back to article Fanbois: The Next Generation. YOUR CHILDREN belong to Apple now

One in two members of the next generation are Apple fans, a study by Nielson has revealed, showing that almost half of under-12s questioned want an iPad in the next six months. And that's a full-sized iPad too. Apple products make up four of the top five products on tot gadget wish lists as compiled by survey-makers Nielsen. …

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  1. MikeyD85

    Surprised

    The iPad mini is so low considering that most kids will be told to foxtrot oscar when they ask for a full priced, fully fledged The New iPad4.

    1. LaeMing
      Happy

      Re: Surprised

      Well, the survey was about what kids want, not what they will get.

  2. dogged
    Coat

    New tablet cancelled

    Apparently there were concerns about the forthcoming Apple iTouch (Kids).

  3. Captain TickTock
    Childcatcher

    Education

    TickTock junior has been learning about far eastern sweatshops at school.

    And he knows the Captain is a long-since lapsed fanboi,

    So there'll be no fruity rounded rectangles under the tree for him, arrr!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bah, humbug!

    Lumps of coal all 'round this Christmas - and get off my lawn!

    1. LaeMing
      Flame

      Re: Bah, humbug!

      At today's coal prices!?!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And in another survey

    Two-thirds of under-13's want a horse for Christmas and one-third would love a Ferrari. None want anything fruity.

    Sample size: 3, location: my house.

    1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: And in another survey

      Companies like Nielson generally try to provide the answers that their customers want - they are in the business of staying in business after all.

    2. Nick G
      Devil

      Re: And in another survey

      At that age they pretty much want anything they see...

      Mine wants a Wii and a Nintendo DS and a Xbox and a phone and a chemistry set and a dog and a lizard and a TV and a Keyboard and a guitar and keyboards and a....

      All paid for by somebody else of course.

      He'll make a briiliant MP when he grows up

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And in another survey

        "At that age they pretty much want anything they see..."

        When the teacher asked us to make a Christmas List (aged 7) - my slate* was filled with 00 gauge model railway stuff like points and trackside lights etc. Just like the 1950s toy shop's Christmas display that we watched with our noses pressed to the window. At some point my big present was a Triang Rover "Princess Elizabeth" set. My spoiled neighbour had a Royal Mail set. Round and round it went - as we endlessly watched it picking up and dropping mail bags at full speed.

        The Mamod steam engine was a periodic 7 day wonder. Can't see under-11's nowadays being allowed to use a meths burner and a boiler. Did I pester for that - or was my father fascinated by them too?

        *forerunner of an iPad for writing and calculations - with rounded corners. The latter probably saved my life when a free-flying one connected with my head in class. Luckily it was also the advanced model made of compressed paper - rather than the eponymous slate.

  6. pavsmith

    Ah, the ghost of Kevin Bloody Wilson... seriously I preferred my bike though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ha ha, not just me who the title brought back memories for then.

      That reminds me, only just over a month to go until we get to wheel ol' Grandad in and make the old **** sneeze.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Uuum yeah

    because under 12s are capable of making informed decisions about technology rather than just wanting something because their friend has one or because an asshole in a clown suit tells them they need it.

    1. Cynical Observer

      Re: Uuum yeah

      just wanting something because their friend has one or because an asshole in a clown suit tells them they need it.

      Applies to many over 12s as well.

      1. RainForestGuppy

        Re: Uuum yeah

        Let me correct that for you:

        just wanting something because their friend has one or because a control freak in a black polo neck tells them they need it.

      2. RAMChYLD
        Boffin

        Re: Uuum yeah

        Perhaps it's the fact that all the games that are based around kiddie franchises are somehow iDevice exclusives now. I haven't seen any new kiddie titles released on CD-ROM or DVD nowadays, only on tablets. And most of them seem to get published on Apple's iDevice store but not Google Play for some daft reason.

    2. James Hughes 1

      Re: Uuum yeah

      Quite. My eldest wants/has wanted an iPad, and yet he KNOW's he's not going to get one!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Uuum yeah

      Hey hey kids!

      http://www.wikinoticia.com/images/tvlia.com/tvlia.com.wp-content.uploads.2009.11.Krusty-Home-Pregnancy-Test.jpg

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Uuum yeah

      Actually some are. Perhaps just not in your experience.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    polarisation

    Apparently nobody in any of my (14 year old) sons classes brings an iPad into school. Meanwhile its around 90%+ in the neighbouring private school, very few android etc. according to the guy who looks after their wifi. If this is more than a local phenomenon, behind the general statistics there is quite a lot of polarisation here in the UK.

