Hey There!

Firstly, thanks for looking at this question I really appreciate it.  
Secondly, I'd like to apologise ... this question may seem a little 
ambiguous but that is because there are probably a few ways to get to the 
answer I am after ...  So, to help you I want to give you a little 
background about why I am asking for this info.  Please hang in there while 
I explain ...

------------------------ Background Info 
------------------------------------

I am writing a business plan for what I think is an innovative 
microcontroller based product (although this question needs no knowledge of 
microcontrollers etc).  Personally I am terrible at finding info on the net 
and therefore finding info for the market size section of the plan is 
proving very difficult.  I would like to add that this is not homework but a 
real business plan I would potentially like to go ahead with.

Now, to explain the product.  It is a range of devices that form a fast, 
user friendly electronic project development system designed primarily for 
people who want fast reliable design solutions and for those who want to 
learn more about electonics and microcontrollers.

Consequently, the target markets include:
- Education (ages 10+)
- Software developers (guys that can code but aren't so good on the 
hardware)
- Electronics enthusiasts/ hobbiests/ robot designers/ R/C model plan/car 
guys
- Engineers (who want rapid prototyping ability)
- Technicians etc ...

Now, there are definitely many competitive products out there.  I believe 
mine has significant advantages over them, however, I will provide you with 
infomation on them because if you can track down infomation about their 
sales & market share then we can probably make a good assumption about the 
current market size.

Exisiting products include:
- BASIC stamps etc ... (made by Parallax http://www.parallax.com/)
- PICAXE (made my Revolution Education http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/)
- ABC Mini/Maxi boards aka Hotchips (Quasar Electronics 
http://www.quasarelectronics.com/)

I can get info on a few more I have found if that would help also ...

As I am in Australia, market size infomation about the Australian market 
would be definitely be useful.  However, I dare say the Australian market 
isn't big enough so infomation regaurding the USA, UK etc ... would be 
fantastic.

Infomation I have dug up so far is limited but includes:
- www.designnotes.com/advertise.htm (web popularity)
- http://www.dontronics.com/contact.html#net (site popularity)
- Infomation about the number of Australian schools & students etc ...
- Number of members of Yahoo microcontroller groups
... yes, bugger all

Distibuters of such products include:
- www.dontronics.com (AUS)
- www.microzed.com.au (AUS)
- www.jaycar.com.au (AUS)
- http://www.dontronics.com/dealer.html (INT)
- http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/ (INT)
- http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/company/distributors/distributors.asp 
(INT)

---------------------------- END BACKGROUND -------------------------------

The question: I am after infomation infomation about the market size of the 
basic level microcontroller market.  The market size itself would be great 
but probably not a realistic ask for the time involved in finding out, 
therefore, I am after infomation that will help me calculate the market 
size/potential market size.  This infomation may include:
- Infomation about the size of the target market (mentioned above)
- Infomation about the current sales of exisiting similar products (this may 
come from manufacturers/designers or distributers) <- probably the most 
relevant

Other infomation that would help includes:
- Infomation about size of the electronic hobbiest market
- Infomation about market share of above products
- Infomation about size of the electronic kit market
However, this infomation is much less valuable to me than the 
microcontroller based products mentioned above ("exising products").

Many Thanks,

Mowgly

P.S. Ask as many questions as you'd like!

<The market for microcontrollers.

Sales of the BASIC stamp.

Sales of the BASIC stamp by Parallax were on average 0.75 million
units per year from 1999-2002.

