The tablet is emerging as a distinct channel, separate from both the smartphone and PC, according to a recent survey completed by Fiserv.

The tablet user base is broadening, including more of both younger and older users, and the overall user base is getting less affluent, says Fiserv’s Bradley Scott, VP of product management in mobile solutions.

The survey was conducted over a period of 12 to 18 months with 34 households.

What does this mean for banks, whose tablet user experiences are in most cases still very new? Scott told Bank Innovation that banks must pay attention to how the tablet differs from both the online banking and smartphone banking experience.

Scott pointed to several distinguishing factors of tablets that set it apart as a channel of its own.

The tablet is a tactile device. Even more than with smartphones, tablet users favor navigating by swiping. “It’s a more interactive, immersive experience than a keyboard ,” Scott told Bank Innovation. This carries several design implications. Whereas balance transfers, for example, would require sequential screens on a mobile phone, on tablet they can fit on one screen.

“Tablet users favor large thumbable objects,” Scott said. More can be seen on the tablet, but banks must balance exposing a great deal of information with providing a clutter-free user experience. “You can’t expose re-ordering checkbooks, every little thing,” Scott said. “Crowding the screen detracts from the experience.”

The tablet is a collective device, a “coffeetable device,” according to Scott. “It is both more intimate and more public,” than a smartphone or PC. “There may be multiple users, even at once.”

The tablets studied by Fiserv were used in households, some of which undoubtedly contained children, though this information was not recorded. As any parent knows, a tablet left unattended and unlocked will quickly become a vehicle for “Angry Birds.” This brings up security and authentication concerns, and all the anxieties about unsecured wireless devices remain for tablets. Banks should not store personal information on tablets.

The tablet is a relaxed device. Tablets are generally used in the “leanback” mode, on the couch, while watching TV or relaxing, Fiserv found. The PC and smartphone are both “lean-forward” devices, wheich are much more task-driven, while tablets lend themselves to more casual surveys of accounts without specific goals. As Backbase’s head of global marketing Jelmer De Jong pointed out recently, this makes the tablet congenial to the cross-sell. When we are focused on completing a specific task on the smartphoen or PC, we don’t want to be distracted.

Banks designing tablet experiences must consider the various mobile operating systems as well. Windows is gaining in the smartphone and tablet space but Android and Apple’s iOS are still the leaders. Android tablets have been gaining market share on the category leading iPad, and are less expensive, which suits the new breed of tablet user. Banks must factor in all three operating systems in future, according to Scott.

In addition to designing for three operating systems is the challenge of carrying the appropriate user experience across channels. Scott pointed to three key factors in this regard:

• Accounts must display the same core banking data
• Password and login preferences must remain consistent
• It must feel like the same bank regardless of the device

The caveat to all of this is that, as screens (and channels) converge, the tablet may not remain a unique experience for long. But some, such as Mickey Goldwasser of Q2Ebanking, have said that the tablet will be the optimal digital banking experience going forward. A recent survey done at Bank Innovation 2013, however, found that banks are not spending generously toward a new tablet-specific experience. As the data piles up on tablet banking, that should change.

Fiserv is based in Brookfield, Wis.