Data Monday: Multiple Device Users

by July 30, 2012

As the diversity and quantity of networked consumer products continues to grow, more people are becoming multi-device users. That is, they switch between or simultaneously use more than one device through their daily lives.

  • More than 75% of US adults own laptop or desktop computers, 44% own a smartphone, and 18% own a tablet. (source)
  • Over half, 52%, of of US desktop/laptop owners now also own a smartphone and roughly a quarter, 23%, own a tablet computer. (source)
  • 31% of US adults who own smartphones also own a tablet computer. (source)
  • More than one in ten Americans, 13%, now own all three: laptop or desktop computer, smartphone, and tablet. (source)
  • UK households now own on average three different types of internet-enabled devices. (source)
  • 15% of UK households own six or more different internet-enabled devices. (source)
  • The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth by the end of 2012. By 2016, there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita. (source)
  • 17% of US consumers get network (TV) content on multiple screens. (source)
  • Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, 23%, now get news on at least two devices–a desktop/laptop computer and smartphone, a computer and a tablet, a tablet and a smartphone, or on all three. (source)

Clearly, we need to be thinking more about cross device patterns that define how people, content, and services will flow between these devices.