According to a survey by technology industry analysts Gartner, the adoption of mobile devices is happening even faster than expected.
The survey of more than 8,000 consumers in the U.S., the U.K., Canada and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) was conducted in mid 2012.
“The major change is that mobility is now reshaping mainstream consumer behavior in fundamental ways, the way people organize their lives and the spaces they live in.” says the report.
It goes on to say that household adoption and spending on consumer technology products is shifting faster than expected in favor of gadgets and services that are portable or mobile and those that deliver networking capabilities and entertainment. Even conventional laptops are starting to lost their luster for some consumers.
"Early adopters tend to leave the home laptop in the bag and are abandoning the home office in favor of the couch or bedroom to do online activities in a more comfortable environment using a tablet or smartphone," said Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner.
"This early adopter trend is becoming mainstream consumer behavior. Consequently, technology and service providers are faced with no alternative but to innovate for mobility. If they do nothing, they face a potential train wreck as consumers abandon gadgets, services and applications that do not fully support changing mobile lifestyles."
The shift is further driven by falling purchase costs of mobile devices such as tablets, laptops and e-reader devices. Meanwhile so called legacy devices such as PCs and TVs are being replaced far less often than mobile devices, with consumers increasingly following mobile manufacturer's own annual upgrade paths.
