AMD Global Consumer Advisory Board Releases First-Ever Comparative Analysis of Internet Access and Use

AMD Global Consumer Advisory Board Releases First-Ever Comparative Analysis of Internet Access and Use

SUNNYVALE, CA -- 10/29/2003 --

The AMD (NYSE: AMD) Global Consumer Advisory Board (GCAB) released a new study today, entitled Charting and Bridging Digital Divides. The study is the first of its kind to compare and synthesize research about the digital divide - the gap between those who can access and use information and communications technologies and those who can't - in eight countries conducted over the past ten years.

The study's main finding is that while the digital divide is narrowing in the U.S. and in other countries, specific aspects of the digital divide are widening or are stalled in many countries. Specifically, there are "gender divides" in Germany and Italy, and there is a substantial "age divide" in South Korea. And while many consider the U.S. a global technology leader, it significantly lags behind other developed countries in several important aspects of Internet access and use. For example, Japan leads the world in mobile Internet access and South Korea dominates in broadband connections.

The study also suggests that the digital divide is shaped by social factors as much as technological factors. Furthermore, access to the Internet doesn't mean informed use of the Internet.

"For companies that are increasingly focused on global emerging markets, understanding socio-economic factors impacting technology adoption in the various regions is absolutely crucial," said Patrick Moorhead, chairman of the GCAB and vice president of corporate marketing at AMD. "Bridging the digital divide requires more than simply offering computers and Internet access.

Technological fixes won't close the divide unless they take into account the social reasons why people aren't online."

"While this issue is not easily quantifiable, studies such as this one are important first steps in understanding the magnitude of the global digital divide," said Bill Archey, president and CEO of the AeA - formerly the American Electronics Association. "The better we understand the problem, the better we can lobby for policies and programs that reach more under-served people around the world."

Perhaps indicative of the complexity of the digital divide, another of the study's main discoveries is that there is no single, global standard for measuring Internet usage and growth.

"While there have been many analyses of the digital divide in individual countries, no study has compared and synthesized those analyses until now," said Ken McEldowney, chairperson of the GCAB's socio-economic committee and executive director at Consumer Action. "By taking a comparative approach, we have been able to gauge the complex state of the digital divide more holistically. Unfortunately, we found that in some countries, the digital divide is not narrowing as some have suggested, and that more and more people are finding themselves on the wrong side of the divide."

The GCAB compiled the study to better understand how to extend the reach of information and communications technologies to more people around the world. The study examines research from government agencies, academic institutions and international policy organizations about Internet access and use in China, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Written by sociologist Wenhong Chen and GCAB member Professor Barry Wellman, both with the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, Charting and Bridging Digital Divides presents a framework for understanding the digital divide in terms of factors such as socio-economic status, gender, age, ethnicity, geographic location and Internet access and use.

Utilizing this framework, the study found that there is no single digital divide-there are multiple digital divides based on these factors. For example, in some developed countries, such as the U.S., the U.K. and Japan, the gender divide is narrowing as high percentages of women have come to the Internet. However, women are still under-represented in China, Germany, Italy, Korea and Mexico.

"The various digital divides are affected by characteristics of a country, such as its developmental level, as well as by characteristics of an individual, such as his or her socio-economic status, age and gender," said Barry Wellman, GCAB member and sociology professor at the University of Toronto. "Therefore, the multiple divides vary markedly between countries, communities and individuals."

The study also found that, in general, while the digital divide is narrowing in developed countries, the divide is widening in some developing countries-even though more under-served people are going online. This is because as under-served populations such as the poor or women go online more, they're still going online more slowly than those traditionally better connected, such as the more affluent or men.

"The distribution of Internet users is extremely uneven around the world. Not all people are experiencing the benefits of the Internet, such as access to friends, jobs and information," said Wellman. "We found that although the Internet's reach has grown exponentially in about the last ten years, increasing from just under a million users in 1993 to more than 600 million in 2002, only about 10 percent of the world's population is online. Additionally, almost 90 percent of the world's Internet users are from what are considered to be developed countries, with nearly a third of those users from the United States."

The study concludes that the uneven diffusion and use of the Internet are shaped by-and are shaping-social inequalities. While the digital divide occurs at the intersection of international and intra-national social, technological and linguistic differences, it also has profound impacts on the reproduction of social inequality.

The AMD GCAB invites the public to review the complete findings of Charting and Bridging Digital Divides, which can be found on www.amdgcab.org.

About the AMD GCAB
The AMD Global Consumer Advisory Board's (GCAB) mission is to improve the quality of end users' technology experiences. The GCAB consists of 14 consumer and small business experts, academics, journalists and technology futurists from around the world who seek to resolve computing technology issues facing home and small business computer users worldwide.

Members are:

* Patrick Moorhead, GCAB chairman and AMD vice president, corporate marketing

* Dr. Soonhoon Bae, professor, Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology

* Jim Blasingame, creator and host of the U.S. nationally syndicated, weekday radio/Internet talk show, "The Small Business Advocate"

* Mark Boleat, United Kingdom consumer policy and business representation consultant and a board member of the National Consumer Council (NCC)

* Dr. William Halal, professor of management at George Washington University

* Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action, a San Francisco-based consumer advocacy and education membership organization

* Enrico Mercanti, consumer marketing, business consultant and business manager for BENQ, Italy

* Tricia Parks, founder and president of Parks Associates, a U.S. consulting firm

* Jose Antonio Romalho, a Brazilian technology writer and syndicated columnist

* Dr. Carlos Scheel, professor at the Graduate School of Business (EGADE) of the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico

* Dr. Bernd Skiera, professor and first Electronic Commerce chair at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany

* Dr. Hideyo Waki, professor in the Information and Telecommunication Department at Tokyo Denki University

* Dr. Barry Wellman, sociology professor at the University of Toronto, as well as director of the University's NetLab.

The GCAB is part of AMD's Consumer Advocacy Initiative (CAI), which represents the company's commitment to understanding technology end users, and the company's dedication to putting end users at the forefront of the industry's technology discussion. Consumers or small businesses with questions or comments may e-mail the GCAB at amd.gcab@amd.com. More information about the GCAB can be found at www.amdgcab.org.

About AMD
Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, Calif., AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets with manufacturing facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia. AMD, a Standard & Poor's 500 company, produces microprocessors, Flash memory devices, and silicon-based solutions for communications and networking applications.

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