Research says size matters when it comes to portable media players

Tablets like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s iPad have been seen as an important additional screen for content owners and service providers looking for potential new income streams, but a new survey from NPD In-Stat indicates tablets have become important in a totally different vein: Users actually are using them for work. “The majority of tablet owners have a screen size between 9 and 11 inches--a size optimized for sophisticated uses that require a lot of interaction,” says Stephanie Ethier, senior analyst. “The top uses for tablets are web browsing, email, and downloading and using applications, which are productivity-based uses."About half of the respondents to NPD's online survey, Smart Mobile Devices: Hardware Determines Usage for Smartphones, PMPs, Tablets, and Laptops, said they had portable media players with screen sizes of less than five inches. PMPs, which can be nearly identical to tablets except for the smaller-than-5-inch screen, are "used primarily to support entertainment-focused uses, like listening to music and watching video,” said the report. Article