ChangeWave Research surveyed 3,108 consumers during October on
the latest planned buying trends for PCs, Netbooks and Tablets, including the impact of the Apple iPad. They found that tablets are eating into netbook sales, that iPad owners are very satisfied, and that after the iPad, consumers are interested in the RIM Playbook and Galaxy Tab.
The percentage of respondents saying they plan on buying a desktop
over the next 90 days (6%) - has ticked up 1-pt since our previous survey
in August, while planned purchases of laptops (8% - remain unchanged.
But one area that's decreased drastically from a year ago is consumer
interest in Netbooks. Just 14% of those who plan on buying a laptop in
the next 90 days say it will be a Netbook - 10-pts below our peak
reading for Netbooks back in June 2009.
The decline of Netbooks is attributable to a combination of factors,
including the end of the recession and the mounting penetration of
Tablet computers - notably the Apple iPad. Moreover, in a close-up look
at Tablet demand trends for the Holidays, the ChangeWave survey finds
continuing momentum for the iPad.
Importantly, nearly three-quarters of current iPad owners (72%) say
they're Very Satisfied with their device, and another 23% say they're
Somewhat Satisfied - world-class satisfaction ratings for the Apple
Tablet.
In the future, a flurry of competitors are entering the Tablet market, including the HP Slate, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and the Research In Motion PlayBook.
To measure consumer demand, ChangeWave asked respondents how likely they are
to buy a new Tablet. An extraordinarily high one-in-four
(26%) say they plan on purchasing a Tablet in the future (8% Very
Likely and 18% Somewhat Likely).
Not surprisingly, Apple is the biggest beneficiary here - with
four-in-five likely Tablet buyers (80%) saying they'll purchase an iPad.
Research In Motion's yet-to-be-released PlayBook tablet comes in
second in terms of consumer planned buying at 8%, followed by the
Samsung Galaxy Tab (3%) and the HP Slate (2%). But with the iPad having
already set the bar so very high in terms of customer expectations,
these new Tablets all have their work cut out for them in order to
succeed in the race to gain new market share.
Note that the complete ChangeWave Consumer PC, Netbook and Tablet Demand report - including findings on Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and other computer manufacturers - is available here.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is coming from US Cellular, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T.