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The number of tablets sold each year has risen rapidly in recent years and a number of milestones have been met and broken, such as a record number of devices being activated on Christmas Day last year. In 2012 the total number of tablets sold rose by a staggering 78.4% and total sales are expected to reach 190 million units by the end of the year, so it’s safe to say that the popularity of tablets will continue to grow at breakneck speeds.

Recent research from IDC, who also provided the previous data, revealed that tablets will begin to outsell laptops by 2017 at the latest and this could even happen as early as 2014. So the big question is what effect will this have on digital marketers and PPC campaigns? We are not necessarily going to provide the answers here, but we will address a number of areas where problems are likely to arise.

Tablet

The first problem with tablets overtaking laptops is that this blurs the lines of location targeting even further, as as user is likely to use their tablet throughout the day. This means that it will become even more difficult to determine which devices are being used at home and which are used on the move. Google also recently announced that desktops and tablets will be grouped together in enhanced campaigns, however surely this will need to change considering the rising tablet usage?

Another issue surrounds website development and whether businesses should begin creating a more tablet and touch screen friendly experience for this users? There will also be implications in terms of site and landing page speed and tablet load times will need to become equally as quick as those of their laptop and desktop counterparts.

Finally, what implications will this have for ad text and keywords? Typing takes longer on tablet devices and therefore we could see a fall in the popularity of long tails keywords, driving CPC’s for short phrases. In terms of ad text, if a consumer interacts differently with brands on their tablet then ad text may have to be altered. What are your thoughts?