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Tablets are replacing computers, according to new figures, as we voraciously eat up online video from YouTube to Netflix.
Industry analysts IDG polled 23,500 people across 43 countries about their use of mobile devices. The survey focuses on the habits of business executives as well as comparing the behaviour of members of generation X — people roughly in their thirties to fifties — with younger millenials, who largely grew up with the Internet.
Nearly everybody surveyed owned a smartphone. Older people are more likely to own a tablet: more than half of 25 to 34-year olds have an iPad or similar device, but only a third of 18 to 24-year olds can say the same.
40 percent of those surveyed have replaced their desktop computer or laptop with a tablet. They don’t just use their tablet for checking Facebook and watching cat videos on YouTube: a whopping 80 percent admit to using their tablet for work-related research in the evenings.
Video tasty
IDG highlights the explosion in video watched on mobile devices in recent years, including phones and tablets. Three quarters of respondents use a smartphone to watch online videos, up from 61 per cent in 2012.
One of the reasons the growth in mobile video watching is significant is that video requires more data sent to a device — especially if it’s in high definition — which uses more bandwidth. As a result, mobile phone networks reckon video puts a strain on their network.
During the World Cup, for example, soccer fans have turned to their phones or tablets to follow games kicking off at times when they’re at work or out of the house. EE, the UK’s first 4G network, saw record traffic generated by streaming online video. The biggest spikes involved coverage of England’s ill-fated game against Uruguay and replays of Australian superstar Tim Cahill’s stunning volleyed goal against Holland.
Despite these figures on tablet use, other analysts have suggested that tablet sales could be impacted by phablets, as consumers plump for a smartphone with a video-friendly larger screen rather than buying a phone and tablet separately.
