Half of device screen time is spent on entertainment, such as playing games, reading books, watching live TV or listening to music/radio, according to a recent end-user survey by Gartner.
The rest is spent on communication (26%), such as sending emails and visiting social media sites; production activities (15%), such as editing videos and writing blogs; and finding information (9%), including checking the news and weather and researching products and services.
“People often use several devices at once, so it seems we are turning into a society of multitasking, multiscreen users,” said Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner.
The survey, conducted in July 2013, polled 726 tablet owners in the US, UK and Australia.
Findings show that, on average, the respondents spend four hours a day of their personal time in front of devices with screens. These include tablets, smartphones and PCs, but exclude TV sets, game consoles, e-readers and MP3 players.
The survey also found that owners of Apple and Samsung tablets spend more time — around 30 minutes extra each day — on entertainment than owners of other brands.
Apple tablet owners use their iPads most often and over 80% of them are heavy users (10 or more times a day).
“Other tablet providers need to understand why owners of their tablets spent significantly less time on their devices,” said Annette Jump, research director at Gartner.
Jump advised vendors to highlight their tablets' value propositions for particular consumer uses — to advertise them as the best gaming tablet or tablet with the best screen for watching movies — because this information will be highly welcomed by specific consumer groups.