    Interestingly at the comprehensive, among the boys iPhone is now thought of as old hat and Galaxy the device to aspire to late 2012. Girls still mainly keen Blackberry users but aspire to iPhone! Fun to observe the fashions changing. Few parents are daft enough to sign kids up to £30/month or so contracts however much the offspring pester. The Wii U doesn't seem to have grabbed imagination of the teens around here.

    1. EvilGav 1
      Stop

      Re: polarisation

      Some of the private schools here in Edinburgh mandate that the kids have to have an iPad (paid for by the parents), to go to the school.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: polarisation

        I plan to send my kids to private school, but the only Apple they are having is the kind you can eat!

        Android tablet, maybe, Linux laptop is very likely,

        I expect I will have to educate the ICT Teacher that windows is not the only OS on PC's, and that there are alternatives to MS Office...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: polarisation

          Good luck with educating the ICT teachers.

          I doubt you'll find private schools very receptive to anything different.

          Being fortunate enough to have two local independents from the top 20 league table and the option of scholarship funding, we looked closely at private but ultimately went for the catchment comprehensive and more than happy we made the right call. Much better atmopsphere and attitude to learning, mixed abilities and coed makes for a far more normal upbringing. Academically, fact is the £14000 a year highly selective schools like to brag about their results but do the sums and the results from the top 15% of kids at out local comprehensive are just as good. Maybe you don't have the option of a good local state school but don't get seduced by the Daily Mail into thinking private is the best choice if you can afford it. Often its the opposite.

  9. Arctic fox
    Trollface

    RE: "Hey, Santa Claus, you ****, where's me ****ing iPad?"

    It would not surprise me at all that, in families where the under-12s are so shamelessly spoiled that they actually get high-end tablets or high-end mobile phones for Christmas, the children concerned would address an elderly white-bearded gentleman reindeer fondler in such a fashion.

    1. Captain Underpants
      Happy

      Re: RE: "Hey, Santa Claus, you ****, where's me ****ing iPad?"

      @Arctic Fox:

      If you haven't already done so, go and look up Kevin Bloody Wilson's discography, you're in for at least one treat :)

      1. Anonymous Coward 15
        Thumb Up

        Re: RE: "Hey, Santa Claus, you ****, where's me ****ing iPad?"

        Kevin? Who the f**k is Kevin?

  10. Manolo
    Holmes

    Ipad as generic name for tablet

    I would guess most under twelves don't know the difference between a tablet and an Ipad and just use the word Ipad as a generic term describing all tablets.

    1. Crisp

      Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

      That explains why when I asked for a Walkman one year I ended up with a crappy Alba portable audio cassette player instead.

      1. quarky
        Thumb Up

        Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

        My five year old often asks if he can play on my iPad. I haven't had an iPad for nearly two years.

    2. VinceH
      Unhappy

      Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

      "I would guess most under twelves don't know the difference between a tablet and an Ipad and just use the word Ipad as a generic term describing all tablets."

      I find that seems to apply quite widely to non-techy adults, as well.

    3. Martin Peacock

      Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

      Indeed.. my 9 year old routinely refers to my HTC as 'iPhone'. Just like nobody would suggest 'Dysoning' the carpet.

    4. Andrew Moore

      Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

      my six year old has asked for a Samsung Tab 2. She thinks it's more superior to mummy's iPad.

      1. Huw D
        Pint

        Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

        Congratulations on having such an astute child.

        1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

          Re: Ipad as generic name for tablet

          iPad, Hoover, Biro, JCB, etc. etc,

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Past the age of 12, children's interest in Apple wanes"

    Let the downvoting commence.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Past the age of 12, children's interest in Apple wanes"

      Their interest switches to the biblical apple?

  12. Samuel Penn

    Google T's and C's

    If they're under 12 then Google won't let them have an Android tablet even if they wanted one, unless they lie about their age or use their parent's account.

    1. Bert 1
      Facepalm

      Re: Google T's and C's

      They all lie about everything. I've drummed it in to Bert1 junior that he should just make stuff up online - ALWAYS.

      It was the only way we were going to get him a facebook account.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: Google T's and C's

        As a brewery owning astronaut, with three 21 year-old wives, I find your son's lack of truthfulness appalling.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Google T's and C's

      And an iTunes/iCloud account has no such stipulations?

      In fact they're only just announcing "school" accounts since legally the kids can't install anything because it requires an iTunes account.

