Listen: Next in Tech | Episode 92: Digital devices and the digital endpoint tracker

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Eric Hanselman

Welcome to Next in Tech, and S&P Global Market Intelligence podcast where the world of emerging tech lives. I'm your host, Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst for Technology, Media and Telecom at S&P Global Market Intelligence. And today, we're going to be talking about digital devices and some data about their use and perspectives in the market. Joining me is Analyst Abby Balint. Abby, welcome to the podcast.

Abby Balint

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Eric Hanselman

Well, it's great to have you here. And whether or not it's over the course of the pandemic, the shift to remote work, all of the kinds of things that have driven us closer to our coveted digital devices of their various sorts, whether or not those are phones, tablets, what have you, there really has been this dramatic shift in terms of the dependence that we all have on digital devices.

But our team has been spending a lot of time accumulating data about devices and actually running studies to look at usage and utilization trends in the market in something that we call the digital endpoint tracker. And that's something that you are deep in the midst of. So what is the digital endpoint tracker? And what does it cover?

Abby Balint

Yes. So the digital endpoint tracker is a syndicated product from S&P that we first launched in Q1 of 2022. So we're going into our fourth quarter currently, and that will mark a whole year that we have been running this product for now. So it's pretty new, but it's in an exciting spot right now because we're about to have that full year's view of data that we can look at. And so it's been a great first year so far.

So what it is essentially is an outcome of hearing from clients that there is a desire for data on devices in the market, but not just one device, not just features of one device, not just models of one device, but really all the devices in one place so that we can really have that full picture view across brands and across competitors of what the device market looks like.

And one of the key aspects of this that's really important to us is being able to provide those insights longitudinally quarter-over-quarter because we haven't been able to do something in this format in this way that's repeatable and able to be accessed and updated so easily quarter-over-quarter. So the survey surveys over 10,000 respondents every single quarter, which is a really, really massive sample size for us. And...

Eric Hanselman

Yes.

Abby Balint

Yes.

Eric Hanselman

Well, contrasting with some of our other studies. That's a big panel.

Abby Balint

Yes, exactly. And that's really one of the best things about it, right, and was one of the goals going into this was to just really have access to that huge sample size because it opens so many more doors with what we can do with the data. And it seems big and you might think we're not really reaching -- we can't be reaching that many people within every device with that sample size. But really, we've been extremely successful this year in reaching huge sample sizes within each device that we survey. So maybe not 10,000 within each device for every single question in the survey, but certainly in the hundreds, if not thousands, for each device. So it's really great sample sizes, and that has just opened doors for us to access insights that we couldn't previously.

So yes, that's one of the big things about it. But -- so talking about all these devices, what exactly do we measure in the survey. So our main goal here is to track the top manufacturers within several different device categories. So that includes smartphone, but also the top wireless carriers that offer smartphone services. It also includes tablets and PCs, which we break down into both laptop and desktop. And then really interestingly, for me personally this year has been the data we've collected on wearable devices, which include smartwatch and smart earbuds and headphones, since that's something that's really kind of popular in the market right now as well as, of course, streaming. So that includes streaming devices like smart TV devices and those sorts of things and then video streaming services and music streaming as well.

So within all these categories, the main things that we focus on are ownership of product, purchase intent at the brand level and purchase intent in terms of time frame and then also customer satisfaction with the devices.

Eric Hanselman

Oh, wow. Well, we -- just in the previous episode had the streaming media team on as part of the big picture report, who were talking about streaming markets, but you're actually dealing with the devices that are consuming all that streaming content.

Abby Balint

Yes. So again, like that big picture view, we can really put together what the connection is between the devices themselves and then the services that people are using. And kind of also, I have a little bit more to say about the behaviors around those services to later.

Eric Hanselman

Yes. We can dig into the data, but I want -- some of our listeners may be familiar with the previous studies that we've done and a lot of work that we've done around digital devices. But this really is a pretty significant revamp of some of those studies and perspectives that we had historically to be able to bring this stuff together. It sounds like a really dramatic upgrade of the perspectives, the data and, more importantly, the size of the panel that's backing it up.

Abby Balint

Yes, definitely, for sure. So historically, we have surveyed in the consumer space, but also within organizations, uses of devices at the enterprise level as well. And this just kind of -- is just such like you said, an upgrade from all of that because of the sample sizes that we have and also just the background of the panelists that are taking this survey just expands it so much from what we've been able to do previously.

