Tablet Use Erodes PC Time More Than TV Time
Tablets are displacing PCs and single-purpose devices, acting as a major disruptor in the digital home, according to a new Forrester report. In fact, 35% of US tablet owners use their laptops less frequently since getting a tablet, and 45% have no plans to buy an eReader now that they own a tablet. This is based on a Forrester survey of more than 5,000 US adults. But, while tablets are displacing these devices, the relationship with one home device, the TV, is much more nuanced. While 88% of tablet owners use their tablets in the living room, only 12% say they use their TV less frequently since getting a tablet. That’s because tablet and TV use is largely complementary: 85% of tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV, and 18% actually connect their tablet to their TV using an HDMI or VGA connector.
After the living room, the most popular places in the home to use a tablet are the adult’s bedroom (79% of tablet owners use their tablets here), followed by the kitchen (53%), and the home office (35%). Notably, small TVs, which are likely to be in rooms such as the bedroom and kitchen, are more displaced by tablets than large TVs: 32% of tablet owners say they won’t buy a small TV in the future, compared with only 7% who say the same about large TVs.
According to Forrester Analyst Sarah Rotman Epps in a new blog post, while this tablet-TV connection is still in its infancy, there are some flickers of innovation with new products like “TV everywhere,” social TV, and “transmedia storytelling” apps. But ultimately, she notes, it will be “The Big Five” — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft – with the most potential to make a larger play for the tablet-TV connection.