Study Shows Tablets Such as the iPad are eroding Laptop Sales

A recent study by YouGov, named TabletTrack, has uncovered some interesting consequnces tablet pc’s are having on the notebook and laptop market. Over a quarter of those surveyed where iPad owners with 60 of the 4,271 owning the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the remainder where split between people planning to buy a new tablet or seriously considering other new hardware.

Tablets to replace the PC?

The research showed that 8% of tablet owners made the decision to buy a tablet to replace their desktop computer, laptop or notebook- Apparently 11% of Galaxy Tab owners and 7% of iPad owners purchased for this reason alone.

Although the above statistic may shock some people it’s important to point out that 76% of tablet owners also own another computer, so the PC isn’t anywhere near to being replaced. The team at YouGov told us that they do expect this number to drop in 2011 as the iPad 2 and other Android powered tablets provide more features akin to a traditional computer.

How many more people will buy?

The research didn’t just look at tablet owners but also the future interest in the devices. Of those surveyed 67% said they already knew which tablet they were going to buy with 13% expressing their intentions to buy one in the near future.

Interestingly the research showed that many buyers are price aware with the ideal price tipped at £250, that’s much cheaper than all the big brand names are currently offering. On the flip side a number of those quizzed explained that they wouldn’t consider a tablet with a sub £200 price point as they felt ‘you get what you pay for’.

The future

This survey was actually held in February, ahead of the iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom launch. The next update will be published in June by which time we should have the Blackberry Playbook, Xoom, HTC Flyer and new Galaxy Tab 10.1 data.

Would you consider replacing your PC with a tablet?