25% Of Americans Own A Tablet

Not even close. Unless their definition on tablet is extremely broad and even then. Some areas I see quite a few, most I never see them. The number is rising sure, but as mentioned I would agree to households but not total people.
 
I honestly read the title as "25% of Americans own a Table" and was getting a little worried for flyover america
 
damicatz said:
This also includes e-readers.
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No it doesn't, dedicated e-readers are another 19%, tablets or e-readers combined are 33%.
Tablets include iPad, Kindle Fire (a tablet, not an e-reader) and more, but the article does not list which devices precisely. But I guess it's every tablet that is not a dedicated e-reader.

25-33% definitely sounds very high, but it is a survey, so it's likely there's a number of people who answered what they wished to have rather than what they actually owned. Still, it's probably one out of five, especially now after Christmas brought even more tablets to the market.
 
What if you own a good smartphone like a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, or SIII. Kinda don't need a tablet...no?
 
ICOM said:
What if you own a good smartphone like a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, or SIII. Kinda don't need a tablet...no?
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If we could make calls on our shoes way back in the 1980's before color TV, we should be able to make calls on our tablets too. >.<

DonAdams.jpg
 
Hell yes I believe these numbers!

I sat through three Christmas unwrappings this season, and of those there were three tablets given.

With the incredibly low subsidized costs of things like the Nexus series, Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD, it's easier for less-affluent families to buy these things for their kids. And for people already in the iOS system, the iPad Mini is very tempting due to it's small size and (relatively) low cost.

And you know kids: once one kid has one, everyone else will want three :D
 
wonderfield said:
I like your "if it isn't designed for productivity it shouldn't exist" mentality.
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Cause these devices are designed for consumption, and traditionally these devices fail.

Is your tablet the best way to watch movies?
God no, cause HDTV's are still better and if you did have to watch a movie on a tablet then you'd hold it for 1 hour and 30 minutes on average. Your wrist will hurt. Unlike a laptop which just sits there and has plenty of storage space to keep those movies. Cause you know Wifi or 3G is never spotty.

Is your device best for music?
Technically it's no different to any other device, unless you plan to take it with you. So if you're jogging or walking to work, a cell phone or iPod would still be the best choice.

Is it the best for reading?
Not the worst, but there are better devices. An E-Reader or a laptop makes a better choice. E-Readers are making for reading text, and are better if you're outdoors in sunlight. A tablet would be better in the dark, but so would a laptop, and you don't need to hold the laptop. You put it on your lap or chest and relax.

Are they any good at playing games?
Touchscreens will never replace gamepads, and getting a blue-tooth gamepad would ruin the portability of the device. So if you need portable gaming on the go a Nintendo 3DS would still be the best. Also if you want games that don't suck, you get a 3DS or a laptop. Laptop is like a portable game console.

So lets see.
Tablet
Movies = FAIL
Music = FAIL
Reading = OK
Games = FAIL

Laptop
Movies = WINNER
Music = FAIL
Reading = WINNER
Games = WINNER

And this is based on consumption alone. So if tablets fail at entertainment and don't have any productivity, why own one?
 
Ashbringer said:
Cause these devices are designed for consumption, and traditionally these devices fail.

Is your tablet the best way to watch movies?
God no, cause HDTV's are still better and if you did have to watch a movie on a tablet then you'd hold it for 1 hour and 30 minutes on average. Your wrist will hurt. Unlike a laptop which just sits there and has plenty of storage space to keep those movies. Cause you know Wifi or 3G is never spotty.

Is your device best for music?
Technically it's no different to any other device, unless you plan to take it with you. So if you're jogging or walking to work, a cell phone or iPod would still be the best choice.

Is it the best for reading?
Not the worst, but there are better devices. An E-Reader or a laptop makes a better choice. E-Readers are making for reading text, and are better if you're outdoors in sunlight. A tablet would be better in the dark, but so would a laptop, and you don't need to hold the laptop. You put it on your lap or chest and relax.

Are they any good at playing games?
Touchscreens will never replace gamepads, and getting a blue-tooth gamepad would ruin the portability of the device. So if you need portable gaming on the go a Nintendo 3DS would still be the best. Also if you want games that don't suck, you get a 3DS or a laptop. Laptop is like a portable game console.

