In two years tablet devices reached the same level of adoption in the US market that smartphones reached in seven years according to a February 23 report by analytics firm comScore.
The comScore report examined data from the US mobile market over the period December 2010 - December 2011. The report found that despite only being introduced a few years ago tablet devices are reaching what the report describes as ‘critical mass' in the US market.
The report found that in less than two years, over 40 million tablets came into use in the US market, equaling a level of penetration that it took the smartphone market seven years to reach.
However, the report goes on to point out, despite the high level of penetration, tablet devices are not replacing smartphones; rather they are being used to supplement what comScore terms a ‘multi device diet' -- a term which describes the consumption of media across several platforms.
Of the countries included in the comScore survey, the USA had the highest rate of mobile phone owners that also own a tablet at 14.3 percent; Canada and Spain came joint second with 10.3 percent, followed by France with 8.4 percent and the UK and Italy with 8.2 percent.
The report attributes the rapid rise in the popularity of tablet devices to the availability of various devices across a number of platforms and price brackets -- for example Apple's iPad, Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Amazon's Kindle Fire.
However, despite a wide range of tablets spread across numerous platforms for varying prices, data released February 23 by NPD Display suggests Apple's iPad is the most popular device. The data showed that shipments of Apple's iPad, one of the most expensive devices on the market, increased by 18.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, far outstripping shipments of rival brands such as Amazon (5.3 million units), Samsung (2.1 million units) and Barnes and Noble (1.1 million units).
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