Retrevo study aims to further contour gadget trends

May 27, 2010 10:28 GMT  ·  By

After the iPad announcement in January, 40% of the people surveyed by Retrevo held off on buying a netbook, and bought an iPad instead, the company reveals in its latest Pulse report. 30% held off on buying a netbook after the iPad was announced in January, and soon went for the iPad instead, a study showed.

Retrevo’s data comes from a study of online individuals conducted by an independent panel. With a sample size of over 1,000 distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States, Retrevo is confident in the accuracy of its statistics.

“In past years, the netbooks took the market by a storm,” Retrevo, a consumer electronics shopping and review site, reports. “With Intel Atom chip sets, long battery life, small form factors, and low price they offered a great alternative to expensive, bulky laptops. However, the double whammy of cheaper laptops and the sensational new Apple iPad tablet may be hurting netbook popularity. This Retrevo Pulse Study asked netbook, laptop, and iPad owners and buyers what products they considered this past year and what they ended up buying. We also asked what they are currently considering and which products they are leaning toward.”

“When Steve Jobs took the stage in January and announced the ‘truly magical’ Apple iPad, we were pretty sure it was going to give netbook buyers pause,” Retrevo reasons. “As it turns out Apple may have grabbed 30% of those netbook buyers who held off purchasing a netbook and eventually decided on an iPad,” and shows a pie chart (available above) that reveals how many people held off on buying a netbook after the iPad announcement.

The Pulse report also says that 78% of the people currently looking to buy an iPad or netbook are leaning toward the Apple tablet. Of the people who bought a laptop or netbook last year, over a third would choose a netbook. 65% chose a laptop. 35% of the people looking to buy either a laptop or a netbook this year are leaning towards the netbook. Although Retrevo doesn’t mention this, it is fair to assume that some of those 35% may actually go for the iPad too.