WITH THE TABLET market finally gaining mass market appeal, new research from In-Stat says that the top three ranked uses for future tablet owners are email, personal information management, and multimedia consumption (audio, video and gaming).
The report U.S. Consumers’ Attitudes and Behaviors Toward the Emerging Tablet Market cites a survey that yielded 1,132 responses, of which 13.2% of respondents currently own a tablet, and includes data relating to current tablet usage, as well as purchaser criteria and expectations of future tablet owners.
“Last year’s small crop of tablets was being touted as potential e-readers; a way to compete against the extremely popular Amazon Kindle lineup,” said senior analyst Stephanie Ethier, in the press release. “But this next generation of tablets is clearly being marketed as consumer multimedia consumption devices positioned to compete squarely against the Apple iPad.”
Other research findings include:
– Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to reach over 58 million units in 2014;
– Nearly 55% of survey respondents that own tablets spend 9 hours or more using their tablet each week;
– Over 40% of future tablet purchasers plan to buy an Apple iPad; and
– The strongest shipment growth begins in the latter portion of the forecast period.
