Are Smart Phones and Tablets Interchangeable?

Smart phones and tablets are gradually converging. Smart phones have already begun to supersede the MP3 player, alarm clocks, cameras and stand-alone GPS units. Could the tablet eventually take over all of these and replace the smart phone? Although this may be unlikely for the 10-inch tablet, it does not exceed the realms of possibility for seven-inch screen versions. Many smart phones have already reached the five-inch screen size so an extra two inches doesn’t seem too much of a leap. 

One of the most important factors in the possible convergence is the high value placed on voice and content consumption. The smart phone is already jumping ahead of the PC, with around 55 percent of American mobile subscribers using mobile apps while just 53 percent used a browser in 2012. According to comScore, 39 percent of mobile subscribers used their smart phones for social networking, 34 for playing games and 29 percent for listening to their favorite tunes.

According to a Google study, PCs, smartphones and tables are still used mainly for different purposes. The majority of consumers use their tablets for entertainment and gaming while PCs are mostly used for work. When users buy a tablet for the first time, they often transfer their entertainment activities such as movies, music and games from their PCs and smartphones, onto this device. Tablets are most frequently used for playing games, checking email and social networking. Another big difference between tablets and PCs is that tablets are generally used for multi-tasking, with around 42 percent of activities going on while the user is engaging in another task or medium.

Many people still use their PCs for activities that can easily be done on other devices. Business users are mostly dependent on their PCs for email and content consumption, and tablets still remain mostly at home, while smartphones go everywhere and many laptops make the commute between home and work.

According to NPD, tablet shipments are forecast to increase from 72.7 million units in 2011 to 383.3 million units within the next five years. This is also an indication of increasing changes in device trends. Previously, PCs stood as a separate device category from phones, MP3 players, gaming devices, e-readers, cameras and digital organizers. These functions are now clearly overlapping among different devices. Overall this points to the fact that content consumption plays a major factor as the leading application for many devices. (CU) Link