Consumers Want to Browse Internet, E-Mail Via iPad
The iPad is probably the most buzzed-about gadget these days, but what do consumers want to use the somewhat ambiguous device for? Despite the talk about the iPad being an e-reader star, the answer seems to be rather plain, according to comScore.
Concerning awareness and purchase intent for e-readers, the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad each led the way with an aided awareness of 65 percent, followed by the Sony Reader with a 39 percent aided awareness response. Barnes & Noble’s Nook device had an aided awareness of 28 percent, followed by the Samsung Papyrus with 11 percent.
Meanwhile, 69 percent of the 2,176 respondents comScore surveyed said they researched the Kindle online, followed by 66 percent who researched the iPad online. Sixty-five percent of respondents conducted online research about the Reader, while 63 percent researched the Nook and 58 percent researched the Papyrus.
While only 6 percent of respondent said they actually purchased a Kindle, it led the list of e-readers and tablet devices. The Reader followed with 4 percent, while the Nook had a 2 percent response rate. Both the Papyrus and iPad had a 1 percent response.
The iPad had the highest portion of consumers who said they were seriously considering buying the device in the next three months, with 15 percent of respondents saying so. The Kindle followed with 14 percent, while the Nook had 10 percent, the Reader had 9 percent and the Papyrus had 8 percent.
“These devices have the potential to be incredibly disruptive to the way consumers currently access digital content,” said Serge Matta, executive vice president at comScore. “While only time will tell exactly how consumer behavior will change, our research suggests that not only will a variety of markets be impacted by the introduction of these devices but also that there are substantial opportunities for those in the digital content ecosystem.”
In terms of what activities consumers plan on using the iPad for, 50 percent said they would “likely” or “very likely” browse the Internet with the device, while 48 percent said they would e-mail. Meanwhile, 38 percent said they’d listen to music, 37 percent said they’d read books, 37 percent said they’d maintain an address book/contact list and 35 percent said they’d store and view photos on an iPad.
Playing action, strategy, role playing and first-person shooter games was the least likely to be an activity on an iPad, according to 44 percent of respondents.
An interesting finding from the study was that 52 percent of iOwners (defined by comScore as “those owning either an iPhone or iPod Touch”) said they’d be willing or very willing to pay for newspaper and magazine subscriptions specially tailored for e-readers, compared to 22 percent of non-iOwners.
Younger owners seemed the most willing to pay for this news content, as 68 percent of 25 to 35 year olds said they’d be interested in this, compared with 59 percent of 35 to 44 year olds.
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