoppers no longer seek out the unique, instead becoming satisfied with the familiarity of the chain store. Instead of patronizing a shop because it is owned by our neighbor, we now think that a store that is run by a bunch of men in suits in New York City whom we never see, is necessarily better than one run by the guy next door.



Yet "SOHO" continues to exist as a major force. Although small-time, neighborhood retail is regrettably, becoming a thing of the past, there is still an entrepreneurial element in this country, most notably in the tech sector, in which smaller, nimble companies continue to bring us marvelous new technology.



The "HO" part of SOHO is distinctly separate. While "SO" represents small companies, such is not always the case with the HO end of the equation, especially as larger companies move towards telecommuting as a viable business model. Some home offices are modern and funded by large employers. And some are like mine. Like many home offices, mine is full of old and ugly furniture, outdated computer equipment and sticky notes stuck to my monitor. There is a stuffed monkey on top of my computer, a picture of my wife and me riding an elephant in Thailand, and an old picture on top of my desk of a younger and more psychedelic me who at the time lived in the Haight-Ashbury (before escaping to seek out more reasonably priced real estate in the cold, wintry Midwest). The battery in my clock needs to be replaced, the cable from my keyboard keeps falling out, and I have to switch around phone jacks whenever I want to send a fax. But it works, and every day I continue to be able to generate words and send them out to the many different publishers that want them.



IDC's report tells us that SOHO is really two different markets, although it suggests that the technology gap between the two will narrow in the future. As I look over my distinctly obsolete home office, I get a little hope from IDC that one day I will modernize, or at least get a new keyboard that stays plugged in. The report highlights some interesting differences and similarities between small offices and home offices. LAN usage in particular is higher in small offices as opposed to home offices, although the report notes that networking use will grow in both subsegments in years to come. And as the price of computer equipment continues trending downward, the gap will continue to narrow. Currently, cell phones, PCs, and inkjet printers have similar penetration rates in both small offices and home offices. Laser printers are used more in small offices than in home offices, but those are going down in price too, and that gap is also likely to disappear.

The MetaFacts SOHO profile report also takes a good look at this area, having surveyed over 28,000 home, self-employed, corporate owned, and home-located technology sites. And while clearly the SOHO market is on the increase, In-Stat gives us some sobering statistics, and bad news for SOHO equipment vendors. The SOHO WLAN market is one that is becoming difficult to compete in. While volumes are up, prices are eroding, and few technology vendors are making a profit in this market segment.

ITworld.com

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