Based on the results of a study conducted on tablet owners, it was revealed that more tablet owners are now using WiFi this year. The study, which was conducted by Connected Intelligence – a division under the NPD Group, showed that in April 2011, 60 percent of the total number of tablet owners said that they only employ WiFi to go online. Only five percent of those studied had expressed any plans to get a mobile 3G broadband plan in about six months. By October 2011, those who use WiFi to go online have grown by five percent to 65 percent. On the other hand, users who use both WiFi and a mobile broadband service to go online, as well as those who only use mobile broadband, or even those who do not use the internet, have decreased in number.
According to Connected Intelligence, one of the reasons for the increase in WiFi use among tablet owners is that there is a general concern about the cost of mobile broadband or cellular data plans, which is viewed as expensive. But a bigger factor, according to the group, is that tablet owners are discovering that WiFi is readily available in many areas where they go. Also, since tablet owners are quite tech savvy, most of them already own a smartphone and these usually fulfill the role of the device that has a constant connection to the internet. There is a strong likelihood that more tablet owners will rely on WiFi instead of getting a mobile broadband plans for their tablets because the amount of public WiFi hot spots will increase by an astounding 350 percent over the course of four years.
Originally posted on December 15, 2011 @ 2:58 pm