I think something that kind of sets it apart from the previous survey work we've done around devices is that we have so much space in the survey to ask questions that we don't usually have the space for just because we have such a large sample size and it's such a large undertaking. We're able to do these sorts of things. And along with all of the various device questions that we're able to include that we can track longitudinally, we also can include questions about demographic makeup of the panel as well as attitudes towards the current macroeconomic environment, which just gives us a really good base for being able to dig deeper into this data.

Because instead of just looking at a small group of people where when you start to break it down at the more granular level, whether it's within a certain generation of age range or within a certain gender or kind of basically anything you can think of that we could break down the socioeconomic background of these respondents. We're really able to do that within the survey as well as pair with their attitudes towards the market and towards purchasing devices and those sorts of things. And yet, it just really gives us the opportunity for a much deeper dive.

Eric Hanselman

Well, that's the advantage of having a panel that size. I know depending upon what the particular study is, we'll work with panel sizes in the thousands or so, but 10,000 means that you can really slice that demographic in a pretty granular fashion and still have a statistically significant result. And that sounds like that must allow us to really do some interesting things and draw some interesting perspectives from that data.

Abby Balint

Right, exactly because that's something that we're passionate about as researchers is making sure it's all good if we have 30 people within one category. But what does that really mean in terms of how secure we are and what that data is saying. So with these really large sample sizes, we're able to say with much greater confidence that the results that we're seeing really reflect the market.

Eric Hanselman

Well, as I'm sure a lot of our listeners will be thinking margin of error numbers that...

Abby Balint

Yes, of course.

Eric Hanselman

Right. This time of year, there is a lot of statistical discussion and margin of errors front and center in a lot of this. But clearly, that's one of the things that we get the benefit of such a large panel of actually being able to work with margins are that are strong enough to be able to really back up some of these perspectives.

Abby Balint

Exactly.

Eric Hanselman

So speaking of the perspectives, what's the data showing? What are aspects that you found interesting in the study results?

Abby Balint

Yes. So I mean I think looking at the endpoint tracker, the kind of obvious thing that we can pull out of it is that longitudinal tracking at the brand level and even within the product level and the model level for some of the devices that we track. So I think on the surface, that's one of the key things that we can pull out of this, that's definitely of use and really interesting to compare quarter-over-quarter. But I think something that the endpoint tracker survey does well in addition to that is these other broader macroeconomic perspectives that we're able to pull out of here.

And I think I like to think about it as if we can pair them together, so we can say, what does the data look like about the devices. But then when we pair that with the attitudes towards what's going on in the economy currently and how consumers are feeling. When we pair those 2 things together, what do we see in that way. So something that's been interesting to me, looking at this over the past few quarters has been one of the questions that we have where we ask respondents on what do they predict that their spending is going to look like on various devices within the next 90 days.

So from my perspective, thinking about that, we might think that because of inflation, because of just the environment in general, spending might be down on these sorts of things over the next 90 days, and that might be our automatic assumption here. But really what the data has been showing is that a large portion of people still say that their spending will stay the same or even increase over the next 90 days. And obviously, we can attribute this sometimes to the time of year like we have the holidays coming up and that sort of thing. But it's just interesting to see that when you think something like that might be plummeting. It actually is staying steady or in some cases, even increasing and that can be looked at the device level as well. But in general, that's kind of what I've been seeing. So I think that, that's pretty interesting.

Eric Hanselman

That's fascinating because that really ties into, I think, a lot of the mixed messages that we get out of macroeconomic data broadly in that you see sentiments that tends fairly negative. We've got a whole set of dower predictions. If you look at business expectations about the year ahead, worries about inflation, which we've actually talked about with previous guests and all these different aspects. And yet, when we look at the phones and tablets, there's still strong spending intent. That's fascinating.

Abby Balint

Yes. Yes. And it's interesting, I think like you mentioned in the introduction here, these things are just we can't pry them out of our -- out of the way that we live, it's everywhere.

Eric Hanselman

You become so integrated.

Abby Balint

Yes. And so I guess what does that say about, I guess, how Americans are prioritizing this technology in their lives and just really how truly it can't be pulled out, it's just ingrained in everything that we do now. So I'm sure that, that's part of it, but still interesting to see that even in the current times, it still remains pretty strong in purchasing around these devices.

