By Andrew Eisner, Retrevo's Director of Community and Content
If the rumors are true and all goes according to plan, Steve Jobs will take the stage at the WWDC next week and present the latest version of the iPhone.
The latest Retrevo Pulse study asked over 1,000 people what phone they planned to buy this year and over 20% of the respondents indicated an iPhone. If that number holds up it could be another good year for Apple and the iPhone.
Is There Room for Another Tablet?
Can Apple create that same iPhone momentum with the iPad? Are we looking at another Apple dominated product category like the iPod did with MP3 players? Microsoft tried unsuccessfully to generate interest in a tablet almost a decade ago. If timing is everything, is the timing right for Apple’s iPad? The Retrevo Pulse study also looked at what, if anything, could possibly hinder Apple’s runaway success in the tablet category.
An iPad Might be Hard to Justify
Of course, anyone who sees the iPad in action or gets their hands on one wants one, but can everyone come up with the right excuse or convince their spouse they should spend part of their next paycheck on one? When we asked consumers what would prevent them from buying an iPad, of those who don’t already own one or plan on buying one, the most common answer was “don’t need one,” followed by “too expensive.” When we looked at the iPhone owners in that group we found only 26% of those thought they didn't “need” an iPad. We were surprised that Android phone owners also expressed more enthusiasm, similar to the iPhone group. Maybe it's those early adopter, smartphone owners, who feel the need to own the latest gadgets.
e-Readers Won't Stop the iPad
It appears that e-Readers and iPads will co-exist nicely in the gadget world as we found a significant number (40%) of consumers who own or plan to own an e-Reader also plan to buy an iPad this year.
Will a Google Android Tablet Be a Threat to Apple?
Apps, multitasking, and open vs. closed might be good features to compare between an Android-based tablet and an Apple iPad but when we asked consumers what would get them to buy an Android-based tablet over an iPad, the number one answer was “price.” While 53% of our respondents said they weren’t interested in buying a tablet at all, of the other 47% who wanted one – a little over half (53%) said they’d buy an Android tablet if it was less expensive than an iPad followed by 33% percent who said if it offered Verizon for connectivity.