So lets see.
Tablet
Movies = FAIL
Music = FAIL
Reading = OK
Games = FAIL

Laptop
Movies = WINNER
Music = FAIL
Reading = WINNER
Games = WINNER

And this is based on consumption alone. So if tablets fail at entertainment and don't have any productivity, why own one?
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You actually owned a recent tablet? Because your post reads like most who have not. Hell, I used to say such before I got my Touchpad. Which was a gift this holiday for someone I know this holiday season... Who also said such... Who spent all afternoon with football bowl games on with said tablet out.
 
My wife has a Nook Color, but I could never have one. Even if it weighs more, I much rather just use my phone or a laptop.
 
Here's my problem with tablets. (Not counting dedicated e-readers here.) I already have a smartphone that I carry everywhere. It fits comfortably in my pocket and I can use it to make calls and check messages, browse the internet, kill time with games, and even tether my laptop. I also have an ultraportable laptop. It's one of my primary work systems and what I use when traveling. It weighs under four pounds with an IPS screen, keyboard, and sufficient memory and processing power to handle both compiling and running code for work and also gaming and photo editing when I'm on vacation.

I can't replace either of these devices with a tablet, and a tablet does nothing that I can't already do with both these devices. It could be amusing, sure, but that hardly justifies the typical price or additional hassle of carrying something extra around. I've seen a number of colleagues receive them as gifts, and they almost all relegate them to coffee table use just because they fail to fit in elsewhere in their needs.
 
collegeboy69us said:
yeah and how much "work" has gotten done on these things?

Answer: None
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I read IT books on e-readers. Gotta study it up for certs. Makes my resume look better and allows me to demand more money. Course, my $75k a year is already pretty sweet, but why not $100k instead.

Anything and everything can be used for "work". Just all depends on how you use it.
 
defaultluser said:
Hell yes I believe these numbers!

I sat through three Christmas unwrappings this season, and of those there were three tablets given.

With the incredibly low subsidized costs of things like the Nexus series, Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD, it's easier for less-affluent families to buy these things for their kids. And for people already in the iOS system, the iPad Mini is very tempting due to it's small size and (relatively) low cost.

And you know kids: once one kid has one, everyone else will want three :D
Click to expand...

Ya, my sister bought her kid a Nook. It was only $79 from Walmart. Odds are low, she'll actually read books on it. Probably just play Angry Birds.
 
Skripka said:
You actually owned a recent tablet? Because your post reads like most who have not. Hell, I used to say such before I got my Touchpad. Which was a gift this holiday for someone I know this holiday season... Who also said such... Who spent all afternoon with football bowl games on with said tablet out.
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I own a recent tablet and completely agree with Ash.

Using a tablet for damn near any purpose was a pain in the ass compared to using a netbook. You can easily attach external storage to a netbook. You have to hope the tablet supports powered OTG or has a USB host port. Typing on a tablet to respond to a forum post is an experience in torture. I'm typing to you right now while lying in bed and using my netbook. I don't have to prop the netbook against my legs or try to balance it on my chest while holding it with one hand (or have to sit up) to type on it.

I have a first generation Aspire One netbook with the first Intel Atom CPU in it. The tablet I own is much better at playing video (Hardware H264 decoding in the tablet, none in the netbook), the screen on the tablet is MUCH better (IPS and doesn't suffer from refresh blur like the TN screen on the netbook does) and I still prefer to watch movies on the netbook.

My netbook can do almost everything my tablet does. (Tablet wins for portability) Even if it doesn't perform as well, it still does everything I use it for better. Web browsing is a nightmare on a tablet, especially typing urls on a touchscreen. Clicking links, too. Tabs and browser behaviour is far better on a netbook with a keyboard and mouse.

So. Yeah. Tablets fail at a lot of things.
 
wonderfield said:
You still own a netbook? What're you, like 80?
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Heh. Despite how quick people are to frown upon old tech on here, my netbook has been my one single most useful tool in day to day computing... x86 based, so all of my desktop apps and tools will work, can easily clone disks and burn drive image backups without having to take my desktop offline to boot into a liveCD for it. 10 hour batteries for the Aspire One series are dirt cheap. Still easily plays 720 movie rips. Infinitely more portable than a laptop or ultrabook and infinitely more usable than a tablet. I'll never regret buying a netbook.
 
