Survey: $700 for Apple’s Tablet, or No Buy

Retrevo, a company dealing with market research, surveyed more than 500 randomly selected Retrevo users between Jan 16-20, 2010 and concluded that few would pay over $700 for an Apple tablet. Many, however, possess little information as to what the concept of a tablet computing really stands for.

Retrevo’s report is based on a sample distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Most questions had a confidence interval of 4% at a 95% confidence level, according to the company. Over 39% of the respondents said a tablet needed 3G connectivity to consider buying it, whereas 44% wouldn't buy a tablet if it required a monthly data plan.

Retrevo tries to weigh in on the matter, adding, “We wonder how many more monthly subscriptions consumers will tolerate. Will Apple innovate and offer more than one plan? Will they give away connectivity to sell books, music, TV shows, newspapers, and other content? Will they bundle a tablet data plan with an iPhone plan? Okay Steve, here's your chance to innovate with an irresistible offer or maybe two irresistible plans?”

The research firm also found that half of the respondents didn’t think they even needed a tablet device, like the one rumored to come out of Cupertino tomorrow. “Admittedly, participants in the study didn't have any idea what an Apple tablet was and how much one would cost except for what they might have read in the press so it didn't surprise us that roughly 30% of respondents said they wanted more information before they decided one way or the other,” the report reveals.

However, despite all this, those surveyed by Retrevo did provide the company with an idea of how much the regular folk would spend on the device, should it be everything it’s said to be.

“When we asked consumers what price would discourage them from buying an Apple tablet, 70% of respondents said anything over $700 would be a deal killer. On the other hand, 30% appear to have the desire, deep pockets, and willingness to spend more than $700 which isn't bad,” Retrevo says and suggests these figures could be a bit off, since there appear to be “plenty of tablet buyers ready to plunk down the $700.”