Screen mirroring technologies, which gives consumers the ability to wirelessly project content from smartphones, PCs or tablets directly to a television, have already captured the attention of a large percentage of tablet and smartphone owners.
According to the Connected Intelligence Inception of Screen Sharing report from global information company The NPD Group, 40 percent of smartphone and tablet owners are aware of screen mirroring capabilities. Awareness is strongest among men and 18-34 year olds. Screen sharing technology usage, however, is significantly lower than awareness at just 7 percent of tablet and smartphone owners.
“Screen sharing solutions are somewhat new, many only launched in 2012, so we don’t expect a lot of consumers to be using the technology yet,” said John Buffone, director of devices, at NPD, in the press release. “The awareness number is a positive indicator and will help build the foundation to engage more consumers with second screen experiences.”
Apple AirPlay, Samsung AllShare, and Xbox SmartGlass lead in awareness among tablet and smartphone owners. Apple is clearly the front-runner for consumer mind share, yet only 3 percent of tablet and smartphone owners cite using the AirPlay technology for mirroring their mobile device screen onto their TV.
Source: The NPD Group, Inc / Connected Intelligence / The Inception of Screen Sharing
Of the 7 percent of tablet and smartphone owners using screen mirroring to project to their TVs, most of the sharing was photos and videos. Seventy-five percent of tablet and smartphone owners shared videos from their mobile devices to the TV, and a little more than half used it to project pictures.
Source: The NPD Group, Inc / Connected Intelligence / The Inception of Screen Sharing
“Breaking into the mass-market is often a challenge with a new technology,” said Buffone. “Currently, several of the screen mirroring applications such as AirPlay and AllShare require specific devices to operate. Bringing screen sharing experiences to a larger consumer base will require simplifying hardware requirements as well as amplifying the value of being able to share content across screens.”
More than 2,600 U.S. smartphone and tablet owners were surveyed in Q1 2013 for this report.
Source: The NPD Group, Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve personally sold many Apple TV units simply by mirroring what’s on our iPads to big screen HDTVs.