Anti Internet/Web People Struggling

A few years ago, when the Internet first got business people's attention, it was easy to point out its problems, easy to object, easy to complain.

Computers are too hard to figure out, people said, and getting connected to the Net is even worse. Well, today's computers are easier to use, crash less often, do more than ever before, and getting connected is easier than programming a VCR. So not learning to use a PC is okay, but being an anti-Internet position due to being PC- challenged is just lame.

Another anti-Internet proclamation. Modems running at 14.4 or 28.8 made the Web too slow, people said. They were right. Now we have 56K modems, all kinds of DSL, Sprint and Gain offering high-speed, wireless connections, and Cox getting ready to sell you a cable modem to go with your cable TV subscription. True, some people are still stuck at 28.8 due to antiquated phone company wiring and systems, but that number is diminishing daily.

PCs and MACs were too expensive, people proclaimed. The Net was for the rich, or at least for people with higher incomes. True then, not now. Some new PCs cost less than big color TVs, and used PCs cost about the same as small color TVs. Then there's Web TV, which offers Internet access without a PC - you just use your TV. Today, people can get online for $200 - $300 in hardware. For the majority of people, that's not too much money, considering the benefits of Internet access.

Speaking of Internet access, people said, (believe it or not) that $20 per month was too expensive. "That's too much money," they said, "for people to pay to have more information and cheaper world wide communication at their fingertips than ever before in the history of human kind." Okay, so the anti-Internet folks didn't really say that exactly. But consider: cable TV costs more than $20 per month and working class people find a way to pay for cable. The "Internet access costs too much" objection is now moot, however, because NetZero and Juno, to name two, offer FREE Internet access. Free is pretty cheap.

Well, people said, not that many people have Internet access. The implication was that using email and/or a Website to communicate with couldn't get them too excited because not enough people had email or could view a Website. Information Week in its June 26, 2000 issue reported that, "A recent Nielsen/NetRatings survey showed that, for the first time, almost half the country is online; 49% of U.S. households (134.2 million) were connected to the Web in May, a 6% increase over December." Pay particular attention to that last phrase, which compares May's survey with, "a 6% increase over December."

That's a 6% growth rate in 6 months. Growth like that means that by now, as you read this, you can be sure that more than 50% of U.S. households (more than 135 million) are connected to the Web. I don't know about you, but anything over 100 million seems like a pretty big number to me.

Locally, people still object with, "That's the whole nation, but what about Tucson?" Well, Tucson is widely used by national marketers as a test market because it so closely resembles the nation. So we can assume, without spending $12,000 to prove it with a telephone bank survey, that over 50% of Tucson households have Internet access. We can also be sure that number is going up rapidly.

Cheap PCs, free access and 50%+ households online make the anti-Internet folks squirm, but they keep on working. Here's a more recent objection, "there's too much information on the Net." Search engines like Yahoo!, Google, AltaVista, Northern Lights, HotBot, Excite, Snap! and more are working like crazy to make it easy to sort all this information that's there.

Some people resist the Internet and Web by saying it has no impact on their every day lives. Well, what about online banking -- checking out your account balance or transferring funds before or after banks or closed? It's easy. What about ordering books, CDs, clothes, airline tickets and other stuff from your desk top? If that doesn't hit home, then what about ordering groceries? That's right - groceries.

Today I ordered groceries from Basha's -- www.bashas.com. It seemed pretty fast and easy, especially to compare prices. I order over $50 worth of groceries in less time than it would've taken me to just drive to the store, never mind walk up and down the aisles and wait in the check out lane. I picked a time I wanted my groceries delivered, and the next time I order (if it's within the next 30 days), my last order will be sitting there, all ready for me to modify. Basha's calls it Quick Shop.

The Internet may not help your business bring home the bacon, but Basha's online will deliver it to your home. All you have to do is place the order.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Inside Tucson Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.

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