Of all the wireless devices that have hit the market in the past several years, tablets present the biggest commercial opportunity for media owners, in terms of what consumers are willing to pay for and consume on the devices. But for now, that opportunity is, at best, a mid-to-long-term one. Research from Nielsen—being presented for the first time today at the paidContent Mobile conference—shows that in the U.S. today, more than 95 percent of consumers have yet to buy one.
That puts tablets, for the last year at least, behind every other wireless device category for the moment for penetration; and also behind most other devices in terms of how fast they’re getting adopted:
On the positive side, low penetration represents a big opportunity ahead for those device makers not named Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), which currently controls more than 80 percent of the tablet market, according to Nielsen.
Those consumers who have started to use tablets, meanwhile, are definitely living up to their name. They watch more video and read books; are more accepting of advertising and are more likely to make a purchase after viewing an ad, than users on smartphones or other devices.
These numbers could be a by-product of the fact that those using tablets today are early adopters, and therefore more keen, than the mass market. But if they hold up as the market grows, tablets could be the window to a new model of paid digital content.
Credits -paidcontent
