Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, September 13, 2021
Which device gets chosen for which activities?
Home PCs dominate these detailed activities
- Users with multiple devices universally choose home PCs for these activities
- They are choosing home PCs over smartphones, work PCs, or game consoles
- Home PC-first activities
- Entertainment – Watch television
- Information – search on health, personal finance, read news/magazines, children’s schoolwork
- Shopping – shop for products to buy online, purchase consumer services
- Productivity – personal finances, online banking
- Creativity –collaborate on personal documents, use professional creative software for personal purposes
- Print – print wirelessly to nearby or remote printer
- Communication – personal video meetings
- Work – create work graphics/presentations
Smartphones dominate these detailed activities
- Users with multiple devices universally choose smartphones for these activities
- They are choosing smartphones over home PCs, work PCs, or game consoles
- Smartphone-first activities
- Entertainment – Listen to paid streaming music
- Shopping – compare products/prices while in store
- Productivity – personal calendar, voicemail/voice memos, voice assistant, apps, phone book
- Photos – take pictures, show photos in person, share photos online, record videos
- Shopping – small purchases in person
- Communication – text messaging, personal voice/video calls, group chats
- Social networking – share photos, updates, commenting
- Work – work phone calls, work calendar
Unambiguous platform choices for activities
- Users choose smartphones for more than communication
- Mobility matters for shopping in person, having a calendar at hand, taking pictures and recording videos
- PCs are chosen for their bigger screens
- Watching television, helping with children’s schoolwork, shopping before buying, creating graphics, work video group meetings
Mixed-platform choices for activities
- Mixed-platform activities favor smartphones for mobility and convenience
- Casual gaming, cash transfers, task lists
- PCs are chosen for more intensive activities
- Adult education, writing, watching videos/movies, work-related activities
- Game consoles are highly preferred as the platform of choice for immersive/action video games
Split-platform choices for activities
- Few activities are equally split between being done with either a smartphone or PC
- These activities are likely to straddle preferred device types
- They include having ready access as enjoyed by the handy mobility of smartphones
- They also include activities that can benefit from a larger screen and bigger keyboard, such as creating videos for work purposes
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Indexing
Lenses: Activities; PCs; Mobile Phones; Game Consoles, Gaming PCs and Game-Playing
Tables: ACTxFORM
Tags: Activities, Smartphones, PCs, Home PCs, Work PCs, Entertainment, Devices, Fun, Game consoles, Game-playing, Games, Home PC activities, iPhone, Mobile phones, Personal activities, Smartphone activities, News, Shopping, Productivity, Streaming music, Communication, Text messaging, Work-related activities, Children’s schoolwork, Education, K-12 education, Parents
Waves: TUP 2021
Item: TUP_doc_2021_0903_pc__
TUP_doc_2021_0913_pc__-2022_0302_0811