Many moving PC tasks to phones, tablets

One-third of PC users are shifting many of their computing activities to "post-PC" devices like tablets and smartphones, a U.S. market research firm says. PC users are increasingly moving traditional desktop activities to mobile devices, the report by the NPD Group said, and 37 percent of consumers who used to use PCs to access content now do so on their and smartphones. The research found the two activities that have switched the most from PC to post-PC devices are Web browsing and Facebook, ZDNet reported Thursday. About 27 percent of smartphone owners have decreased both their Web browsing and Facebook usage on their desktop and notebooks, and the same numbers are holding true for tablet users, NPD Group said. Despite the shifts in usage preference, the PC remains on top for Web browsing, with 75 percent of PC owners using it for this task compared to 61 percent of smartphone users and 53 percent of tablet owners. The idea of moving more and more activities from a PC with a smartphone or tablet doesn't bode well for PC makers who are already struggling financially, ZDNet said.