Survey: 80% of tablet buyers will choose iPad

New survey shows demand for Netbooks is falling, while the iPad is reaching high satisfaction ratings and numbers of people who intend to buy the device in the next 90 days.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News

Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.

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Jim Dalrymple

Nov. 2, 2010 5:30 p.m. PT

2 min read

High satisfaction rates among iPad owners is leading to more interest in the device, which continues to eat away at demand for Netbooks, according to a new survey from ChangeWave Research.

The survey, which included the views of 3,108 consumers contacted in October about buying plans for PCs, Netbooks, and tablets, showed that 26 percent of consumers would purchase a tablet in the next 90 days.

Of those tablet buyers, 80 percent said they would purchase an iPad. RIM's PlayBook, which is Apple's nearest competitor, came in at 8 percent. The Samsung Galaxy Tab (3 percent), HP Slate (2 percent), Archos tablet (1 percent), Dell Streak (1 percent), and Sony Dash (1 percent) rounded out the list.

Noting Apple's dominance in the tablet market, Paul Carton, vice president of research at ChangeWave, said that "with the iPad having already set the bar so very high in terms of customer expectations, these new Tablets all have their work cut out for them in order to succeed in the race to gain new market share."

ChangeWave's survey asked current iPad owners about their satisfaction with the device. The numbers showed 72 percent of owners were "very satisfied" (the highest rating), while 23 percent reported being "somewhat satisfied."

Those who reported being "somewhat unsatisfied" (1 percent), "very unsatisfied" (0 percent), and "don't know" (3 percent), accounted for 4 percent of respondents.

The percentage of consumers planning to purchase desktop computers (6 percent) in the next 90 days was up 1 point since the last survey in August, and those planning to buy a notebook remained at 8 percent, according to ChangeWave.

The big loser Netbooks, which saw a loss in consumer interest. According to ChangeWave, 14 percent of consumers planning to purchase a laptop said it would be a Netbook, down 10 points from June 2009 when interest for the device peaked.