Tablet, smartphone ownership rising in Australia - survey

Tablet ownership is on the rise in Australia. A survey conducted by the digital industry body AIMIA has found that 38 percent of respondents said they owned a tablet, up from 16 percent a year ago. An additional 33 percent were planning to purchase a tablet within the next 12 months. Based on these results the forecast for tablet ownership is 50 percent by December 2012 and 71 percent by mid-2013. Apple iPads were the most popular brand of tablets with just over 75 percent of tablet owners owning an iPad. Just under half of the respondents had both Wi-Fi and 3G enabled tablets, while 50 percent of the respondents had Wi-Fi only enabled tablets. The report also found that 76 percent of respondents own a smartphone, up from 67 percent in 2011. Of those respondents who do not own a smartphone, 40 percent plan to purchase one in the next 12 months. Based on the survey results, 80 percent of respondents would own a smartphone by end of 2012 and 84 percent would own a smartphone by mid-2013. The results show a clear and steady increase in the popularity of Apple handsets over the last four years. Samsung and HTC phones have experienced much slower growth, while many of the other brands have been losing market share.