US consumers continue to show “healthy interest” in consumer electronic (CE) devices, smartphones and media tablets in particular, indicating healthy CE demand for 2012, according to ABI Research’s latest “Technology Barometer: Connected Home and Computing Research Service” update.
Twenty-five percent of respondents to ABI’s Technology Barometer survey said they intend to purchase a smartphone during 2012. The same percentage said they intended to purchase HDTVs. Sixteen percent said they intended to purchase a tablet, while 17% said they intended to purchase Blu-ray players and 18% game consoles.
“Mobile devices have clearly captured the attention of many consumers and companies within the content value chain, but consumer electronics devices like TVs, Blu-ray players, and game consoles remain at the heart of the digital living room,” ABI Senior Analyst Michael Inouye stated. “Connectivity continues to present new opportunities for all members within the value chain to enrich the user experience and mobile devices will increasingly be an additive part of the equation.”
Second-screen mobile apps and social media apps are feeding consumers’ interest in and demand for mobile CE devices. ABI cites GetGlue, Miso, zeebox, Disney Second Screen and Shazam as “prime examples” of how mobile apps are leading viewers to make use of mobile devices to augment watching pay-TV services, a development that has also captured the attention of pay-TV and Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet TV/video service providers.
“There will always be value in viewing content on the large screen, so we do not see these mobile applications as subtractive or competitive to the connected CE space,” Inouye added.
“Respondents, for instance, continue to favor connected CE devices for viewing Internet video content on the main screen over alternatives like smartphones or tablets. While connecting a mobile device to the TV screen or wirelessly mirroring the screen may be foreign to many consumers, this practice will occur more frequently as the market and consumer behavior evolves, but given the portable nature of these devices and social nature of TV viewing fixed devices will continue to have a strong role to play in the digital living room.”
ABI has published two new surveys that track consumer behavior, purchase intent, brand preferences and connected home devices: “WAVE 3 US CE Purchase Intent” and “WAVE 3 US Computer Purchase Intent.”
