With technology becoming an indispensable aspect of day-to-day life, the smartphone and tablet markets are steadily growing. Recently, Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) in collaboration with The Economist Group conducted a survey on "news use on mobile devices", which revealed that more and more adults in the U.S. are gravitating towards the use of tablets and smartphones to access information.

The survey was conducted online from June 29 to Aug. 8 among 9513 adult respondents, of which 4683 owned mobile devices. The survey's findings disclosed that nearly 22 percent of adults in the U.S. owned a tablet, which is double the 2011 figures (11 percent). Additionally, the smartphone ownership figure has also increased from 35 percent in 2011 to 44 percent in 2012. Consequently, nearly 50 percent of Americans now have access to the Internet via a tablet or smartphone.

"Even with the broadening population and wide range of competing activities, mobile owners are drawn to news on their tablet and smartphones," said PEJ deputy director Amy Mitchell. "The evidence is also mounting that mobile devices are adding to, rather than replacing, how much news people consume," said Mitchell.

According to the survey, 64 percent and 62 percent of tablet and smartphone owners, respectively, indicate that they use the devices to get news updates at least once a week. Moreover, the research reveals that users don't just skim through the headlines. Nearly 73 percent of tablet and 61 percent of smartphone users say that they read in-depth articles sometimes. The survey's findings are reflective of the current news consumption trends with 19 percent of respondents stating that they read articles on their tablet/smartphone in detail every day.

Additionally, approximately 19 percent of mobile news consumers have a paid digital subscription, compared to the 31 percent who still prefer the print medium. The trend is indicative of consumer preferences and loyalties with only 24 percent of the print subscribers averring that they will consider the digital one. The survey is indicative that there is "continued resistance to paying for content on mobile devices."

What's more, the introduction of new formats and manifold devices has led to the emergence of new trend, creating a new breed of multi-platform consumers. The old technologies also tend to co-exist with the newer ones. To illustrate, the survey revealed that nearly 54 percent of tablet owners also use their smartphones to get news, and 77 percent of tablet owners also use their desktops or laptops to access digital news content. Nearly 25 percent users access news on all four platforms: tablet, smartphone, print, and desktop/laptop.

"There are a variety of activities one can do on a mobile device today," said Paul Rossi, MD and EVP of The Economist Group, Americas. "However, even with all those options, reading is still one of the most popular activities. With more people than ever before using these devices, this clearly represents an incredible opportunity for publishers across the country."

Additionally, the survey also found that the budget-friendly Android-powered tablets, introduced in 2011, have brought with them a "new crop of tablet owners," and were challenging iPad's dominance. The survey also disclosed that the number of people who owned an iPad had reduced dramatically from 81 percent in 2011 to 52 percent in 2012. On the other hand, nearly 48 percent respondents owned an Android tablet with Amazon's Kindle fire topping the list with 21 percent.

Pew's findings also reveal that while iPad owners use their tablets to frequently access news, Android users are more likely to use their devices for social networking.