As I said in my State of the UK Communications Market post yesterday –the Ofcom Communications Market Report 2012 is full of so much fascinating information that it could fill any number of HotViews posts.
As reported, tablet ownership has risen rapidly in the past year, from 2% of UK households in Q1 2011 to 11% in Q1 2012 with around one in six (17%) households saying they intend to buy a tablet in the next year. One third (34%) of consumers agreed with the statement: “I couldn’t live without my tablet computer”. The same proportion (34%) agreed that they didn’t really see the point of tablet computers... until they got one.
I cannot recall any new technology that has gained such acceptance so fast. But what really surprised me, looking at the detail in the Ofcom report, was that the 45-54 age group had taken to the tablet more than any other age group. This is very unusual as every other technology has first been adopted by younger age groups. Of course, cost has something to do with it – as ABC1s have over twice the uptake as C2DEs. But I think it is more profound than that.
This morning I was listening to a feature on the 20th anniversary of The Oldie magazine with editor Peter Ingrams explaining that old people were generally ignored by marketing types (who are all young) and basically were a bit scared (or ignorant) of launching campaigns for the ‘grey pound’. Silly them! In my experience many of these older people have both the funds and desire to use really useful technology like the iPad. I know many 65+ friends who would concur with the “I couldn’t live without my tablet computer” statement in the Ofcom report. If I was Apple (or whoever) I’d launch a tablet campaign specifically directed at the over 60s.