North America will account for close to half of the $72 billion consumer spend on tablet devices this year, one study indicates.
According to new “Media Tablets and eReaders” market data published by ABI Research, North America’s piece of the total tablet revenue pie will reach about 47% in 2013, suggesting the burgeoning volume of tablet ad inventory will continue to be geographically concentrated in the U.S. and Canada. The second hottest territory for consumer tablet expenditures was Western Europe, at 29%, followed by the Asia-Pacific Region (Japan and South Korea specifically) at 21%.
More than 39 million tablets were shipped during the first quarter of 2013, which was credited to the strength in spending power in the top three regions along with the acceleration in Microsoft Windows tablets enabled by partners like Lenovo, HP, Samsung and ASUS.
Technology, telecoms and media consulting and research firm Analysys Mason has found that multidevice ownership (such as a smartphone and a tablet device) has been a contributing factor to a consumer’s willingness to increase spending on mobile data. In its Connected Consumer Survey 2013, Analysys Mason found the rate of those who buy apps for smartphones was nearly three times higher among those who own tablets compared to those who didn’t.
The challenge for smart-device operators and vendors in terms of monetization? Synchronizing app libraries among devices to broaden the mobile device ecosystem and improving interdevice connectivity to not only aid in the discovery and download process, but, ultimately, ad placement.
