back to article iPad users put tablet to netbook tasks

iPad owners are very happy with their purchase, it seems. Only two per cent of the are in any way unsatisfied with their purchase. So reveals the results of a survey of just over 150 iPad owners carried out by US researcher ChangeWave. It found 74 per cent of respondents were "very satisfied" with the iPad and 17 per cent were …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    100%

    were still trying to work out the point.

  2. Pavlovs well trained dog
    Pint

    I'll get one

    A colleague bought his new toy in to the office yesterday and despite my best attempts to avoid it, I spent a happy (and critical) 15 minutes with it.

    I'm sold, tho I never buy Gen 1 Apple hardware products. Ever.

  3. Pantelis

    What abou the price though

    The ipad may exhibit the same usage characteristics as netbooks but it comes at a price premium when compared to most of them. That fact may act against any possible dominance of the market now currently occupied by netbooks.

    On the other hand, if the netbook makers get their act together and make comparable devices at a cost that is more on par with what current netbooks cost, perhaps with an OS like android which seems well suited like the iphone OS to touch only devices then apple may have to worry.

  4. Fractured Cell
    WTF?

    OK, So...

    I have handled one for a few days, and I /still/ can't work out what it is for.

    It is basically a giant iTouch, anything that i can do on it, i can either do on my iTouch, or my laptop. As far as I can see, apple have created a niche for their product where one didnt exist.

    How is this possible?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ipad owners say Ipad is great...Isn't that a bit obvious

    Oh it's simply the best, it's so new and amazing, I can't think of anything more amazing and new than this brand new must have thing....Have you got one yet? hang on I'll just pause my iPod and fire up my iPhone and show you where to get one...

  6. Seanie Ryan
    WTF?

    explain

    "Apple device is far more of a threat to these gadgets than it is to e-book readers, phones or media players."

    Please explain how it can be a threat to a phone???

    1. Volker Hett

      Since when are Netbooks Phones?

      Or isn't the article about netbook tasks?

  7. Captain Underpants

    150 people?

    Well, that sounds like a suitably-sized sample from which to extrapolate useful results. Oh, wait...

    I'm curious to see what, if any, change there is in user satisfaction with the purchase between now and, say, 6 months down the line. Not to mention 12 months down the line (or whenever Apple get around to announcing iPad v2). But I'd want any sample groups used for collecting the data to have at least a headcount in the thousands, and preferably in the tens of thousands.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    An iPad can do everything my netbook does.

    But my netbook can do them all at the same time.

    Want to browse the web when listening to spotify? There's an os for that.

    1. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Troll

      Want to type some text?

      There's a keyboard ... oh wait... no there isn't :P

  9. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    A niche product without a niche. Hmm.

    Well, not really true. Apparently it's a computer for people who don't know how to use a computer.

    (The words "Etch A Sketch" force themselves before the mind's eye, but that's wrong.)

    Conventionally a netbook is not for doing proper computing on, so THAT fits.

    As for satisfaction, how many of us would not make sure before paying so much money that we were going to be satisfied?

  10. John Molloy

    1% of 150?

    Interesting figure.

  11. sleepy

    atatatat

    @Simon Rowsby: it's not that it can't multitask, but Apple have chosen not to offer a low level system-wide multitasking. If it ever proved necessary, of course they can turn it on overnight. So it's not an underlying weakness.

    @Captain Underpants: Changewave does regular surveys of the same categories of users, and its reports are generally significant. -Apple has for decades ensured that buyers of their products during the previous couple of years are not sidelined.

    @Fractured Cell: You've missed the point. iPad isn't a big iPod Touch; iPod Touch is a small and less useful iPad. iPad is Apple's only product that works well for two year olds up to one hundred year olds; it will outsell iPod Touch by ten to one hundred times.

    @Pantells: Apple is the best integrator on the planet. Competitors cannot currently deliver the performance, battery life and overall hardware quality at the price, and have all backed down from their near term promises. Next Apple will probably buy up all available production capacity for suitable screens, so the netbook makers have no choice but continue to produce junk that works the old way until next year at the earliest. But Apple is a rapidly moving target (they can drain the market of iPads and replace it with a new one faster than anyone), and setting up to compete with the Apple of today is a losing strategy. When you compete weakly with Apple, you are just part of the free marketing they get from all and sundry, as you steer users alongside the Apple way, so they can step across more easily at their next purchase. And finally, it's not about the device anyway. That's like confusing having mains water supply with a having a tap.

