Those who know me well are well aware that I like counting a number of things during the day (eg trying to guess the revenues of a restaurant figuring out how many rotations happen in an hour at what average check, that’s what I’m best at; or guessing car manufacturers market shares when visiting another country).
So, I was sort of getting bored traveling back from London by Eurostar (a train that links Paris, Lille, Brussels & London, going under the Channel) tonight when I decided I would come up with original content for the Tech IT Easy readership, and inquire about what people do on a train.
From a marketing perspective, some people may find this information quite interesting (let me know if it has any relevance for you). Here are the results of my survey (see chart on your right hand).
I passed twice (go & return) through 3 wagons of 88 people, all economy class, as we weren’t far from reaching our destination. Would statistics from first class be different? I just don’t know (and I actually don’t think so, maybe more PDAs there – I could count only one, a Blackberry, used as a phone when I passed by).
I was struck by the very low number of out layers (no Linux user; only one person was doing a weird thing, and that was playing the guitar – something not so usual on a train, + me doing statistics).
I accounted in the “chatting” category people playing poker & kids fighting in the alley. There was only one baby (I find this figure amazingly low) and he was sleeping.
That’s why Apple are so good at making screens. Most of people don’t use their Mac to work but to watch movies. Interesting statistics, Jeremy.
Comment by Ghislain — May 14, 2007 @ 09:20
Jeremy “Rainman” Fein. Weird (and cool) are the things that stimulate us to blog.
In regards to “outlayers” I think you experienced the “training” we all receive by society. In this case the main rule on the train is: don’t bother your neighbour. I’m surprised no one said anything about the guitar.
I think that mobile technology is stil considered an odd thing, and the high statistics on the traditional activity of reading and paper-based studying somewhat proves that. Battery-life is not there yet, screens are not there yet, costs are not there yet, and e-reading software and infrastructure is maybe not there yet.
From your outlook, I guess you had internet?
Comment by Vincent van Wylick — May 14, 2007 @ 11:57
Ghislain> About Apple, maybe you’re right. I think it’s not only about movies: the overall multimedia experience on Apple hardware (iPod, Apple TV, etc.) is pretty thrilling.
Vincent> The guy playing the guitar was in a group of teenagers that were making such a mess (not in my wagon, lucky them) that I’m surprised there was no physical casualty before we arrived.
And no, I had no Internet, I was just reading my backlog of unread emails…
Comment by Jeremy Fain — May 14, 2007 @ 23:05
[...] Jeremy Fain parece ser um cara inteligente. Em uma viajem de Eurostar resolveu prestar atenção no que as pessoas faziam. O resultado é a tabela acima. [...]
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