Report: Pinoys top users of tablets worldwide

MANILA, Philippines - When it comes to enjoying time on their mobile devices, Filipinos emerged as the world’s most voracious consumers of multimedia content on tablets, according to the latest report delivered recently by Internet trends analyst Mary Meeker.

On average, Filipino users spend about 115 minutes (or close to two hours) fiddling and interacting with their tablet devices on a daily basis, followed closely by Southeast Asian neighbor Indonesia with 110 minutes, according to Meeker’s 2014 Internet trends report.

Meeker, formerly a Wall Street Internet analyst and now a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, is a legend
of sorts among technology circles, with her annual report on emerging technology trends highly anticipated and referenced by industry stakeholders.

The report also highlighted a key trend among Filipino consumers about the shift away from TV screens and into other types of screens, tablets included.

Filipinos, on average, now only spend about 1.5 hours a day glued to their TV screens, with more users now preferring their smartphones (174 minutes) and laptops (143 minutes) for daily screen time.

Thus, it’s no surprise that tablet sales have skyrocketed in the Philippines over the last few years. In the first quarter of 2014 alone, sales of tablets across the country almost doubled compared with the same period last year, according to a separate report by retail research firm GfK.

“While major international brands have consistently played in the higher price brackets, local and Chinese brands have successfully developed the low price segment which brought down the average cost and made the device even more affordable,” said Benny Villanueva, managing director for GfK Philippines.

Giving Filipino consumers easier access to these tablet devices has been the objective of Smart Bro when it launched its Gadget Plus Plans lineup last year, which has since expanded to offer more than 20 premium tablet models from major international and local brands, including the latest models from Samsung, Acer, Asus, HP, Polaroid, Alcatel, Huawei, and Starmobile, among many others.

“With Smart Bro’s Gadget Plus Plans, users no longer have to worry if they do not have a credit card because the device amortization is already included in their monthly bills,” said Michele Curran, data and international services marketing head at Smart Communications Inc.

For as low as P499 a month, users can get their hands on the latest tablet devices that already comes with monthly Internet-surfing hours using the free Smart Bro Pocket Wi-Fi that comes with the bundle. It is also protected by an anti-bill shock guarantee that activates automatically once the allocated hours run out.

Users can choose from the widest range of tablet and laptop bundles with Smart Bro’s Gadget Plus Plans. To know more about these plans and to sign up for one, simply visit the nearest Smart Store.

Interested subscribers may also visit
smart.com.ph/bro, call 888-1111 on their landline phones or dial *888 for existing Smart subscribers.