Survey shows most people treating new tablets as 'toys'
updated 05:25 pm EDT, Wed September 21, 2011
iPad owners more likely to pay for downloads
Most people who are buying tablets are doing so because they see it as a new "toy," not practical, a Citigroup survey suggests. In July the firm polled 1,800 people in the US, UK and China, and found that 62 percent of those planning to buy a tablet in the next 12 months want a "new toy/gadget." Other reasons for getting a tablet -- such as gifts, work or replacing an existing computer -- are comparatively minor. The group wanting a tablet as a toy has in fact grown substantially since November, when it was nevertheless still major at 44 percent.
Web browsing, messaging, social networking, "digital media" and ebooks remain the primary uses for tablets. 67 percent of people report doing web browsing, while 55 percent are engaging in email and/or instant messaging. Narrowing down to the iPad, though, Citigroup observes that iPad owners tend to download more apps than users of competing tablets, and are more likely to pay for them. In fact whereas 81 percent of iPad owners have paid for an app, just 43 percent of the rest of the survey group has.
A subsection of the survey reveals that iPad owners with Netflix accounts are indeed using the hardware to watch movies and TV shows, despite claims by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings that iPad support is not a big deal for subscribers. A full 30 percent of iPad owners are claimed to be watching Netflix content on the device, versus 26 percent who have Netflix but are skipping tablet viewing. 44 percent of iPad owners don't have a Netflix account.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2009
Nothing new
Most consumers have always preferred Apple products for their "play" appeal, more than "work". And it's the sophistication of the products that then allows them to piggyback into practical/business uses. Which is the opposite of other products which tend to err on the side of being too businessy but too dull to also satisfy the play-instinct of most people.
Apple aims to "delight". And it turns out that if you do that first and well, then the rest happens quite naturally.