      It's also to combat poorer schools registering 15 iPads under one iTunes account and buying 2 copies of an app to cover a group of 30 kids with an iPad each. Functionally it works, but Apple hate it contravening their licensing. It may also have something to do with private schools doing it too when they can get away with it.

      BTW I work with an Apple-based school (other than AirPorts, there's not an Apple product we don't use)

  13. Anonymous Hero

    Apple is a flop in our house

    This is based on actual observation....

    Both our 12 (lass) and 14 (lad) year old's think Apple's fondle-slabs "look a bit boring". Both have had iPod Touches for ages and I thought both would want "proper iPads" and nothing else, but to my surprise this hasn't been the case.

    The 14 year old has an original Motorola Xoom. He got that instead of an iPad because the price of the iPad was just a bit too rich for us; I feared (read: hoped) he might not use it after a while because it didn't have an Apple badge, and I'd get it as a hand-me-down :). But no luck, you can't prise the bloody thing out of his paws and there was definitely no look of quiet disappointment when he unwrapped it on xmas day. The most important factor to him was that it was a tablet, who made it didn't actually matter. Can he Skype? check, Can he watch Minecraft and BF3 videos on YouTube?: Check, Email: Check...

    Our 12 year old actually *asked* for a Samsung Galaxy Note (the one with the stylus) over an iPad, this was with no prompting, Samsungs adverts and googling made her mind up. Quite a surprise (and a relief wallet-wise) really. As with the Xoom it's been a massive hit and you rarely see her without it.

    In both cases I set up a DNLA server with a library of all their fav films and telly stuff and they're happy as larry.

    @Manolo mentioned that a lot of kids that age (circa 12'ish and younger) tend to use the term iPad generically and I think that's true. The main requirement of a slab is not what logo it wears, or whether it has a "retina display", but whether does all the things a ~12-14 year old needs it to do...Skype, YouTube, Email, Facebook (yeah I know, but we have their passwords), Angry Birds or whatever the game of the week is, play movies/Big Bang Theory.

    In summary, kids do want "iPads" but I think the Apple logo is optional.

    1. Anonymous Hero

      Re: Apple is a flop in our house

      Meh...meant to change the title to "Apple logo is optional in our house", didn't mean it as flamebait.

  14. grandours
    Happy

    This validates apples reputation...

    as a quality toy maker. (Posted from my wife's iPad.)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This validates apples reputation...

      Agree totally, the only one who uses the iPad is my 2 1/2 year old, my 5 year old prefers the Galaxy Note 10.1

  15. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Brainwashing

    iThings have been engineered to be synonymous with success.

    However what the cretins fail to understand, is that simply buying one is not a shortcut to that, it's just a shortcut to PayDayLoans/CashConverters...

    1. Vic

      Re: Brainwashing

      > it's just a shortcut to PayDayLoans/CashConverters...

      Indeed. That's where I bought my Mac Mini.

      I went in and offered them a price *far* below the ticket price in the window. I was most surprised when they accepted...

      Vic.

  16. Jon Gibbins
    Trollface

    Past the age of 12

    "Past the age of 12, children's interest in Apple wanes and they become less brand-focused"

    I'm saying nothing more as that line says it ALL!

  17. Redundent Asset
    Coat

    Apple in schools

    Back in my schools days the whole schools IT system was totaly apple based. What a waste of time that was appletalk, smalltalk ect ect. Ahh the painfull memories of the crappy Macintosh SE and iMac thank god they replaced them with PCs. Guess was the company I got my first job was using.

    To be honest a mix of tech should be in schools. For my job i need to know a fair bit about linux and windows server. In a pure mac school where would i get this experiance? I very very higly doubt the mac will ever make a dent in the market share of windows server and linux in the server department.

    Its almost as bad as exclusivly teaching MS word and Excel.

  18. Peter Murphy
    Happy

    Peer Group Pressure

    An iPad is to today's generation what those old handheld Nintendo Donkey Kong machines were to mine. You can do more with an iPad, but for many of the kids, it's their own little bit of bling for the playground. And children want what other ones have.

  19. JaitcH
    Happy

    My names Scrooge ... our Christmas comes on 2013 Feb 09 ans it's called Tet

    Christmas Day never seems the same when the weather is in the 80's, so we put the Christmas vacation over until Tet, it runs until February 12, and often stores have a bit of a New Years discount.

    So we get to save a little. The iPhone knock off from China, it uses the iOS6-JB, seems to be the hot item this year and it's displays Vietnamese with the correct diacritical marks. comes in a rainbow of colours, too. Guess someone has made off with the molds to squeeze the plastic for V4S - or someone's been working an unofficial night shift.

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