The BASIC Stamp was released in 1992. By 1998 Parallax has sold over
125,000 Basic Stamp modules. By 2002 there were over 3 million BASIC
stamps in use. http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/company/history/history.asp

Historical data

This report gives historical data from 1990 to 2000. It contains
details of the number of microcontrollers shipped broken down into
4-bit, 8-bit and 16-bit.
http://digital5.ece.tntech.edu/611f01/Lectures/documents/MC_intro/Embedded%20Processor%20and%20Microcontroller%20primer%20and%20FAQ.htm

According to EBN, the market for microcontrollers was $12.3 billion in
2000.
http://www.ebnonline.com/story/OEG20010604S0073

The European market for 16-bit microcontrollers was worth $600 million
in 2000.
http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA154971&rid=0&rme=0&cfd=1


According to eb-asia.com, the market for microcontrollers was expected
to be in excess of $10 billion in 2002.
http://www.eb-asia.com/EBA/issues/0203/0203El_m.htm

Current market and future predictions.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the global market
for microcontrollers will be worth $10.3 billion in 2003, then grow 14
percent to $11.7 billion in 2004, 3.2 percent to $12.1 billion in 2005
and 18.5 percent to $14.3 billion by 2006.
http://www.semichips.org/pre_release.cfm?ID=273






Hobbyist market
The size and nature of the hobbyist market can be gauged by looking at
the readers of the electronics magazines aimed at this market.

Magazines

Everyday Practical Electronics is the UK’s leading electronic hobbyist
magazine and is distributed around the world. 60 percent of the
readers buy from mail order advertisements. 79% have a PC and a
further 16 percent have access to PC.
14% are students, 12% engineers, 19% technicians, 3% educators, 92%
hobbyists.
http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/profiles.htm

The magazine welcomes news items from manufacturers and suppliers. For
more information see http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/contact.html

Elektor Elektronics
The magazine is aimed at active electronic enthusiasts. It is
published 11 time a year. Its circulation is 100,000 in the UK and
around the world (in Dutch, French and German). 64% of the readers are
electronic engineers with an annual purchasing budget of £50K. Quasar
Electronics are advertisers in the magazine.
http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/advert/info.htm

Silicon Chip
Australian electronics magazine.
There is no information online about their circulation and readers so
I have emailed the company requesting information. I will post their
reply as a clarification.
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/

Nuts and Volts Magazine
Highest readership, USA based magazine.
http://www.nutsvolts.com/

Cicuit Cellar
http://www.circellar.com/

Microcontrol Journal
Online journal
http://www.mcjournal.com/


Hangouts for hobbyists.

Members of the British Amateur Electronics club.
http://members.tripod.com/~baec/members.htm

Amateur Electronics Club
http://www.np.edu.sg/sdar/clubs/aec/aboutus.htm

Electronic Hobbyists
http://www.amasci.com/amateur/elehob.html


Forums
Microcontrollers discussion group has 513 members.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sxtech/


Electronic kit manufacturers.

This site http://kitsrus.com/back.html#kits
 lists 30 manufacturers including the following Australian companies:
Oatley Electronics, Sydney
http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/kits/default.html
Grantonics Pty Ltd
http://www.grantronics.com.au/
Bob Parker
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/index.html
R.C.S. Radio
http://www.cia.com.au/rcsradio/

Anatrek
European distributor for 15 manufacturers.
http://www.antratek.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amateur Electronics mailing list for sale.
http://www.allthestores.com/lists-for-sale.htm


The decline of hobby electronics.
Kitsrus report that hobby electronics is in decline along with the
sale of electronics kits. This decline is due to the fact that
teenagers nowadays have other interests like online games and the
internet.
http://kitsrus.com/general.html>


<Search strategy:>

<"microcontrollers" market billion>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22microcontrollers%22+market+billion>

<"basic stamp" manufactured>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22basic+stamp%22+manufactured>

<"amateur electronics" market>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22amateur+electronics%22+market>

<"amateur electronics hobbyists">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22amateur+electronics+hobbyists%22>

<"basic stamp microcontrollers">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22basic+stamp+microcontrollers%22>


<Hope this helps.>

---

Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 13 Sep 2003 00:39 PDT

<Silicon chip has a circulation of 16,000.

The readers of silicon chip represent the whole gamut of the
Australasian electronics industry from PhD research engineer and
developer, all levels of professional and hobbyists. They are mostly
in the middle to upper socio-economic levels.