    1. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Jobs Horns

      True dat.

      "@Fractured Cell: You've missed the point. iPad isn't a big iPod Touch; iPod Touch is a small and less useful iPad. iPad is Apple's only product that works well for two year olds up to one hundred year olds; it will outsell iPod Touch by ten to one hundred times."

      I was just thinking the same thing. I have seen toddlers being amused with iphones. To be fair, I have been amused by them too. And there appear to be no end of apps to amuse kids.

      I object however to the fact that I cannot run any arbitrary code I want or create on these things without much hassle. Whatever reasons Apple has for this, (and I know there are quite a few, overtly stated, implied, hypothesized or suspected), I cannot accept.

      I thoroughly accept and highly commend and hereby state, imho, for a handheld device, Apple's UI (iphone itouch etc) is second to none.

      But Steve, seriously, you're a shithead for locking this platform down. Go F yourself. I'm not buying one till you open it up.

  12. John Dougald McCallum
    FAIL

    Instant surveys

    I've done these and if you take care when reading the questions you can always guess who the survey is about,also 150? don't make me laugh try 1500 or 15000 in a country the size of the US,sounds like they only did it in one shop.

  13. Ammaross Danan
    FAIL

    Title

    I agree with the idea of iPads being owned by Apple Fans, and thus getting the cult-response thumbs-up. Of course, it is a wonderful device to plod along on I'm sure. However, at the price of a decent laptop that can play Crysis, the only appeal it would have would be as a tablet as showcased in such Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek or Stargate. Of course, there is that lack of actually being able to print to your network printer, multitask (until v4), hook up an external HDD (yeah, you try stuffing all your favorite XViD/DiVX rips into that little storage space, let alone your MP3, oh sorry, your DRMed m4a collection). Oh, and that pesky annoyance of shorter battery life due to charge cycles? Just ship your whole device off to Apple and get a DIFFERENT iPad back (albeit "new" [probably refurbished]). So much for what you had saved on it. Hope you backed it up to an external HDD....

    If it was capable of actually allowing you to connect and use anything you cared to (think netbooks here), preferably without having to shell out another $50-$100 for some Apple-branded specialty dongle, I would be more apt to buy one.

  14. Danington the Third
    FAIL

    The iPad is winning because

    there was never a place for netbooks in the current market, in my opinion. In making these computers ultraportable, all they did was put shitty components into smaller boxes than before, giving users the illusion that the 'magical' technology of teeny tiny computers had arrived. Which is bollocks of course, because every netbook i've ever seen is barely more capable than my parents' 7 year old emac.

    To me, It's like advertising a smaller 14inch CRT vs a 20inch HD plasma display, touting portability. Then making it more expensive.

    Even with the iPad, I don't really see the point. The geek in me wants one bad, mostly due to shiny factor and 'omg i can read my comics on that' factor, but I really can't justify the purchase, given that i've got a Mac Pro, and a Macbook, AND an iphone. My market is basically covered.

    I suppose the iPad does have potential for space constrained users, or older users, or users that don't have any computer already. But again, that price issue is still a bit of a dealbreaker, because i paid £600 for a laptop that has more space, power, capability, and almost as much portability. So where's the angle? What's the point? Is it really a shock that a shiny new gadget is doing better than a piece of shit netbook? Who knows? I certainly don't, and in retrospect this post seems like a little bit of a directionless rant, but sod it, I've gotten this far, and maybe someone can glean a point for me.

  15. David Simpson 1
    FAIL

    Keep your walled garden....

    The thing that is overlooked in this survey is that most Apple customers are so smug about their new machines they forgive and overlook every fault. Apple sell "cool" and ends up being a case of the Emperor's new clothes.

    Looks like a lovely device but it's a fail without flash, I'd much rather wait for an Android tablet that can be hacked to within an inch of it's life with custom ROMS and complete control over how I use it.

    Including the complete pleasure of being able to replace the battery MYSELF! If I'm off on holiday I want a few spares too.

  16. Wibble
    Happy

    In a week or two we'll tell you

    It's so exciting waiting for next Friday to have a play with the new precious. Pity I'm away for the weekend, but I digress...

    In a couple of weeks El Reg could do a survey of iPad owners and produce some primary research for a change:-)

    Me, I'm looking forwards to putting it to use on the daily commute. I think it'll be just the job for this, particularly when standing up (can't use a netbook for that).

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like