Apple’s seemingly unstoppable iPad is continuing to voraciously cannibalize the declining netbook market.
Indeed, as ChangeWave’s Paul Carton reports, just a paltry 14% of those who plan on buying a laptop in the next 90 days will purchase a netbook.
“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,” he explained.
“Moreover, in a close-up look at tablet demand trends for the Holidays, our ChangeWave survey finds continuing momentum for the iPad.”
According to Carton, nearly three-quarters of current iPad owners (72%) confirmed they were ‘very satisfied’ with the device, while another 23%
said they were ‘somewhat satisfied.'”
However, he cautioned that Apple’s tablet reign was likely to be challenged by a “flurry of competitors,” including HP’s Slate, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and RIM’s PlayBook.
“[But in the meantime], Apple is [still] the biggest beneficiary [of this trend], with four-in-five likely tablet buyers (80%) saying they’ll purchase an iPad.
“[In sharp contrast], RIM’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%).
“[Of course], with the iPad having already set the bar so very high in terms of customer expectations – these new tablets all [undoubtedly] have their work cut out for them in order to succeed in the race to gain new market share.”
