What are People doing With Tablet Computers?

So, what are tablet owners doing most with their devices? According to a survey of 1,400 U.S. tablet owners by Google’s AdMob, 84% are playing games, followed by searching for information (78%), emailing (74%), reading news (61%), social networking (56%), consuming music and/or video (51%), and reading ebooks (46%).

Interestingly, 28% now use their tablets as their primary computers, while 43% spend more time with their tablets than their PCs or laptops. Those last two percentages seem to jibe with PC-shipment numbers IDC recently released, citing that Q1 2011 global shipments sank 3.2% year-to-year to 80.6 million units from about 83.2
million, marking the first contraction in the global market since “the end of the recent recession.” HP shipments dropped 2.8%, Dell 1.8%, and Acer 15.8%. Though “good-enough computing” is now a “firm reality, exemplified first by mini-notebooks and now media tablets,” IDC’s Jay Chou stated, falling PC shipments are also tied to “extended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences,” stated IDC’s Bob O’Donnell.