Do tablet and smartphone owners care about physical media?

Another snippet here from our report on tablet and smartphone users, this time taking a look at the preference for either physical or digital media. We gave people three options across a range of different media - that they prefer physical, prefer digital or if their preference is split between the two.

What do we see? When compared to smartphone users (which is now a mainstream audience), tablet owners are much more digital, even when it comes to books and magazines.

Music and photos have long since migrated digital, so it's no surprise to see these spiking for digital among both types of owner. Films and printed media remain more physically-biased for smartphone owners, but we see clearly how the impact of a tablet can make very large dents in these areas.

There isn't a single type of media for which tablet owners express a greater preference for physical media over digital - digital always "wins".

As the market for tablets may double in 2012, expect to see the the digital migration for entertainment accelerate. Just as well things like Ultraviolet are coming through for film, as well as more established services like LOVEFiLM and Netflix.

See more about the full report (which is free to download) by clicking here.

Tablet research - profiling tablet owners

Here's another snippet from our Touchscreen Life report, a major research study on tablets and smartphones.

Here we take a look at the profile of tablet owners in the UK.

There's so much more in the report. And it's free to download.

Click here for more information.

Tablet research, smartphone research - the full report and infographic

We released the all the findings of our tablet and smartphone research study today. Titled "Touchscreen Life", it is a major report on tablet and smartphone usage in the UK.

It's all free and for public release.

Click here for everything (full report, summary report & infographic)
Click here for the full report (12MB, 180+ pages)
Click here for the summary report (20+ pages)
Click here for the infographic or click on the image on the left
Click here for our press release

You'll find an incredibly rich and informative amount of information in the full report. Here is a list of what we cover:

• Device ownership (not only tablets/smartphones but a range of consumer tech)
• Ownership profiling
• General usage (basic services)
• "Next Gen" services - familiarity, usage & appeal (e.g. NFC, Visual Search etc.)
• Wave-and-pay
• Interactive advertising
• Device dependency (also see my earlier post on this)
• A focus on Windows 8
• Security, privacy and trust
• A focus on the cloud
• TV and film
• Apps and gaming
• Music
• Gambling
• Physical vs. digital media
• Consumerisation of the workplace
• Deep profiling

If you would like to find out more, get in touch. My contact details are on the right-hand pane.

Tablet research, Smartphone research - Addicted to tablets & smartphones? New research suggests yes...

A recent Ofcom report highlighted an interesting stat, that 60% of teens are addicted to their smartphone. Addiction is a very strong word. There's absolutely no doubt that many of us, not just teens, seem inextricably connected with our mobile devices. A recent study we did at Harris, Touchscreen Life, adds to the debate, corroborating the Ofcom evidence...

Before looking at addiction, let's first take a look at why they're so addictive. It's clear from our data that it seems we use smartphones wherever we are, whatever we're doing. And for people who own tablets, it's even more likely our eyes are transfixed by the screen.

As you can see, many people who own tablets seem hardly to be without them when in the home, even when watching the TV (now a multi-task for many people) and even when eating and spending time with the family. Tablet usage is sticky. We see people tend to under-estimate how much they will use their tablet prior to getting one.

It is so clear why we are all using our tablets and smartphones. They are incredible devices and usage spreads across a phenomenal range of different services and applications.

And it is all this stuff, all these services, all these ways of spending our time that leads some to say that they are concerned about being overly reliant on their mobile devices.

And it's the younger people who are in most need of putting their smartphones and tablets down for a bit. 75% of male 16-34 tablet owners say they are concerned about being overly reliant on their mobile devices.

Addiction is a strong word. There is a balance between using devices a great deal because it enriches our lives and using it too much that it inferiors with "normal" life. It's just, perhaps, that "normal" life is changing for many of us.

All of the data in this report is from an upcoming free report from Harris Interactive. I'll post links to the summary report and full report when they are made publicly available later this week.