Tablets are for playing games, surfing and playing media from the couch. That's about it. But its nothing to sneeze at, though. A netbook requires desktop space to be used comfortably. Or, at least a lapdesk.

Tablets need to be called 'couch-top' computers.
 
Advil said:
I totally believe the number if you count every piece of junk sub $100 android tablet and every nook simple touch etc. etc. etc...
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Hmmm, I'm not sure if that would even be an important contributor to the numbers. I know a lot of folks with tablets but I do not have any friends with a sub $100 tablet.
 
jpm100 said:
Tablets are for playing phone games, annoying to use surfing and playing basic media from the couch. That's about it. But its nothing to sneeze at, though. A netbook requires desktop space to be used comfortably. Or, at least a lapdesk.
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FTFY. If you have something like a netbook you can just sit it on your lap and use the touchpad? It's better than a touchscreen (as theres a proper keyboard) and you can use both hands to type, annd you don't have to hold it! :p
 
jpm100 said:
Tablets are for playing games, surfing and playing media from the couch. That's about it. But its nothing to sneeze at, though. A netbook requires desktop space to be used comfortably. Or, at least a lapdesk.

Tablets need to be called 'couch-top' computers.
Click to expand...

Until the Win 8 tablets came out. Now they do everything a netbook does, just lacks a keyboard. So typing sucks. Add in a bluetooth keyboard to get back to normal typing speeds, but now suck with having to carry around a bluetooth keyboard. Although some of the Win 8 tablets use a keyboard dock, so it's not much different from a netbook at that point.
 
RedSh1rt said:
Of course it's a bit high. It depends entirely on where the source of the survey results come from. They have a sample of 2.5k... that isn't big enough + a source of that size could easily be entirely from a university campus skewing the results massively in one direction. Tbh people who don't have or aren't interested in tablets won't even be bothered with taking part in such a survey and those with an interest in tablets are more likely to take part.

I'm not an american but I really doubt there are 75-100 million US unique tablet users out there.

You can make statistics show what you want them to show if you aren't stupid.
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You've got that right. This is a common way to get the numbers they want, and let's face it, it's all about the numbers for these people. They manipulate the numbers by choosing a place and population cross section that will get the desired results.

I must be a neanderthal since I don't even own a smart phone, let alone a tablet. :eek:
 
techrat said:
I own a recent tablet and completely agree with Ash.

Using a tablet for damn near any purpose was a pain in the ass compared to using a netbook. You can easily attach external storage to a netbook. You have to hope the tablet supports powered OTG or has a USB host port. Typing on a tablet to respond to a forum post is an experience in torture. I'm typing to you right now while lying in bed and using my netbook. I don't have to prop the netbook against my legs or try to balance it on my chest while holding it with one hand (or have to sit up) to type on it.

I have a first generation Aspire One netbook with the first Intel Atom CPU in it. The tablet I own is much better at playing video (Hardware H264 decoding in the tablet, none in the netbook), the screen on the tablet is MUCH better (IPS and doesn't suffer from refresh blur like the TN screen on the netbook does) and I still prefer to watch movies on the netbook.

My netbook can do almost everything my tablet does. (Tablet wins for portability) Even if it doesn't perform as well, it still does everything I use it for better. Web browsing is a nightmare on a tablet, especially typing urls on a touchscreen. Clicking links, too. Tabs and browser behaviour is far better on a netbook with a keyboard and mouse.

So. Yeah. Tablets fail at a lot of things.
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I went from an MSI netbook running WinXP to a tablet. Tablet running ICS, spanked the netbook in performance and just plain just working. I didn't bother installing W7 on it because that whole driver debacle common on such systems. My dad was a skeptic, til it took all of a minute to connect to his wirelessly networked printer....which even on a full sized laptop took forever to fight drivers to figure out how to do, because the proper options weren't in the open. Give me a touchscreen any day of the week over a (tiny) touchpad

If ya need more advanced options then tablets aren't for you because they're not designed for it. Or get a fold out bluetooth keyboard. For 99% of general light-weight dicking around usage that 99% of people not on [H] do, they're better done (at stock) than netbooks.

