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Kids want Santa to bring iPads not consoles

Teenagers more discerning

Reg readers may be grizzled old gits who have no truck with all that shiny fluff that Jobs bloke puts out, but younger generations are in love with the stuff.

According to market watcher Nielsen, US kids aged between six and 12 are more likely to nag their parents for an iPad this Christmas than any games console, be it fixed or mobile.

Nielsen basis its numbers on a survey it conducted in the US in October. The iPad topped the list of desirables, with 31 per cent of junior-school kids wanting one. Compare that to 25 per cent for the Nintendo DS, 21 per cent for the PS3, 18 per cent for the Wii and just 12 per cent for the Xbox 360.

A computer came second on the list with, appealing to 29 per cent of the kids questioned - the same number that want an iPod Touch.

Non-Apple smartphones came in just ahead of the iPhone: 21 per cent to 20 per cent.

E-book readers scored a mere 11 per cent, book buffs will be shocked to learn.

Anti-fans, however, will be pleased to hear that Apple's products fared far less well with kids aged 13 and up. High Schoolers want a computer more than anything - whether Mac or PC, they weren't asked, it seems - with a score of 20 per cent of respondents.

Some 19 per cent want a TV - the same percentage linked to a non-Apple smartphone. By contrast, the iPhone was on the Santa list of just 13 per cent of youths questioned. Curiously, the Wii is desired by 15 per cent of this age group, ahead of the PS3 (13 per cent) and the Xbox (nine per cent).

Both PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect appealed to fewer kids than the consoles do. You'd expect the latter to score low here - most of these kids probably have one or both - but it's interesting that the new motion-control add-ons have, so far, failed to fire their desires.

For the younger kids, Move and Kinect placed higher than the consoles themselves, but - again - not as high as the Wii. ®

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