Telecom Lead America: Main activities of media tablets
users include checking email (81 percent of respondents), reading the news (69
percent), checking the weather forecast (63 percent), social networking (62
percent) and gaming (60 percent).
According to Gartner, which conducted the study at the
end of 2011 in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, the survey found that more
than 50 percent of media tablet owners prefer to read news, magazines and
books on screen, rather than on paper.
One in three respondents used their media tablets to read
a book, compared with 13 percent for mobile PCs, and 7 percent for mobile
phones.
The rapid adoption of media tablets is substantively
changing how consumers access, create and share content,” said Carolina
Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
The shift from paper to screen-based consumption is not
yet a straight substitution of one medium for another.
Other than their tablets, most respondents also owned
PCs, TVs and mobile phones. The respondents, early adopters of media
tablets, said they use their multiple devices interchangeably, rather than
substituting one device for another. Respondents use their PCs (desk-based or
mobile) 20 percent less at weekends,” said Meike Escherich, principal
research analyst at Gartner.
Media tablets play a more dominant role in the home than
mobile phones or PCs, with the highest usage taking place in the living room
(87 percent), the bedroom (65 percent) and the kitchen (47 percent).
Respondents purchase a media tablet, in preference to a
PC, for its convenience, small size and light weight. The survey also found that
45 percent of respondents do not share their tablet at all. This confirms that
a media tablet is almost as personal as a mobile phone in terms of usage and
consumer attitude. The survey showed a trend for men to purchase their own
media tablets and for women to receive them as gifts.
Within the home, users recorded the most activities on
their phones when in their living room (78 percent). Sixty-five percent used
them outside the home or while in transit, and 66 per cent used them at work.
Across all activities conducted on the Internet, checking
email (74 percent) and social networking (57 percent) are the most common
activities on mobile phones. Gaming is in fourth place (42 percent), and
appears more popular than checking the news (40 percent) and listening to music
(40 percent). Watching live TV remains a very limited activity for mobile phone
users (5 percent), but on-demand content has a slightly broader reach (15
percent).