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Almost 80 per cent of tablet use takes place in the living room

by Zen Terrelonge
Wednesday, November 2nd 2011 at 11:15AM

Almost 80 per cent of tablet use takes place in the living room

Nine out of ten UK tablet owners swipe and tap their devices for an average 2.8 hours per day.

Market researcher CCS Insight says tablet use predominantly takes place indoors thanks to creature comforts. 'Sofa surfers' and 'bedroom browsers' make the home the leading location for tablet activity with 79 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.

The report claims that almost four in ten Europeans even use their tablet in the kitchen. It's no surprise though with a variety of food and recipe apps in the market replacing the need for old-fashioned cookery books.

The rapid indoor adoption has been put down to tablets providing better ease of use as owners replace laptops and netbooks for the portable lightweight devices.

Further results show that tablets are almost as important as sun-cream as 58 per cent take their device on holiday.

Martin Garner, senior VP, internet, at CCS Insight, said: "Previously, people had to leave the room and sit down at a computer to use the internet. A tablet offers a more convenient and social means of access, allowing users to join in with family activities while remaining online.

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"The internet is now so tightly built into many people's daily lives that they want to continue the connected lifestyle when they take a break from work."

Although popular among travellers, commuters tend to steer clear of tablet use at only 15 per cent. This is believed to be a result of limited 3G and wifi when on the move, which causes people to opt for e-readers instead.

Tablet browsing is clearly growing in popularity as more than 95 per cent of UK owners use the device for at least one hour each day, while 11 per cent are online for over five hours.

The report also claims 60 per cent of owners use the tablet for leisure while only seven per cent use the device for business.

Garner responded to the surprising result by saying: "This statistic will alarm tablet-makers that are trying to sell devices to the enterprise market. Business customers will not engage with tablets until they see a vast improvement in enterprise software on tablets."

Non-iPad owners average at 30 minutes more usage each day than Apple device owners. The report puts this down to younger users choosing to engage on social networks with cheaper devices.