14 DAY TRIAL // A study conducted by Baird Equity Research analyst William Power on 488 individuals has revealed strong demand for Apple’s new tablet computer.
According to Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, the study was carried out on a young, tech-savvy demographic, which makes it all the more worthwhile.
Baird found that demand for the new iPad is strong among existing owners of an Apple tablet: “Among existing iPad owners, 48% indicated they plan to purchase the new iPad, with 35% of those already owning an iPad 2,” reads the study.
42% of the people planning to buy the new iPad have never owned a tablet computer, but 15% of the respondents residing in the United States are holding off their purchase to buy the discounted iPad 2.
“When asked about reasons for purchasing the new iPad, 28% cited the Retina Display as the top reason, followed by the A5X processor at 26% and LTE at 17%,” the note adds.
Roughly a third of respondents “suggested they were purchasing an iPad instead of a laptop.” Half of them indicated that the iPad purchase would not affect their purchase of electronic gizmos.
As far as cons were concerned, some respondents said they were not buying the new iPad because it was too expensive.
“High price was the largest reason for not purchasing an iPad, cited by 60% of non-buyers,” reads the paper.
Of those who are already sold on the new tablet, “36% of respondents plan to purchase an LTE-enabled version, with previous industry estimates suggesting 80% or more of iPad sales have been WiFi only.”
William Power added, “a majority of our respondents claim they plan to use the cellular connectivity daily.”
On Friday, March 16, the third-generation iPad was physically launched in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. A week later, the tablet device was deployed in 25 additional countries.