Microsoft’s unveiling of their newest offering, a tablet computer called Surface, introduces another entrant to the tablet wars. Every tech company worth its salt has its own tablet in the market; from the most prolific - Apple’s iPad, to the BlackBerry Playbook and the Samsung Galaxy Tab to Sony’s Tablet P and S, and consumers have a wide variety of price ranges and technical specifications to choose from.

With their lighter weight, lower power consumption, and ease of usage and navigation, it comes as no surprise that tablets are slowing down laptop and notebook computer sales. Tablets are said to be one of the fastest-growing technologies in history.

We hear more and more everyday about how this is the era of mobile, but a report from Adobe suggests that tablets are even ahead of smartphones when it comes to people engaging with brand websites.

The Adobe Digital Index report analysed 23 billion visits to the websites of more than 325 brands across North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Here are some findings from the report:

• The share of website visits from tablets grew approximately 10 times faster than the rate of smartphones within two years of market introduction and grew more than 300% in the last year.

• Within one year of the iPad launch, tablet visits represented 1% of total website visits, and reaching 4.3% of total website visits just one year later, an increase of 330%. In contrast, within the first two years of the iPhone market entry, smartphones accounted for 0.4% of total website visits, and took nearly three years to reach 1% of total visits.

• Tablets’ share of website traffic is expected to exceed smartphone traffic by early 2013 and reach 10% of total website traffic in early 2014.

• A detailed analysis of the website hits revealed that tablets and personal computers were used equally, and ahead of smartphones, for websites with media content and repeated financial services, suggesting that people use tablets for consuming brand-related content and for routine tasks such as online banking.

• PC visits were  30-60% higher than tablet visits for retail and travel websites, implying that consumers prefer PCs for visits involving research, comparison of alternatives, and online purchasing.

As tablets develop and evolve, and their market share grows, the advantages that PC-browsing offers are predicted to reduce. Given the significant growth in tablet use, the report recommends that brands should invest now to understand how the shift is impacting their business and make course corrections to their digital marketing and media strategies to catch up with this tablet transformation.

Do you agree with this recommendation? What changes would you make to optimise your brand’s digital offerings with the tablet? Share with us.