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  (Source: ifreshnews.com)
The number of U.S. adults owning just a tablet nearly doubled from 10 percent in mid-December to 19 percent in early January

After fairly slow-going sales throughout much of 2011, the tablet market finally boomed during the holiday season, nearly doubling tablet ownership among U.S. citizens.

A recent series of surveys were conducted by Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project throughout late 2011 and early 2012 to track the sales of tablets amongst American buyers. The first survey, conducted between November 16 and December 21, 2011, consisted of 2,986 people age 16 and up. The second survey, conducted between January 5 and 8, consisted of 1,000 U.S. adults while the third survey, taken between January 12 and 15, used another 1,008 adults.

The pre- and post-holiday surveys looked at tablet sales over the holiday season, and found that the number of Americans owning either a tablet or an e-reader jumped from 18 percent in December to 29 percent in January.

The number of U.S. adults owning just a tablet nearly doubled from 10 percent in mid-December to 19 percent in early January. Those owning e-readers made the exact same increase in the same period of time.

It's not too surprising that tablets/e-readers were the hot holiday gift items of 2011. With the introduction of affordable tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet, which are priced at $199 and $249 respectively, tablets became more accessible for the general public. Before that point, tablets were expensive (the iPad 2 starts at $499) device's that didn't seem like a necessity for most.

The tablet market could see another surge this year when Windows 8 tablets hit the scene. Intel CEO Paul Otellini said just last weekend that Windows 8 tablets are lined up for production and could make a splash on the scene with Microsoft fans.

Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project


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Still though...
By TheSlowGuy on 1/23/2012 9:28:28 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Before that point, tablets were expensive (the iPad 2 starts at $499) device's that didn't seem like a necessity for most.


They still aren't a necessity for most. They are neat little toys for most, and very useful tools for some.




RE: Still though...
By jonmcc33 on 1/23/2012 10:23:28 AM , Rating: 2
I agree. I'd find their storage limitations to be restrictive. Plus the environment is highly controlled. You will find yourself wanting to do certain things and finding yourself unable to on a tablet, where as you don't have such a restriction on a laptop or desktop.


RE: Still though...
By Cypherdude1 on 1/23/2012 11:32:30 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
They still aren't a necessity for most. They are neat little toys for most, and very useful tools for some.
Actually, for anyone who has a job which requires them to stand or walk around, a tablet would be a necessity. Some examples would be:
construction foremen
real estate salesmen
sports coaches
teachers
students
or any other category I may have forgotten

Also, once tablets and their connectivity become inexpensive enough, people who can afford them (or maybe they can just borrow them from their college age children for the day) could use connected tablets to shop for higher end items such as a car, etc. Being connected while shopping around can be a great advantage. You can read other shopper reviews, research prices without leaving, etc.


RE: Still though...
By jonmcc33 on 1/23/2012 11:57:35 AM , Rating: 4
Necessity? Do you think that these people didn't do any work PRIOR to tablets coming out? Really?

Also have to laugh at your assumption that people cannot afford tablets. That's the Apple fanatic mentality. I could buy a hundred tablets right now and slap you in the face with all of them. I just don't buy tablets because I do not NEED them. Not going to buy something just for the sake of saying I have one...like Apple owners do.


RE: Still though...
By Solandri on 1/23/2012 8:40:49 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Necessity? Do you think that these people didn't do any work PRIOR to tablets coming out? Really?

Medium-term (3-5 years), I see tablets replacing clipboards in most business applications. It's a simple matter of efficiency. Why walk around writing stuff down on a clipboard then sit down to enter it into a computer, when you can just enter it into the computer as you're walking around?

There are some prerequisites of openness and security which need to be met. Neither Android nor iOS are quite there yet. But I see the majority of these problems being ironed out within 3-5 years, and prices dropping enough to make them cost-effective for businesses which til now relied on clipboards and double data entry.

UPS and FedEx have already made this transition, though they had to custom design their own "tablets" to do it. Looking forward, I do think this will be a necessity for any business which wishes to remain competitive.


RE: Still though...
By TakinYourPoints on 1/24/2012 12:56:57 AM , Rating: 2
Security has pretty much been addressed given that only iOS currently supports all of the ActiveSync protocols that can be applied to an ActiveSync compliant device; roughly 40 compared to about a half dozen with Android. Application selection and centralized hardware/OS support aside, this is the primary reason why iPads are being deployed in enterprise while others platforms are not.

I know that my friend at Blizzard uses iPads in meetings, ditto my friend at Valve (it's why Diablo 3/Half Life 3 are taking so long olo derp). It is very simple to record and type out notes, and then have them synced with his workstation before he gets back there. I know with my work in the field it is simple to look up or edit material in the field if I want to without carrying a laptop or anything like that.

Openness is an interesting issue. It is a relevant concern if it results in limited selection. So far the opposite has happened, the open platform is the one that has been limited by weak developer support. The thing is that it the product of other problems (weak sales, fragmented hardware/market, users not spending money). It isn't the product of Android being open, so this can certainly change if the above issues are addressed.

Companies can even create and push out in-house applications for internal deployment with iOS, so again, it hasn't been a roadblock so far.

I'm a bit surprised at how quickly tablets have been adopted for real work situations and how convenient they've turned out to be. Their ergonomics and battery life are huge advantages that many people here seem to ignore. Like you said, I think it's only the tip of the iceberg, it's really just starting.


RE: Still though...
By TakinYourPoints on 1/23/2012 5:22:57 PM , Rating: 2
Exactly. We use iPads quite often when working in the field. Very handy, excellent for PDFs and mobile video, and much more convenient than the old method of passing around a laptop.


