The popularity of the Apple iPad does not mean others will fail in the tablet market, according to Thursday data from Forrester. A recent study found that 14 percent of U.S. online consumers – or 27 million people – intend to purchase a tablet in the next year.
"[This] is encouraging for Apple's would-be tablet competitors: There's interest in the category that goes beyond the iPad," according to the report.
At this point, however, there are very few tablet options except the iPad. Dell recently released its Streak tablet, but with a five-inch screen, it's really more of a large smartphone. Meanwhile, in its earning's call this week, Hewlett-Packard confirmed plans to build a WebOS-based tablet. Last month, LG also said it is working on an Android-based tablet, and there are reports about a Lenovo Android device and a Chrome OS-based tablet from Google and HTC.
Not surprisingly, those who purchased an iPad are also more likely to have a number of other gadgets in their home – from netbooks, laptops, and desktops to game console and Internet-connected TVs – and they plan to make even more tech purchases this year.
Those who owned or planned to buy an iPad already own an average of 3.6 computers, and 24 percent have netbooks. Another 18 percent want to purchase a netbook, while 9 percent are likely to buy a desktop computer in the near future – twice the rate of the average U.S. consumer, Forrester said.
About 69 percent of iPad buyers also have a gaming console, compared to 37 percent of all consumers. The iPad owners are also 4 times more likely to have an Internet-connected TV than their non-iPad counterparts. They are also more likely to use cloud-based services.
Companies that are looking to compete against the iPad should remember that tablet users "consume media like it's air," Forrester said.
"Apple was smart to focus on media consumption: Tablet buyers really, really care about media,' the report said. "Compared with all U.S. online consumers, they are more likely to use every type of media — from offline radio to online video to Facebook and Skype. In addition, they spend more hours consuming all types of media than all US online consumers do, with the exception of offline TV."