The following pages are based on the timeline on the Caslon Analytics site and from individual profiles on this site.
They highlight major technological innovations and corporate developments.
1712-1860
1861-1900
1901-1925
1926-1950
1951-1975
1976-1990
1991-2000
2001-
indicators
The following figures are estimates only, from a range of academic and industry sources
1900 1.4 million telephones, 8,000 registered automobiles and 24 million electric light bulbs in US 1901 22,310 telephone subscribers in Australia 1909 pianos reach maximum market penetration in UK homes at one per ten people 1910 9,500 cinemas in US 1910 122,000 telephones in UK 1912 cinema attendance reaches 5 million per day in US 1913 37% of UK homes own a phonograph 1938 radio surpasses magazines as a source of ad revenue in US 1939 radio in 75% of German homes 1939 15,115 cinemas in US (v 14,952 banks) 1950 4 million tv sets in US 1951 US television advertising revenue exceeds radio ad revenue 1952 22 million tv sets in US homes 1956 71% of US homes have tv 1960 6,000 computers in operation in US 1960 60 million tv sets in US homes 1960 10% of French homes have tv 1967 200m telephones in world - half in US 1968 200 million tv sets in the world - 78m in US 1969 97% of US homes have tv 1976 15% of US homes have cable tv 1976 60% of US homes have microwave oven 1985 average US TV viewing peaks at 7 hours 10 minutes per day 1987 50% of US homes have cable tv 1990 99% of US homes have at least one radio 1991 75% of US homes have VCRs, 60% have cable TV 1992 10 million mobile phone subscribers in US 1992 US spends US$12bn to buy/rent videotapes v US$4.9bn on box office 1992 900 million tv sets in the world; 201 million in US 2002 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity 2002 2.4 billion people rely on primitive biomass (eg dried cow dung) for cooking and heating
benchmarks
At a global level points of reference are provided by the following figures from 1999 on take-up of information & communication technology and annual electricity consumption.
per 1,000 people PCs Internet Hosts Mobiles Main Lines kW pa Australia 492 50.3 397 610 9.907 New Zealand 416 47.8 190 469 8.810 United States 538 136.7 314 709 13.451 Singapore 390 22.2 381 484 7.137 Hong Kong 360 66.4 551 559 5.178 Japan 325 16.7 382 551 8.130 Malaysia 94 2.8 145 219 2.640 Taiwan 260 20.0 493 569 5.530 S Korea 181 6.0 499 449 5.448 China 9 0.1 32 84 0.912 Thailand 40 0.5 39 84 1.404 Philippines 19 0.2 37 37 0.473 Indonesia 13 0.2 9.8 29 0.358 France 318 11 350 684 7.141 Germany 317 17.6 283 593 6.480 United Kingdom 379 28.4 409 570 5.901
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.