Just two years after Apple launched its first iPad, a new report from data measurement company comScore shows that tablets have reached a "critical mass" in the United States. ComScore found that smartphone adoption has exploded, and nearly one in four smartphone owners, i.e. 23.6 percent, were also using tablets during the three-month period ended in April. This represents a whopping surge from last year, when just 9.7 percent of smartphone owners used tablets as well.
Meanwhile, the study also found 10.4 percent of basic phone owners now use a tablet, suggesting that "smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market," said comScore.
Media Habits
"Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home," comScore's senior VP of mobile Mark Donovan said in a statement. "It's not surprising to see that once consumers get their hands on their first tablet, they are using them for any number of media habits including TV viewing."
As one would expect, tablet owners really enjoy watching video on their devices, shows the study. According to comScore, tablet users are nearly three times more likely to watch video on the larger screen of a tablet compared to smartphone users, and one in 10 tablet owners watch video content almost on a daily basis on their device. "Larger screen sizes [are] making tablets more conducive to video consumption that their smaller-screen cousins," noted comScore.
Demographics
When it comes to demographics, the data measurement company found that tablet users skew older, with the majority of users in the 25-to-44 age groups, and with upper income households, with the majority of users earning about $75,000 per year or more. Tablet owners were 28 percent more likely to fall in the 65 and older age group compared to smartphone owners.
Recent reports from ABI Research and ChangeWave Research found that Apple's high-end iPad is still the dominant player in the tablet market.
