The figure isn't suprising. Most people haven't used bitcoin yet and wont for quite some time, but they probably will in the future. Bitcoin is only really starting to gain mainstream traction and it is still a niche technology. Do the same survey in a few years and we'll see the difference, but surveys aren't usualy relevant anyway.
Adoption is slow but awareness is one step forward, since about half the population is aware of it and a vocal minority of those users use it then it will only be a matter of time before it starts spreading to consumers.
But I guess we are still early adopters in terms of users and moving to mainstream in merchant adoption, in terms of people hearing about it getting mainstream at least.
So two divisions.
Adoption was slow because
- it was unknown by 99.99% of the population
* Now about 30% of the world have heard about it and 51% of Americans-it was hard to buy
* Can now be bought in many different ways..at convenience stores/cards to load/2 clicks on Xapo + wire transfer/ 3 clicks on exchanges + card details or bank deposit/via sms-it was hard to use
Really easy to use now sms /online/card option
- it was not advertised
* very little paid advertising yet as the infrastructure is gearing up to be able to cope with the expected volume. That will be coming soon-it was not understood as an improvement on fiat
* media has done its job to some extent in demonstrating the advantages and potential risks of cryptocurrency. This has led to interest and investment in the technology- Institutional investors and VC was almost non existent
* In the previous 18 moinths hundreds of millions of $'s has been invested..due to lead time to create and market their product this will increasingly drive Bitcoin.- it received a lot of bad press in media
* media reports are generally predominantly favourable these days- hardly anything/anywhere could be bought or paid with bitcoin
* As of August 2014 almost anything anywhere in the world can now be purchased using bitcoin.- It was not considered as a major option for the remittance market
* focus on its use for remittances has started since Jan 2014 and is gaining share with 10% + monthly growth ( from a very low base)
All good points there are still a few bugs or kinks or rather real world applications to mull over though
The one about being able to pay for a bill, then tip a waiter, and ride a taxi without needing to wait for your unconfirmed transacton to process is a good one and an obstacle to interoperability with Fiat, Visa or Mastercard is a good example of a kink.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/someone-please-tell-me-this-isnt-how-transactions-always-work-758927Anyways still following the S-Shaped curve only instead of it focusing on user adoption at this time at a rapid pace its occurring in the field of merchant adoption.
As for it being hard to buy, there are still the exchanges and they take a ton of information to verify with but then there are services like Bitcoin ATMs and quickbt as an example of faster ways to purchase bitcoins.
Anyways still an ongoing work in progress as I mentioned but it is progressing nicely.
* Edit nice added to that list while I was composing my reply ^_^
I'll add one get some good deals with Bitcoin like the Labor Day Sale at Newegg
75 dollars off 300 bucks 150 off 500 bucks is a deal ^^
http://www.newegg.ca/bitcoin