I suppose if I wanted to waste my time I could have taken my netbook tore out the slow ass HDD spinner inside, replaced with fast SSD...installed W7...and hoped that drivers for screen brightness control and wifi worked....and maybe gotten the instant-on feeling that you get out of tablets/phones hardware/software. Bloody PITA though in comparison.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I don't. Do you live in San Francisco or something?
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Most places that you have to ride public transit to work would have a higher abundance. I live in Chicago and if someone isn't listening to their mp3 player, they're surfing a tablet. I see the occasional hard copy book reader but tons of tablets.
 
Skripka said:
I went from an MSI netbook running WinXP to a tablet. Tablet running ICS, spanked the netbook in performance and just plain just working. I didn't bother installing W7 on it because that whole driver debacle common on such systems. My dad was a skeptic, til it took all of a minute to connect to his wirelessly networked printer....which even on a full sized laptop took forever to fight drivers to figure out how to do, because the proper options weren't in the open. Give me a touchscreen any day of the week over a (tiny) touchpad

If ya need more advanced options then tablets aren't for you because they're not designed for it. Or get a fold out bluetooth keyboard. For 99% of general light-weight dicking around usage that 99% of people not on [H] do, they're better done (at stock) than netbooks.

I suppose if I wanted to waste my time I could have taken my netbook tore out the slow ass HDD spinner inside, replaced with fast SSD...installed W7...and hoped that drivers for screen brightness control and wifi worked....and maybe gotten the instant-on feeling that you get out of tablets/phones hardware/software. Bloody PITA though in comparison.
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You must have an old netbook. The single core Atom procs with 2 gig of memory and not much else. Those things were ridiculously slow. Arm procs nowadays are about on par with the dual core Atom procs.

I have an Acer Iconia A500 tablet (on ICS) and I don't get any kind of instant-on feeling. Damn thing takes over a minute to boot. Now if all I do is lock it, so the screen turns off. Sure, instant-on feeling. No different than my Win 7 tablet or Win 7 laptop.

It's not to say I don't like my Android tablet. I loved it, when it was on Honeycomb. ICS is a total piece of crap. Audio and Video don't sync up, when playing audio through bluetooth speakers. Just waiting on Jelly Bean. I don't feel like flashing a new rom on. I didn't buy an Andoid tablet to have to tinker with it to make it work normal.
 
Half the people I know all have tablets. I've got 2 but only use the iPad 3, the touchpad is now a $150 desk clock.
 
collegeboy69us said:
yeah and how much "work" has gotten done on these things?

Answer: None
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What a remarkably closed minded person you are. Just because you can't find a way to be productive you assume no one can.

VPN + RDP on my iPad always me to connect to any of my servers at work and deal with minor issues very quickly. I can also connect to my PC and run any software I need (although the low resolution makes it less than ideal.)

Also, is reading books not productive?
 
DeathPrincess said:
FTFY. If you have something like a netbook you can just sit it on your lap and use the touchpad? It's better than a touchscreen (as theres a proper keyboard) and you can use both hands to type, annd you don't have to hold it! :p
Click to expand...
A netbook is in no position to be snooty about the calibre of games it can play.

And no, its not comfortable. If I sat like most guys who want to be comfortable, the netbook wouldn't reach thigh to thigh. I could sit it and balance it on one thigh, but that is a little awkward and blocks the vent ports.
 
I am seriously laughing here...The netbook and tablet argument is classic. Calling a tablet useless and citing the capabilities of a netbook is like two retards having an argument on who is smarter. It doesn't matter at the end of the day they are both still retards. x86 doesn't matter when the thing is still permanently handicapped by its hardware. While I find only limited use for a tablet, that use trumps anything the netbook ever offered and the market backs that up. This is why tablets are selling and netbooks are disappearing.
 
Netbooks are not just disappearing: they've been eliminated. The last two remaining netbook manufacturers, ASUS and Acer, have ceased production as of yesterday.
 
Interesting data here:

http://www.statista.com/statistics/180656/sales-of-tablets-and-ipads-in-the-us-until-2012/

According to this, there've been about 75 million tablets sold, total, since 2010 in the US. 58 million or so are iPads.

Even if you pretend that NONE of those are duplicate sales (people upgrading from iPad 1 to iPad 3 or something), and the US population is about 320 million people, then just raw math says that 75 million tablets among 320 million people is about 23%.

I have a hard time believing that none of those are duplicate sales though. I really think that 25% number looks high.
 
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