Survey Says Apple iPad May Not Be For Everyone
Surveys have been used for a long, long time. Companies all over the globe use them to justify decisions for marketing, as well as to see where their products, ideas, or campaigns are sitting with the populace. Of course, there’s a lot of room to maneuver when you’re looking at the results of any given survey, or poll, because you can’t quite grasp the full picture. Unless you can find a way to blanket the entirety of a group, like everyone who’s a fan of Apple, tablets, or technology in general, then a result such as this can be taken lightly. Even if they are revealing.
Before the official launch of the iPad, the main question on everyone’s mind was whether or not Apple, and Steve Jobs in particular, could make a space that had ultimately failed so many times before, make sense. And now that we’ve seen the launch, dashed several (hundred) rumors that had spawned over the years, and seen what Apple has lovingly branded, we can start looking at surveys. What we’ve got here, is a survey taken by Retrevo, and while we wish we could say the numbers depicted here are great, it seems to be quite the opposite.
Participants were asked two questions: Have you heard about the new Apple tablet that might be revealed in January? And, have you heard about the new Apple tablet, in the week following the announcement. 3% said yes, and that they would like to buy one before the announcement, and that number climbed to 9% after the announcement. Before the announcement, the survey found 35% had not heard of the tablet, and were not interested in buying it. That number also changed, dropping a significant amount to 18%.
The most revealing answer? Yes, but I’m not interested in buying one. As you can see from the graph, we’ve got a big jump from 26% to 52%, after the announcement of the iPad. Again, surveys are not the best way to get the most information from the masses, but at the very least they can shed some light on what a particular group is thinking in regards to a product or announcement. Does this mean that the iPad will fail? Not at all. What it may mean though, is that Apple needs to try a bit harder to detail what it is the iPad is essential for. The easiest way to do that, would be third party applications. Showcase what the iPad can do, and you’ll bring the customers.
[via Appletell]
Also, like with most Apple product, this is very likely to chance when the product become available and testable in retail stores by everyone. Also arrival of third parties applications are likely to make even more people change their mind.
It'd be interesting to have such a survey in about 6 months, when the iPad will be available for long enough time. This is very likely to change in favor of the "Yes, I think I'd like to buy one".
Why that? Because most people don't decide themselves definitely before really seeing and testing a product. Also, the iPad, like iPhone or computers, are products that are programmable, and software features missing today may not be missing int he future. And some "killer app" can convince some people that were not convinced before.
The poll and graph are only noteworthy because of the results mentioned in the article. That, no matter how they transitioned from the previous poll, the number of people who had heard about the iPad, but were still not interested in buying one climbed dramatically.
As for everything else, we definitely agree with you wholeheartedly. Each of those points has been covered throughout the forums, in different flavors and ideas, and we can't wait for the public to get their hands on Apple's tablet. No matter what this survey declares.
We believe the iPad is a great piece of technology, and fits perfectly into Apple's standard for the mobile world. People had ridiculously high expectations of the device, and when they didn't get Steve Jobs announcing the iPad and the kitchen sink at the same time, they got angry. That will all change once the product launches, and it will continue to change after third-party developers start going nuts for the product.