Tablet Users Don't "Work" on Tablets

There will be nearly 70 million tablet users in the United States by the end of 2012, an increase of more than 100 percent over 2011, eMarketer estimates.  Aside from representing the fastest-adopted digital device ever, tablet usage also shows the way digital device activities have changed since the advent of the "PC" era.

Of the top 10 or 11 categories of things people report doing on a tablet, only using email is arguably something that could sometimes be called a "work activity," most of the time.

And that also is something not specific to a tablet, as more people can use email on their smart phones, as well.

Granted, we all have been at meetings where an attendee looked something up using a browser and search engine. But those things also are done by other attendees on smart phones or PCs. The point is that PCs, smart phones and tablets all are multiple-function devices. But the lead functions of each device are distinct.

For many observers, that suggests tablets are not a "replacement" for a PC so much as an indicator of the ways digital appliances now have become content consumption vehicles. True, tablets are smarter than TVs, radios, DVRs or some older MP3 players. But they are content consumption or media players as much as anything.

For all tablet owners under age 50, playing games was the most common activity. For the youngest tablet owners, ages 18 to 29, this was followed by shopping, reading books and email.

Email had a much greater importance among 30- to 49-year-olds, who were about twice as likely to use their tablets for email purposes than were their younger counterparts.

For 50- to 64-year-olds, email was the most common tablet activity overall.