Flurry: Tablets are 'media machines', users skew older

Flurry analyzed 6 billion app sessions across 500 million mobile devices and found that tablets are 'media machines' on which users spend more time playing games and consuming entertainment content than on smartphones.

How much more? According to Peter Farago, vice president of marketing for Flurry, 71% more time.

"On average, consumers use apps on smartphones more frequently but for shorter periods of time. With consumers using tablets more for media consumption, and during the evenings, this stands to reason," writes Farago on the company blog.

"Conversely, consumers use their smartphones for shorter periods of time across more sessions over the course of a day to complete tasks like checking into social networks and using utility apps."

Furthermore, tablets users are, on average, older than smartphone users. Nearly three quarters of smartphone users are 34 years of age or younger, while more than two thirds of tablet user are 25 years or older.

When it comes to gender, there is very little difference in tablet use (49% female vs 51% male). This gap widens slightly with smartphone use (44% female vs. 56% male).

"Traditionally, males adopt technology devices more than women," says Farago. "With an even gender split for tablets, this bucks the trend, indicated that tablets likely have more long-term mass-market appeal."

Tags: gender research, mobile device, mobile trends, mobile usage, smartphone usage, tablets, technology sector