iPad spends 20% of time in bed
'Not tonight, honey, I'm stroking my tablet'
Among the interesting stats turned up by a new study of iPad usage is that 20 per cent of users' iPad time is spent in bed.
That nugget was buried in a blog post by Stephen Baker, the NPD Group's VP of industry analysis, discussing his research group's just-released "iPad Owner Study."
"It is obvious that the iPad form factor makes people feel warm and cuddly," writes Baker.
Considering that a recent Nielsen survey discovered that 63 per cent of iPad owners are under 35 — significantly younger than owners of an Amazon Kindle or the study's representative netbook — we can only hope that a goodly chunk of that iPad bedtime time is spent with apps such as Naim Cesur's iKamasutra XL or an iBooks download of Violet Blue's Lust.
Speaking of lust, the NPD survey also revealed that early iPad adopters are more satisfied than those who puchased theirs after the initial rush — satisified with their iPads, that is. A full 80 percent of early adopters identified themselves as "very satisfied" with their purchase, a figure that dropped to 65 per cent for those who waited.
Those early adopters currently use their iPads more than 18 hours per week, and for about a third of them, that per-week usage is growing — a trend opposite to that experienced by your Reg reporter, who found his iPad involvement shrinking over time.
But, it must be quickly admitted, said Reg reporter is far north of that under-35 demographic.
In a separate release announcing the survey, Baker also noted that "Early adopters, like iPad owners ... purchase products because they want them, not because they need them."
That characterization, some would argue, fits well with the Mac-centric nature of iPad owners. Among the early iPad adopters, 50 per cent owned Macs; among later buyers, that number dropped to 45 per cent.
The study also weighed in on the ongoing controversy over whether iPad sales are cannibalizing PC sales — NPD says the effect is minimal. Their findings weren't quite as sanguine for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and other ebook readers, however: "According to the report," the NPD release reads, "only 13 percent of iPad owners surveyed bought an iPad instead of a PC, while 24 percent replaced a planned e-reader purchase with an iPad."
You can find information on how to purchase a copy of the "iPad Owner Study" here. Ask for a PDF version, so you can read it on your iPad.
In bed. Alone. ®
COMMENTS
Another sad excuse...
For nerds to whine about how useless the iPad is for doing anything or using anywhere and how wonderful a netbook is. Get over it. We are now many months down the line from its launch - If it was shit to use believe me you would hear about how Apple got it wrong from millions of people.
Throw down your geekWang
Seriously, go on, tell us all what you do that makes you such an über geek. And after it turs out to be web design, I'll show you mine. And you'll cry.
All hot under the ...
... covers?
I've never seen so many people get so het up about a product ... since ... hmm, since the iPhone ;)
A friend bought his around a few months back, it's pretty cool, messed about with it for 10 minutes - nice gadget. We ended up ignoring it, eating good food, drinking wine and chatting all night.
See, that's it, it's just a nice gadget, nothing less, nothing more.
For some reason, people want to blow this all out of proportion, because they get sucked into the Apple marketing groove - they seem to expect some sort of electronic nirvana & when it doesn't happen, they get all upset.
The kid in the sweet shop, gorges himself stupid, ending up with the mother and father of all gut aches.
You have to ask yourself, when adults start over analysing electronic devices, is it not an extremely unhealthy outlook on life?
FFS, go hang out with your mates down the pub, go for a walk, read a book, watch a movie, play some sport - just get over this obsession with gadgetry!
Damn geeks.
(Posted from my HTC Desire whilst listening to my iPod touch in a crowded pub)
MultiFail Matt Rides Again
Let me count the ways :
"It doesn't need to as most netbooks come with better screens already"
I hate to tell you, but if your 'netbook' screen is bigger (I assume you mean bigger, because better is certainly out of the question) than it's actually just a cheap shit laptop.
"and a laptop is goning to be waaaaaaaay better still."
Bigger. You seem to very focussed on size issues.
"That's just feature sell - why do I need touch if I already have pointing devices like a mouse and proper keyboard?"
Yes well done, you have perhaps finally spotted that having a touch screen interface is the USP of the tablet form factor. Well done.
"But then other mobile devices like iPaqs and smart phones have had touchscreens for over a decade, and I can remember having touchscreen handsets for warehouse stocktaking back in the nineties"
Erm, yes. And ?
"Go to your local Dixons/CompUSA, find the netbooks/laptops, close the lid on one whilst it is running and then open again - instant restart! "
No. Does. Not. Happen. I've got three windows lap/net/top/books in here with me and not one single one of them does this properly. Not even the very latest super Windows 7 touch screen model. My old G4 lappy however will happily do it.
These are chalking up quickly aren't they ? We're up to five already. Shall we stop counting ?
"The rest of your rant is just more Apple marketting waffle served up with zero knowledge."
Given your apparent lack of knowledge of the power functionality of windows based netbooks - which suggests you don't actually own one, by the way - your complete ignorance of the ergonomic utility of the tablet form factor or touch screens in general, that's a bit rich, don't you think ?
"Anyone with half a brain would realise it was gumph from the word go and not fit to be seen on a tech website. Please don't insult us with such sheep-like behaviour again, it's insulting.""
No Matt, what is insulting is if I were to call you, say, a zero knowledge whiny fucktard of a man - who for reasons known only to himself has devoted his life to hating Apple so hard that it has wiped whatever minimal tech knowledge he may once have possessed out of his brain - trapped in a loveless marriage with an exploitative bimbo and displaying a worrying obsession with size and power that speaks volumes about the likely erectile dysfunction he suffers.
That's an insult. Can you see the difference ?
Early adopters.
The early adopters can't admit anything could be anything but rosy with the iPad or any other iWant device. They spend so long convincing themselves that every Apple product is going to actually make their life bearable that there is no way they can admit it does little more than provide some light relief (in their case, going by the 20% time in bed bit, the relief is all from Ma Hand and her five daughters). For them, the religion is so strong they could never admit anything but undying love for the iPad.
Mrs Bryant has a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes (for unmarried guys, those are designer high heels with distinctive red soles - ask a girl and if she knows and wants some then she is guaranteed high maintenance!). She spent weeks before she bought them drooling over a pic of them. She told all her mates and anyone within earshot that she was getting them. By the time she actually went and bought them she had convinced herself the shoes were going to change her life. After she got them she found out she can only walk slowly in them - any further than a few hundred yards and she's virtually crippled. But she loves wearing them out, and the main reason is the envious looks she gets from other fashion victims when they see those red soles. As shoes go they are inpractical and she could have bought dozens of paris of more comfortable shoes for the same price, but then they wouldn't have been so desirable, dahhhhhling.
Early iPad adopters are exactly the same, you will have noticed that they just can't stop talking about their iPad/iPhone and seem happiest when showing it off to fellow fashion victims. Did you really expect them to say the iPad experience was anything but "wonderful, dahhhhling"?