Eric Hanselman

Well, I guess if we think about -- again, we've gotten to a point at which remote work is -- has become much more of a steady-state thing. People are balancing or working at work-life balance in ways that are helping them to leverage remote work. And so that really means that digital device is a critical part of just the way we're all living our lives today.

Abby Balint

Yes, definitely, for sure.

Eric Hanselman

So are there other aspects of the data, I'd be curious about things like other longer macroeconomic trends. Are you tracking things like replacement interval and those kinds of things and expectations around how people are handling devices?

Abby Balint

Yes. So we are -- so pairing with that question around increase or decrease on spend for devices. We also track device upgrade cycle. So at the device level, we ask when people are intending to upgrade their device, whether that'd be their smartphone or their new tablet, laptop, anything. Anything that was mentioned, we're asking them when they plan to upgrade that device. But also, we just ask, in general, not even just thinking about currently the device that you have, but in general, what -- how often do you typically upgrade your smartphone.

So not when are you going to get a new smartphone this year, but we're also tracking, in general, if you own a smartphone, what is the general time frame that you've been looking to upgrade that device in. And I think that, that is something that we can kind of pair with those macroeconomic questions as well because I'm sure that those responses are changing a little bit over time, but it's also interesting always to see that time frame varies across socioeconomic background as well for sure. So that's an interesting, yes, kind of more attitudinal question about purchasing behavior that we have.

Similarly to that, another question that we asked about within that section is around ESG, which I know is a huge topic right now. So that's something for me that I'm always flagging when I'm reviewing the data every single quarter is how are these people feeling about ESG practices and the manufacturers that they are purchasing from.

So something that I thought this quarter was particularly interesting, probably unsurprisingly to all of us, but it's just nice to affirm that the top thing that was reported as important to consumers in regards to ESG is privacy and data protection. So I think that that's kind of been a theme in a lot of areas of research this year is how much that matters to consumers and just how top of mind it is for people in general.

So that's definitely something interesting that's come out of the last couple of quarters, but other things that people have been citing are manufacturers providing their employees with fair wages and benefits and also enacting proper health, safety and labor standards. So I think that all of those really speak to the consumer mindset that these devices are a part of our day-to-day life now, but people haven't forgotten about those things going on in the background and they do still matter to the consumer. So just another thing, I think, that we compare with the bigger picture there.

Eric Hanselman

Oh, interesting. So there's strong focus not only on the inward facing to ESG issues like data privacy, which, of course, hey, when I've got my information security hat on, I applaud all those concerns, but it has been something that's definitely been top of mind, but also interesting that the externally facing aspect to that company reputation and expectations about how manufacturers are treating their employees are weighing into some of these perspectives as well.

Abby Balint

Definitely.

Eric Hanselman

Well, and that's -- it's one of those things that you hope happens, but great to have some data that's actually identifying that there is that preference and that from a manufacturer perspective, how you're perceived in the market is going to play a role in expectations about how the broad market views who you are and your products.

Abby Balint

Right, exactly. And I think that also ties back into what we were talking about the sample size earlier. We have the ability to break down here exactly where those numbers are coming from and who do those things matter the most to. Basically, any demographic group that you could think of that you might want to see how that falls out between the different -- maybe it's the age range, maybe it's education level. We have all sorts of things in here. Maybe you want to look at it based on the current manufacturer of the smartphone that a respondent owns. We really have the numbers in here for all of that, which I think just provides so much more of a deeper dive, of a possible deeper dive into all of this.

Eric Hanselman

Wow. So you really can slice and dice that data however, it makes sense to be able to extract perspectives out of it. Well, that brings me to, I think, the next question, which sort of rolls out of this, which is how are organizations putting this data to work? I mean, it sounds like some of these perspectives are -- have some clear indications, brand recognition, brand perception, those sorts of things. But how are you seeing clients still working with the data?

Abby Balint

Yes. So I think what you just mentioned is the big one, depending on where the client is coming from and what they're looking to get out of the data if you're a brand who has a device in one of these categories and is interested in knowing how it's being perceived, we are going to have the ability to longitudinally track those sorts of things, sometimes at a very granular level.

And I think some of the things that have been most interesting to clients have definitely been customer satisfaction. That's a huge one. It's really easy to track that longitudinally, and it's really easy to slice and dice that a lot of different way as well. Also, the purchasing intent not only at the individual manufacturer level, but just general attitude towards purchasing. When we think about different devices, I think we can all make some assumptions about certain devices that are more likely to have consumers spend more money on that device versus another or be more willing to upgrade that device or want the newest and biggest thing more quickly.

