3G iPad Won’t See Wide Adoption, Experts Say

Several people in a position to know are expressing similar opinions regarding the adoption of the iPad, going as deep as specifying particular models and trends / customer habits. AT&T’s CEO doesn’t believe the 3G version of the iPad will see wide adoption. The US provider of wireless services is committed to supporting the device, nonetheless. In the meantime, a survey conducted by ChangeWave shows similar results, in that budget-conscious customers are not too eager to fork out extra cash for the 3G iPad.

Although AT&T has agreed to provide wireless connections to the iPad, Randall Stephenson said he did not expect many new service subscriptions for AT&T. Instead, consumers are expected to opt for Wi-Fi or prepaid services, meaning they would not have to tie the device to a subscription or a service contract.

"My expectation is that there's not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription," he said during a webcast of an investor conference, according to a Reuters report. Stephenson added that the device would be a mainly "Wi-Fi driven product," which falls in line with the latest research done by RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky.

Abramsky shared the results of a ChangeWave survey in a research note released last month. Over 3,200 people were surveyed. The results showed pent-up demand for Apple's yet-unavailable tablet device. Surprisingly, demand even exceeds that for the first iPhone model, which Apple shipped in 2007. 13% of respondents are likely to purchase an iPad, according to the study, compared to only 9% in a similar (older) survey conducted with the iPhone in mind.

As far as model preferences were concerned, the study showed high percentages of buyers planning to purchase the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model at $499, while heavy spenders opting for the 3G model want to go all the way in terms of storage 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G model at $829

Only 8% of customers have stopped to think twice about spending what the iPad is priced at, the report also outlines. The results were significantly lower than those emerging in 2007, when 28% of respondents were unwilling to pay the price for the original iPhone, according to a MacRumors piece. RBC predicts a base case of five million iPads sold in 2010, and forecasts $2.4 billion in revenue for Apple. An additional $0.33 per share of earnings is also predicted for the Mac maker.