Survey: Gaming Top Activity On Tablets For U.S. Users

Gaming is the most popular activity on tablets, according to a new U.S. survey from Google's mobile advertising division AdMob [PDF]. The survey polled 1,400 respondents in March this year, and found that 84 percent of those polled said they played games on their tablets. That topped other popular tablet activities, including "search for information" (78 percent), emailing (74 percent) and reading the news (61 percent). Apple kicked off a tablet computing craze when it launched the sleek iPad in April last year. iPad 2 launched in March this year and sold 1 million units in its launch weekend in the U.S. Just prior to the iPad 2's launch, Apple said sales of the iPad were over 15 million units worldwide. Google's new Android OS, dubbed Honeycomb, is intended to be more tablet-friendly. AdMob's survey also found that 43 percent of respondents spend more time with their tablets than they do with their desktop or laptop. Thirty-four percent of respondents said they use their tablets more than they watch TV. Seventy-seven percent said their usage of their desktops and laptops decreased after they started using their tablets. At the same time, only 28 percent said they use their tablet as their "primary computer." The poll also said 68 percent of those surveyed said they spend at least one hour a day using their tablets, and 82 percent primarily used their tablets at home. Sixty-two percent said they used their tablets during nighttime, as opposed to 38 percent who use them during the day. A December survey conducted by research firm Interpret found that gaming was second only to web surfing among U.S. respondents.