Generations Divide over Mobile Devices?

Older consumers (Baby Boomers and Generation X) are slightly more likely to favor tablets and e-readers, while younger users (Millennials) are slightly more likely to prefer smart phones, according to a study by Affinity Research.

One suspects the differences are going to narrow over time as Millennials move further along their career paths and have more disposable income, though.

Although the Affinity study estimates that Generation X consumers (generally, people born in the latter half of the 1960s through the late 1970s, usually no later than 1981 or 1982) are 16 percent more likely than the average consumer to own a tablet, a study by GfK MRI indicates that when adding e-readers into the mix, the rate might be even higher. GfK MRI indicates that a Gen X-er is 25 percent more likely than the average U.S. adult to own a tablet or e-reader.

Income may play a large part in this age group’s strong adoption of tablet computers. Wealthier Gen-X consumers are more likely to own the “latest and greatest” gadgets, according to Affinity.

Gen Xers with household incomes of more than $100,000 are 63 percent more likely to own a tablet PC than other Gen Xers. Tablet adoption also skews toward Gen X males, at least for the moment.

Generations Divide over Mobile Devices