RE: Still though...
By GotThumbs on 1/23/2012 12:28:07 PM , Rating: 2
Well....I agree if your referring to Apple. They are THE most restrictive. Android, allows for much greater freedom. Regarding storage limits.....With the use of cloud computing...I don't think I've heard of anyone whose actually reached the units storage limit...unless you download tons of junk apps...and Cloud storage is increasing. My Xoom has become my go to for quick email checking and casual web-browsing. I very rarely do any hard core work on it...but its still a great tool. As prices come down....tablets will be more common place. IMO. there will never be an "IPAD Killer", but over time IPADS will continue to loose their market share....especially as users become more savvy and desire greater flexiblity/freedom of choice.


RE: Still though...
By TakinYourPoints on 1/23/2012 5:34:08 PM , Rating: 2
What I find restrictive is anemic app development for Android tablets, but that's just me. There's a lot less that can be actually done on them due to the fact that developers aren't getting behind the platform.

That said, there is certainly a place for lower end devices with slower hardware such as the Kindle Fire and the Nook Color. You're not getting as much potential utility, you aren't getting as good an experience, and the devices are mainly storefronts for media content, but $200 is $200.


RE: Still though...
By dgingerich on 1/23/2012 11:05:28 AM , Rating: 2
My sisters, all three, upgraded from Kindles to tablets over Christmas. Two of my sisters went from older Kindles to the Kindle Fire, while my oldest sister got a 64GB 3g iPad 2 from her husband. All three of them use them for nothing but Angry Birds and reading Kindle Books from the app. Kind of a waste to me.


RE: Still though...
By Cypherdude1 on 1/23/2012 11:22:33 AM , Rating: 2
Last year I bought my first 2 Lenovo laptops, one for me and one as a gift. I also upgraded both myself to 8 GB RAM each. Have connectivity while on the road is very convenient.


RE: Still though...
By jimbojimbo on 1/23/2012 11:47:14 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, people seem to giving them out or buying them because it's so trendy right now. All they do is play some really simple games and get on Facebook.. maybe read a book or so for a while and maybe browse the web a little. Then again some people get a computer and all they do is browse the web, play solitaire, and that's about it.


RE: Still though...
By TakinYourPoints on 1/23/2012 5:39:06 PM , Rating: 2
Your last sentence is a very good point. The problem doesn't lie with the device, it lies with the user. Just because you throw someone on a top of the line i7 desktop with an SSD, SLI video, plugged into a 27" monitor, it doesn't mean that they won't just use it for Facebook and play Yahoo games or something. The same goes for tablets, there's plenty that can be done on them at this point given the selection of apps out there. It's just up to the user if they're going to do it.


RE: Still though...
By TakinYourPoints on 1/24/2012 12:59:46 AM , Rating: 2
I don't see the move from a Kindle to a tablet as much of an upgrade if reading books is the main function. Nothing beats e-paper for that IMHO. Hope they didn't toss them. :)


RE: Still though...
By Reclaimer77 on 1/23/2012 12:41:16 PM , Rating: 2
Did you really need to make a thread stating the obvious? Of course they aren't a necessity. For most people, neither is a PC. But you know Apple buyers. They'll blow $500 on a gimmick consumer device just because.

I personally didn't think tablets did enough for me to warrant a purchase. But the decision was taken out of my hands when my gf and best friend went in together and got me a Kindle Fire lol.

The value is there for a $200 tablet, for what they do and the bit of convenience they bring. $500? Not so much.


RE: Still though...
By frozentundra123456 on 1/23/2012 6:55:05 PM , Rating: 2
I would tend to disagree with you about a PC not being a necessity. I mean they arent a necessity in the strictest sense of the word, like food or water or shelter, but life would be very inconvenient without one for online banking, bill paying, keeping up on current events, etc.

I would tend to agree with you more regarding tablets though. I recently bought an Acer 7" tablet, open box with discounts for 200.00. I feel this was worth the money for a few apps, e-mail, and internet browsing. However, in the 500.00 range, I just dont see that they have enough utility for that price. Maybe with Win8, but not now.


HP Touchpad got a software update
By Mitch101 on 1/23/2012 10:48:36 AM , Rating: 2
I picture that scene in Monty Python bring out your dead where the old man is saying hes not dead yet representing the HP Touchpad. I opened my HP tablet this weekend and It had an update for the OS.

webOS 3.0.5
The HP webOS 3.0.5 update enhances core apps like Email and Calendar, improves the video calling experience, and fixes additional bugs.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-HP-TouchPad-is-...

CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 has been released for the HP TouchPad too. I think I'll go for a walk.




By drycrust3 on 1/23/2012 2:17:36 PM , Rating: 2
Your software may have updated, but the real question is how many of that 9% increase in tablet ownership had an "hp", "Compaq", "Palm", etc, on the name plate? As far as I know the answer is "none", and if that is correct, then you can expect the next PC type computer that 9% of people buy probably won't be an HP brand name either.
The sad part is there wasn't any reason 50% of those sales didn't have had an HP brand name on it ... any reason other than decisions made by the board of directors.
HP have the technical capability to design, build, manufacture tablets with WebOS, Android, or Windows Phone 7 on them.
I agree with your "going for a walk" comment! What else can one do when one sees one of the best manufacturing companies ever simply walk away from their primary market? You can't even claim moral or religious reasons as the reason for the decisions because computers aren't evil or sinful (at least as far as I know).
I can't help but wonder what does motivate the board of directors.


"Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town." -- Charlie Miller











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