At the close of 2012, market intelligence firm ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) estimates nearly 200 million tablets will have shipped worldwide since 2009 and an additional onebillion tablets are forecasted to ship over the next five years.

New research that explores the impact a tablet has on the daily life of a U.S. consumer shows that 22% of users spend US$50 or more per month and 9% spend $100 or more; much higher than spending levels observed by smartphone owners.

Spending on-device of physical and virtual goods hasn't yet impacted retail storefronts that are already concerned about their venues turning into showrooms for eventual e-commerce purchases. Logistics, such as price checking, using a coupon and location-based searches, consistently rank as the most common activities (each performed by more than 50% of tablet shoppers in the previous 90 days) while shopping.

The actual amount of cannibalization that a tablet has on traditional print and TV consumption varies. Most surprising is that tablets are increasingly used in conjunction with other media types (14% for TV; 17% for newspapers and magazines), which makes the experience more immersive than static-only content engagement.