In July, 2010, 64% of U.S. households still had a VCR. A computer that’s five years old can’t effectively run an up-to-date virus scanning program. A mobile phone that’s five years old can’t connect to many mobile phone networks. I would guess that almost all the VCR’s in households today are more than five years old.
A wider scope of device competition in living rooms, if it occurs, will be associated with much faster replacement of living-room technology.
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Data notes: The figure for July, 2010 VCR household penetration is from the Centris White Paper, Blu-Ray Adoption and Ownership Among US Households. In 2006, household VCR penetration was 84%, and the ratio of commercial DVD rentals to video cassette rentals was 115 to 1. See citations for consumer technology transitions.