Electronics Australia Today has a circulation of 19,100

Other electronics magazines around the world have circulations as
follows:
ECN – Electronic Component news 131,052
EP&T Electronic Products & Technology 24,501
Electronics – Israel 30,000
Everyday Practical Electronics – UK - 19,000
Electronics Education – 12,500
Electronics weekly –30,000
Electronics world – 15,022
Elektor Electronics – 4,980
New Electronics – 22,467>

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mowgly-ga on 13 Sep 2003 20:50 PDT

Firstly, thankyou very much for such helpful infomation.

I am going to write to some more electronics magazines in order to
determine their circulation.  Where did you get the magazine
circulation statistics you posted as a response?  By "circulation" is
that the number of magazines distributed each time a new release comes
out, or, the number of magazines issued each year?  Also, in the
initial answer you mentioned that Elektor Elektronics had a cirulation
of 100,000 and then in the clarification it is 4,980.

The only other clarification I would like is with regards to the
infomation about exisiting products.  The statistics on the BASIC
stamp were great.  Is it possible to get a better indication of their
market share (are they the most dominant player, what is their
relative % of sales for such devices, etc ...)?  Just something that
puts their sales into persective relative to the other competitors. 
Alternatively, the same infomation on the other competitors would
suffice.

Many thanks for your help so far.

---

Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 14 Sep 2003 04:51 PDT

<The hobby market for microcontrollers seems to be tiny compared to
other markets. All of the studies that I have found on the market for
microcontrollers concentrate on other uses of microcontrollers. 
Parallax appears to be the major manufacturer of basic stamp
microcontrollers for hobbyists.

Brands of microcontroller.
Other brands of microcontroller include Domin, Tiny Tiger, PIC chips,
HC11, ADBi/0, Alpha Products, SensorLab Box, Midi tools, Media Mation,
National Instruments and GW Instruments.
http://fargo.itp.tsoa.nyu.edu/~dano/physical/microc.html

The most popular microcontroller for hobbyists is the PIC
http://www.epanorama.net/links/microprocessor.html

Microchip Technology is the number one manufacturer of PIC
microcontrollers. However I suspect that the hobby market is a small
sector for them with the majority of their sales coming from more
commercial applications.
http://www.embeddedstar.com/press/content/2003/9/embedded10225.html

Since 1990, Microchip have shipped approximately 2.5 billion PIC
microcontrollers worldwide. They have over 180 microcontroller
products. Total sales in 2003 were $651,462,000.
http://www.microchip.com/download/ir/reports/annual/10k03scns.pdf

Microcontroller market.
The top producer, Motorola has 18% of the market and according to this
site 17.1% of the market is unclaimed. A 1% penetration of this market
would yield a $120 million company.
http://www-ist.massey.ac.nz/GMoretti/159253/LectureNotes/1-Microcontroller-Introduction.pdf

Size of market, growth of market potential.
http://www.genapro.com/exsum.htm


The circulation figures were from Willings Press Guide. They list over
60,000 publications, organisations and media outlets. It is possible
to access the information online by signing up for a free trial.

The circulation figure refers to the number of copies sold each time
the magazine is produced. So for a monthly magazine it will refer to
the number of copies sold each month.
http://www.willingspress.com/

 I have rechecked the Elektor circulation figures and now realise that
Willings separates them into different countries.
The magazine is produced in various editions. The German edition has a
circulation of 55,450. The French edition has a circulation of 43,000
and the Spanish 20,000. The 4,980 figure is for the UK. In total the
circulation is 123,430.
http://www.willingspress.com/>

<Additional links>
<Business plan for the resale of Parallax microcontrollers.>

<Hope this helps.>

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mowgly-ga on 16 Sep 2003 02:46 PDT

Thankyou very much!

At the bottom of your last clarification you had 

<Additional links> 
<Business plan for the resale of Parallax microcontrollers.> 

Do you have a link for the resale of parallax microcontrollers?

Cheers ...

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mowgly-ga on 16 Sep 2003 02:48 PDT

I meant a business plan sorry :)

---

Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 16 Sep 2003 04:58 PDT

The link for the business plan is
<http://www.ljstek.com/business_plan.htm>