Another thing that we have within the survey is some questions around tech adoption and interest impact overall. So I think looking at consumer purchasing intent alongside of what that consumer's attitude is towards new tech in general, can be really interesting to see pairing different manufacturers and different devices with those attitudes just to see where people are looking to upgrade what features they're most interested in. That's another thing that we track is key features at the device level that are causing consumers to upgrade their device more quickly than they may have otherwise.

So I think that, that's really, from a business perspective, the best way that organizations can leverage this overall. But I think that another thing that stands out about this survey is that we have these things that we can track longitudinally, and that's great. But we also have, again, because of the magnitude of the survey, we have the flexibility to add in things as they come up in the market that are going to be key trends that maybe it would be hard to track otherwise in some more traditional surveys that don't have the bandwidth that this one does.

So like just thinking of an example of that, if you are a smartphone manufacturer and you're interested in upcoming trends in the smartphone space, something that we looked at this year was the new emerging trend of foldable smartphones and whether people are interested in that and whether the feature of being able to fold your smartphone, who know we're going back to a foldable smartphone but we're looking...

Eric Hanselman

Yes. It's, again, one of those things that -- it's been interesting sort of watching sort of that expectation of does somebody really want a foldable and it was cutting edge to begin with. And now it seems to have maybe gotten back to a situation in which it's a way of dealing with device size and screen size...

Abby Balint

Exactly.

Eric Hanselman

Yes, a fascinating just sort of shift back and forth in terms of expectations about what that -- how valuable that particular feature is and how people are actually going to put it to work.

Abby Balint

Yes. So that's just an example of those ways that we can pivot with this survey and really hone in on those things that might be top of mind on any given quarter while still having the ability to track those more traditional longitudinal points. So yes, I think another key factor of the survey that organizations can leverage is just going into this knowing what customer base is going to look like and what key demographic segments they may be interested in and just knowing that this survey has the capability to narrow in about as granular as you can get on those things.

And I think that, that's something that is not traditional in our most common surveys and is a big win for this survey and just like we've said, just is able to provide that deeper dive that I think there's always some really valuable insights to be found when you just go a couple of levels deeper than the surface, Always some really interesting stuff to be seen there.

Eric Hanselman

Just keep drilling down well. And as we keep saying, with the panel of this size, there's a lot of drilling down that one can actually do, especially in an area where there's so many different and complex dynamics. And you were mentioning some of the macroeconomic pieces look at some of the headlines about PC sales and you've got processor manufacturers, warning about long-term trends, all the things that are going on and yet cell phone buying data still seems to be strong, a whole set of different pieces that all come into play around this that you can actually dig into with a fair bit of detail.

Abby Balint

Great. Yes.

Eric Hanselman

Well, it's fascinating stuff. We'll actually have a link in the show notes to the digital endpoint tracker and some perspectives on it for our listeners to take a look at it. But this has been great. I appreciate it, Abby, and thanks for being on the podcast.

Abby Balint

Yes. Thank you so much for having me.

Eric Hanselman

Well, with data like this, it is -- there is so much more to look at. And I think it would be a great thing to revisit when we start getting into more accumulated data because I guess, right now, you're still things like seasonal corrections and those sorts of things, given that we just got a year, we can sort of estimate, but those are things that as this rolls on, we'll have more detail and more background, right?

Abby Balint

Yes, exactly. That's -- our goal here is to just keep this rolling for as long as we possibly can. And every quarter that we're able to track is just another one that we have to look over that larger time frame, and we'll just keep building on itself. And I think maybe the best is yet to come in that way.

Eric Hanselman

Well, all right. We'll have to look forward and have you back on the podcast for future perspectives.

Abby Balint

Definitely, that'd be great.

Eric Hanselman

Well, that is it for this episode of Next in Tech. Thanks to our audience for staying with us. And thanks to our production team, including Caroline Wright and Ethan Zimman on the Marketing and Events teams, and our studio lead, Kyle Cangialosi. And I hope you'll join us for our next episode where we're going to be digging into World Cup perspectives, taking a look at some of the technology that's going to be in use as well as some of the aspects of media and rights that are associated with it, something that's as large as the World Cup, a mega worldwide supporting event. So I hope you'll join us then because there is always something Next in Tech.